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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Are people like this in work really annoying

59 replies

MintyFreshBreath · 15/02/2022 13:05

Just a vent really. Part of my job is I have to book things for senior management and I’m fine with that. Not a problem. Only very occasionally, I have to ask so many questions I just think…Why the hell (on this ONE occasion) don’t you do it yourself? When I say it happens irregularly, I mean two or three times a year. Compared to me doing it two or three times a week. So not a massive thing but it’s frustrating for me and surely frustrating for them.
Rant over!!!

Any other work woes?!!

OP posts:
Mabelface · 15/02/2022 13:13

If I started, I don't think I'd stop 😂

Ceebeegee · 15/02/2022 13:24

I understand what you mean, although in a different way.
I assist a senior colleague for a task, and they ask me to contact X customer on their behalf. And then they take about 20 minutes telling me what to ask/say in the conversation (probably changing their mind two/three times about what they want out of the conversation). They spend 20 minutes delegating a two minute phonecall. YOU MIGHT AS WELL JUST RING THEM YOUSELF!
I don't mind the delegation at all, it's just the nonsensical time wasting that goes with it sometimes.

MrsWinters · 15/02/2022 14:03

@Ceebeegee I would look at this as development of staff though. I’ll explain something to you this time or our rational for doing something, so hopefully next time you can pick it up with less input from me

itwasntaparty · 15/02/2022 14:21

Depends, when I used to be an EA the BIG BOSS would email me and ask me to email someone to do something he had typed in the email to me...cut out the middle man and send it direct.

TokyoSushi · 15/02/2022 14:23

I'm a PA, the joy of the old 'can you send X and email saying this' email 🙄

Curlygirl06 · 15/02/2022 14:24

One of my managers used to write an address on a post it note, put the post it note on an envelope and give it to me to address! God knows why, his writing was better than mine.

BalloonSlayer · 15/02/2022 14:25

See you and raise you the handwritten letter to type and send, from the completely computer-literate person who obviously wanted to make sure that I understood that she wrote the letters and I typed them.

jojogoesbust · 15/02/2022 14:27

I'm a PA, and yes this happens all the time but the way I see it is it's my job so..
Don't get a dog and bark yourself kind of thing

veganmayo · 15/02/2022 14:33

@TokyoSushi

I'm a PA, the joy of the old 'can you send X and email saying this' email 🙄
I'm not a PA and it is not my responsibility to send emails for anyone else in the company. Yet I still have a colleague who does this to me. Whether or not I do as she's asked depends on my mood.
FooFighter99 · 15/02/2022 14:35

@BalloonSlayer

See you and raise you the handwritten letter to type and send, from the completely computer-literate person who obviously wanted to make sure that I understood that she wrote the letters and I typed them.
I worked for a guy like that once. He would meticulously handwrite notes from meetings (pages upon pages) which I then had to type up.... why he couldn't just type them himself was beyond me and beneath him obviously

And yes, the good old "can you email this person and say this, that and the other - erm, ok, but in the time it's taken for me to type what you've said and then make amendments where I got it wrong, you could have typed it yourself 10 times over. Pretty sure she just liked the "sent on behalf of" as she felt it made her look important...

There are so many more examples when working as a PA

madnessitellyou · 15/02/2022 14:40

I once had a boss who said I responded to emails too quickly and that I should go through a series of "checks and balances" to determine how much of a priority responding at certain time was. I pointed out that would take me longer than responding. He maintained that wasn't the point.

I don't work there anymore.

ChessieFL · 15/02/2022 14:41

My manager is constantly nagging me to delegate more. In theory this is fine, except instead of spending half an hour just doing the thing myself I now have to spend 15 minutes explaining it to them, another 5-10 minutes answering questions because they’re not sure, then another 10-15 minutes checking what they’ve done.

I do understand the staff development point but where I work they’re constantly moving people onto different teams so no guarantee I’ll get the same person twice!

amijustparanoidorjuststoned · 15/02/2022 15:03

PA here.

It does grate on me a little bit when people in the office send me things via email to print off. All they have to do is press "print" themselves Grin

But it pays the bills, I suppose.

Hillarious · 15/02/2022 15:10

@amijustparanoidorjuststoned

PA here.

It does grate on me a little bit when people in the office send me things via email to print off. All they have to do is press "print" themselves Grin

But it pays the bills, I suppose.

You're probably nearer the printer. Saves their legs!
SilverGlitterBaubles · 15/02/2022 15:10

@ChessieFL Yes I also get this, I take on too much and am told to delegate more but in the time in takes me to delegate, explain, answer questions I would have done the very thing myself in half of the time. Also I have a manager who likes to ask me to send letters or emails whereby a quick phone call would do the job. It feels like work for works sake.

Terfydactyl · 15/02/2022 15:21

Yup, been a PA in my dim and distant past and frankly the pay was brilliant, the person I was working for however, well least said I guess. She would explain in minute detail what she wanted me to send, change her mind halfway through, say oh never mind I'll do it myself, change her mind again, tell me a different version of the previous conversation then leave me to do a 3 minute job. Ffs woman just make up your damn mind.
I did often think it was just makework, she also got offended when I didn't make her hot water and fresh lemon drink, and I refused to take her dry cleaning on my way home. She also got pissed off when I typed every word of a recorded minutes of a two hour long meeting and also pissed off when I compacted it or summarised it. Couldn't win.
I lasted 5 months and apparently I was the longest in the job.

Hillarious · 15/02/2022 15:22

[quote SilverGlitterBaubles]@ChessieFL Yes I also get this, I take on too much and am told to delegate more but in the time in takes me to delegate, explain, answer questions I would have done the very thing myself in half of the time. Also I have a manager who likes to ask me to send letters or emails whereby a quick phone call would do the job. It feels like work for works sake. [/quote]
That's because everyone wants to cover their backs and have things in writing.

TheLeadbetterLife · 15/02/2022 15:25

@itwasntaparty

Depends, when I used to be an EA the BIG BOSS would email me and ask me to email someone to do something he had typed in the email to me...cut out the middle man and send it direct.
Read "Bullshit Jobs". A lot of the time the PAs are there because it's prestigious to have them, not because the bosses don't have time to send their own emails.
Blossom64265 · 15/02/2022 15:28

Little secret, it’s because we don’t know how. I’ve got absolutely no clue how to do half of the things the amazing support staff do on a day to day basis. I try not to be a pest though and give them all the information on the first round. I really don’t know how to do something as simple as booking a conference room or sending a fedex at my company. I’ve been in the mail room once in 20 years and that was in our old building. They are completely siloed from us in terms of tasks and skill sets. Outside of work, I’m a very competent human, but at work I’m very much in my little niche.

The people who are my juniors that I am training up, it often takes me longer to assign the task and do the back and forth than to do the task. It’s part of the job and yes, it is frustrating for all involved.

SliceOfCakeCupOfTea · 15/02/2022 15:33

OP I completely agree.

My boss in the past has emailed me asking me to book a hotel room at such and such for so and so from this date to this date using this card and add on this extra etc.

Literally could have sent the same email to our contact at the hotel and cut out the middle man. I more or less just forward the email on.

The other day a customer emailed me asking me to send them an meeting invite for a meeting they wanted with me. Just felt like a waste of time when they could have just send me the invite?

awmum2b · 15/02/2022 15:44

I’ve literally chucked my toys out the pram on this today, I am so fed up of forwarding emails amongst other things….

Tbf he also delegates all the rubbish tasks as a “development opportunities” or tells me “I think you should lead on this one, it would be good to raise your profile” on tasks he doesn’t want to do but has volunteered for.
Other great lines
“I could use your insight on this” = tell me what I need to say
“Can you work your creative magic on this” = write my slides for me

I’m not actually sure what he does as all the work he sends in the weekly report is mine and he always, always takes credit for the things I do.

I might have googled “how to constructively tell your boss he’s being a dick” today before I realised I need to speak up the line before I lost my actual mind! My patience is severely limited because of this and I have a 3 year old who needs all the patience

CounsellorTroi · 15/02/2022 15:48

@amijustparanoidorjuststoned

PA here.

It does grate on me a little bit when people in the office send me things via email to print off. All they have to do is press "print" themselves Grin

But it pays the bills, I suppose.

That would mean they have to go to the printer to get their printing, and possibly have to refill the paper or replace the ink cartridge which they wouldn’t have a clue how to do!
girlmom21 · 15/02/2022 15:50

@Blossom64265

Little secret, it’s because we don’t know how. I’ve got absolutely no clue how to do half of the things the amazing support staff do on a day to day basis. I try not to be a pest though and give them all the information on the first round. I really don’t know how to do something as simple as booking a conference room or sending a fedex at my company. I’ve been in the mail room once in 20 years and that was in our old building. They are completely siloed from us in terms of tasks and skill sets. Outside of work, I’m a very competent human, but at work I’m very much in my little niche.

The people who are my juniors that I am training up, it often takes me longer to assign the task and do the back and forth than to do the task. It’s part of the job and yes, it is frustrating for all involved.

Honestly people would have much more respect for you if you said "would you mind showing me how to book a conference room?"

Although, the two examples you've given would be the responsibility of the receptionist in the last two places I've worked at.

emmathedilemma · 15/02/2022 15:51

Not remotely in a PA role but currently waiting on people sending me slides for a meeting tomorrow morning so I can copy & paste them all into one file because seemingly they are incapable of opening a file on a server and updating them online.

Whyemseeaye · 15/02/2022 16:05

Ex EA here. I was once berated by my boss for not telling his wife he’d booked himself a holiday abroad without her.

I thought the fact that it was a holiday and not in anyway company related, and the fact they live together and spend every day evening together might mean he was able to share his plans himself.

Apparently I was wrong, VERY WRONG 😑🤣