To think I’m not the tea bitch?

[Ribrabrob]

Recently started a new job. Fairly basic administration job, although fairly well paid for the role. It’s just a temporary maternity cover role. Not really a job I enjoy or want to do but was rather desperate so took the job.

The job is okay and the people are fine, mostly quite nice. I work closely with the manger in a tiny office, the owner is based in an office nearby but regularly pops in. From the start it’s been made very clear that making tea/coffee for them both is very important in fact in my first interview I asked what was the most helpful thing the previous post holder did for the manager. The manager answered ‘oh it’s so helpful when she gets my drink for me’. I remember laughing thinking it was a joke but it wasn’t

Hints are regularly made about having a drink, at least twice before I get the hint and then I’ll offer. If I don’t offer she’ll then ask outright but always after hunting. It’s annoying, i would rather she just ask. Other people also make little remarks when they visit the office that she (manager) doesn’t seem to drink as much as when the other post holder was here! It’s so weird.

I don’t drink many hot drinks myself, usually just one in the morning and occasionally another later on so it doesn’t always enter my head to make one 🤷‍♀️ But of course I do offer when I am making.

The other day the owner was due in in about half an hour. Manager asked me to have a chat quickly and took ten minutes explaining to me how he’d like his tea and to try and have one ready for him.

Aibu to be annoyed by this or is it just a part of a basic admin role? Aibu to think I’m not the tea bitch?! Aibu to think how I make the tea really isn’t that important? I’ve worked in offices before and the CEO’s would always make drinks like everybody else!

@EveryDayIsADuvetDay

But if someone owns a business and employs a PA, surely it's normal and reasonable for them to ask their PA to do stuff like pick them up some lunch etc if that's what they want/need doing?

I have never worked in the private sector, only the public sector, but would have thought those things would be within a PAs job description tbh, if working for a business owner .

I would take my sweet time making the tea but offer to do it every couple of hours. It would not bother me as typing or tea making equally boring to me. I would not be rushing though. Also you might need a good reference, and if making the tea is so important to them both, making the tea should get you that good reference. Jobs look like they might be scarce because of Covid19.

@m0therofdragons - anyone that has back to back Zoom meetings with no breaks needs to sort out their calendar and time management. I don't believe I mentioned the OP was a woman.

We're not even allowed to make each other tea in my office because of Covid.

Part of your job is making tea. I would just ask for a schedule to stop the hinting

That would piss me right off. Unless you're in a high pressure job where every second counts, everyone should make their own tea.

Yanbu. This would seriously annoy me. Its sexist and misogynist and reinforces the stereotype of women being seen as the office skivvy / Secretary. I would hate working in a company that allows its employees to be subjected to this kind of sexist attitude. Keep looking for another job. Why on earth should it be your sole responsibility to spend your days pandering to people who are too lazy to sort out their own tea / coffee.

Spit in it

Id hate the passive aggresive hinting. Making shite tea is just as bad. I think it's odd to make drinks on a rota. there aren't any tea rounds where I work, everyone gets there steps in and makes their own. I really surprised that you are making drinks for anyone else during COVID.

Ask your boss for a meeting to agree duties. This should include times for making tea, fetching lunch and your breaks.

I'd just preempt her so she couldn;t ask me. I'd be making tea every 30 minutes on the dot.

Well, apparently making tea/coffee is a big part of the job. I'd just do it, honestly. If you can do it without sounding rude, maybe ask them to just ask you when they want a drink or ask if there's a timetable they'd like you to roughly follow for when they typically want tea.

I'd be more likely to be annoyed if they were very particular about how it was prepared, but so long as it was do-able, I'd just do it! It's a job; parts of it are bound to be less than enjoyable, and it's only temporary.

I’m a PA and I normally make hot drinks for my boss as she’s often back to back in meetings with no time to do it herself. I don’t mind as it’s part of my job to make hers easier.

But there’s a difference between working as a direct assistant to someone you support, and just being expected to do it because you’re junior.

It’s not an issue at the moment as we are working from home as per the government advice. But I’m really surprised you’re making hot drinks for other people while still in the office. When we momentarily went back we all made our own, and could only have one person in the kitchen at a time.

What an old fashioned workplace culture!

I got asked to make tea in my first job she I was a teen, and even then I was a bit . I just got on with it, but I did resent it.

In my mgt role i relied on junior staff to make me a coffee / tea because my job involved being pulled from pillar to post every working minute in a really stressful nhs job .

Thankfully No one ever begrudged bringing me a drink .

Lots of ways you could sabotage this....

• Garlic in the tea (butter or otherwise)
• Salt in the tea
• Really weak tea
• Really strong tea
• Mix of ordinary black tea with something like blackcurrant
• Mix in a bit of coffee
• Make sure it's really, really cold
• Crumble some digestive biscuits in there

(Can you tell I once had a job where I had 75 engineers to look after as a kind of PA type person - everything from sorting out their travel to business cards and arranging meetings - and one of my jobs was to make the tea for the really big metings? After I made the cold coffee one meeting and got pulled up for it I decided it was time to leave. I ended up in the NHS for a while - lots of other issues, but at least I didn't have to make the ruddy tea all the time - we generally took it in turns. And at training sessions where it wasn't possible to get catering due to lack of funds, we'd generally make up a couple of flasks and people helped themselves to teabags, coffee etc as they came in. Much more egalitarian.

My favourite workplaces have been those where you're not expected to make tea for everyone else at the drop of a hat, and my absolute favourite is my own home....

I feel your pain. I had a job as a PA for 3 years to a man who expected me to act as his personal barista. Forget tea, I was on making cappuccinos to his exact specification with a sodding nespresso machine and separate milk frother he bought for the sole purpose. I HATED that job- he would bellyache hourly that he wanted a coffee and I would have to drop everything and make him one. But, he was paying me to do it and whilst not on any job spec it was clear from the outset that this was part of the job remit.

Sadly, you just have to suck it up and be thankful it's a temp job.

This sounds like a complete power play on behalf of your colleagues

This.

I’m not a hot beverage drinker so the whole culture of “brewing up” baffles me. How can this be so important to people? If you love drinking tea so much, make your own. In my first job, I was very unpopular as I never “made the teas”. It never occurred to me too. Don’t think I stepped foot in the kitchen the whole time I was there. I was at my desk working! The thing I was being paid to do! It was pointed out to me after a while that people thought I was rude not to join in the ritual - even though I didn’t drink the stuff.

What a monumental waste of time.

Oh, and I used to have a boss who would send me an email which just consisted of the letter 'T'

I’m actually shocked this happens! Asking someone else at work to make tea seems so rude! This must be a cultural thing as I’ve never come seen this in Australia. All offices I’ve worked in have had those filter water taps with both cold and boiling water so it takes no time to make your own hot tea!

Go full Mrs Doyle on her.

Offer every 15 minutes.

@RantyAnty

Go full Mrs Doyle on her.

Offer every 15 minutes.

Ah go on. Do this 🤣

Do you work in my old office? 😂 This sounds exactly like my first job out of uni. Hints all morning (also not a tea drinker, so didn't pick up on them) instead of just directly asking. Also got pulled aside by a manager to ensure that one was made before boss got in. Some days he would just cough at me which meant 'i'm thirsty'. After a while, I got sick of the power play and deliberately played dumb and deaf and stopped making them until I was explicitly asked and then it just got awkward for them to keep asking so they stopped. Pricks

You're turning it into something bigger and more annoying by ignoring the repeated hints. Just do it on a schedule, and make it work for you by getting a certain number of steps in each time, or getting yourself a drink of water, or tying it into visits to the printer or whatever.It's an easy job you can tick off your list every day. Just do it, do it well and crack on through the rest of your to do list.

Yes it's a bit anachronistic these days but it doesn't define you, and it's not something I'd choose to do badly when it's easy to do well.

Wow whatever happened to sucking up the role you have and working towards a better one, yeah go ahead sabotage or spit in it but during your teak break Google the consequences of that.
What super skills do you have that make this beneath you?