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AIBU?

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Original poster

Do you think it is unreasonable for a boss to ask his Secretary to make a cup of tea?

234 replies

Pepperypig · 06/05/2018 12:42

My boss asked his Secretary to do this for him and a client the other day. It used to be commonplace but I would have thought that it wasn't part of her duties?

OP posts:
DioneTheDiabolist · 06/05/2018 15:30

It's reasonable. Back in the day when I had a PA she would make tea and coffee when I had client meetings. Some of my clients would have been well pissed off if I had left them alone when they had come to my office to discuss business.

resetEntries · 06/05/2018 15:30

My secretary has a fridge with drinks and pod coffee machine. It's part of her role although usually only when I have someone in with me.

I buy her a Starbucks a few times a week - I think we're quits.

She is perfectly happy with being a 'Secretary' is is frequently called the second in command in the organisation. It isn't a demeaning title as she's pretty much irreplaceable and paid accordingly.

NewYearNewMe18 · 06/05/2018 15:36

I doubt they would ask a man to do this.

You don't get out much do you ... we have male secretaries and they can boil a kettle. Phenomenal I know.

Oh and my boss is female.

user1471426142 · 06/05/2018 15:51

I think it’s normal, particularly if there is a meeting with clients etc. In general I’d say I’ve made my direct reports more drinks than they’ve made me but if I’m in meetings, I’m not going to leave the client to go and make coffee while they are sat with the junior colleague and not me. That will be the job for whoever is most junior. I’d say with a secretary, they are there to support the person they work to who is generally pretty senior. Part of that will be sorting catering, refreshments etc as well as diary management etc. When I have had roles supporting senior people, I would absolutely offer to get them drinks and expect to sort that sort of thing out for them.

Caribou58 · 06/05/2018 16:18

My Secretary made drinks, etc. for booked meetings I had with other people - it was part of her job to do so. I made my own tea at intervals during the day and would offer to make her one. If making one for herself, she would offer to make me one.

Different cultures in different places, I suppose - though I note the question was posed such that it was implicit that the boss was male - does the OP see it any differently if the boss is female?

DioneTheDiabolist · 06/05/2018 16:20

I doubt they would ask a man to do this.

Before I had a PA, which ever man was closest (sometimes it was even the director of the companyShock) would do it.

SenecaFalls · 06/05/2018 16:32

It isn't a demeaning title as she's pretty much irreplaceable and paid accordingly.

It is ridiculous that assistant has replaced secretary through some misguided notion that secretary is a demeaning title. Maybe we should start calling cabinet ministers assistant.

harshbuttrue1980 · 06/05/2018 16:46

I'm an assistant head in a school. All of us senior staff, including the Head, make our own drinks on a day to day basis. The admin staff do the catering and drink making for meetings (with parents, governors, interview candidates etc). No one is too busy to make themselves a cup of tea, and people who think that someone should be at their beck and call need to get over themselves.

Bluelady · 06/05/2018 16:47

In my last senior role the kitchen used to get left in an horrific mess. I hit really low energy at about 4pm and want 20 minutes doing something mindless so used to go and tidy and clean it. My team was initially flabbergasted. They were also astonished that I took my turn to make tea and coffee, less so that I asked one of them to make drinks for my visitors.

Scoogle · 06/05/2018 16:52

I have two assistants. I would never ask them to make me a brew ever.

resetEntries · 06/05/2018 16:54

It's vocal feminists doing us all a favour. Like those unemployed podium girls who have been 'saved' I guess.

In our company we do have Assistants but they don't have the skills (or salary) that a Secretary does.

RoseWhiteTwat · 06/05/2018 16:55

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AlexanderHamilton · 06/05/2018 16:56

Which depending on the situation could be an awful waste of company time & resources.

Doyoumind · 06/05/2018 17:00

So if a client, potentially bringing a large amount of money into a company is meeting a company director, whose time is more expensive to the company, it is right for that director to waste their time and the client's time by spending the first 5 minutes of the meeting making drinks? 🙄

Mightymucks · 06/05/2018 17:08

they are perfectly capable of getting their own

The whole point of being a secretary/PA is that the person you support is higher skilled and higher paid so admin support frees them from doing simple, low skilled jobs because it’s not effective business to pay someone £50 an hour to type up letters, make tea, order sandwiches or do the filing.

That’s the nature of the job and if you don’t like it don’t do it.

Bluelady · 06/05/2018 17:08

Of course it isn't, in fact it would be bonkers. What's so demeaning about making a couple of coffees anyway?

Bluelady · 06/05/2018 17:09

That was to doyoumind, btw! Spot on, Mighty.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 06/05/2018 17:15

I think some posters here have forgotten the first rule of being happy in your job... aka that great Marx quote "From each according to [their]ability, to each according to [their] needs"

It is pointless demanding equality in work, there is always a hierarchy and every sensible person works towards their own 'best fit' - though not all achieve it.

But if you choose to see supporting the person you are paid to work for, to support, as demeaning, you have not yet found your work place and need to move on, for everyone's sake!

I say that as someone who has been the assistant to a total pig of a male boss and had my own super sulky male assistant. Neither of those men were happy in their jobs, whereas I quite enjoyed the journey from one to the other!

OliviaStabler · 06/05/2018 17:26

No one is too busy to make themselves a cup of tea, and people who think that someone should be at their beck and call need to get over themselves.

That isn't the core issue here though. The OP was talking about making a round of refreshments for a meeting with an external client.

ReanimatedMuse · 06/05/2018 17:41

It might be true that no one's to busy to make a coffee, although like many people some days I'll start meetings at 7am and might go through until 6/7pm without a scheduled break.

Bathroom breaks involve jumping out of an in person meeting or keeping someone waiting on the next call. If my assistant didn't bring drinks/ food my day would be a lot less pleasant.

Mightymucks · 06/05/2018 17:46

No one is too busy to make themselves a cup of tea, and people who think that someone should be at their beck and call need to get over themselves.

Making a cup of tea takes 5 minutes. If you’re making a round of drinks maybe 10-15.

If that’s happening a few times a day and the person doing it is on £50 and hour it can cost the company a lot of money in lost time. Plus the person doing it may well have to work over to get things done when PAs are often lucky enough to clock off at five and forget about it.

Being at someone’s beck and call is the entire point of being a PA.

Nooblynoo · 06/05/2018 18:27

And your issue is what?

Confusssed · 06/05/2018 19:10

I think the people bleating on that making coffee for the boss is demeaning are high unlikely to ever be the boss.

BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou · 06/05/2018 19:18

When I was a PA I often made the tea for my boss as it wouldn’t always be appropriate for my assistant to go into the meeting room during some meetings.

I now work in an office role in a school and the head will make me a cup of tea if she is making herself one but if there are visitors then either I or the business manager will be asked to sort the refreshments.

I’ve worked in various secretarial, admin, PA positions and refreshments has always been part of the job.

Somersetlady · 06/05/2018 19:20

My PA would have the tea made before i got i to my office but she was a very good PA!
I would occasionally make her a cuppa if i was making one for myself.

It makes sense to delegate all none fee earning duties to her.

4 mins to boil kettle and then 2 to make tea get to and from kitchen.

6 mins is 1/10th of an hour so every cup of tea i made instead of billable hours costs £30 in time!
I drink at least 5 a day so £150 a day for time spent making tea is not time well spent!!!!