Sick of being an Executive Assistant - feel trapped

[Remmy123]

On my way to work with dread I work as an executive assistant in London and I'm sick of being at someone's beck and call all day every day.

i feel so trapped as I am not qualified to do anything else with similar salary.

this job along with kids needs and father in a care home I feel like I'm the one that needs a PA!

not sure what eise I can do 😩

I don't know that it was, but she was female, my only boss that was, and she made my life utterly miserable. I've had many male bosses and none of them treated me the way she did.

Have you thought about making a move into corporate governance?

Nobody can "make" you end up on Prozac. I've had loads of excellent female bosses. Women do tend to be more detail-oriented, so if you're not a very good assistant they're more likely to notice. Maybe that was the issue.

Ahh definitely you need a new role, I work with board Chairs and I had one who was as you describe and she absolutely shredded my nerves. Now work for a lovely guy and it’s like a different job.

Yes she does she makes me on edge.

unfortunately it is true, all the women I have worked for have been awful - and I am all for women supporting women etc but working for one in an EA role is hard and has tested my nerves.

@Remmy123 I worked for someone like that as office manager/EA - in my case a guy- and I was constantly on edge- bizzare man- used to email me all day long, rather than literally turn around 5 ft away to speak to me.

I don't think it's your role as such, I think it's this person and the company- think you would be better somewhere a little bigger with more power and a nicer person to work alongside

I never said I was on Prozac. Since you can't even read people's posts properly it doesn't sound like you're very 'detail-oriented' yourself.

That was for @TheOccupier

It was aimed at me @cheezncrackers. I was actually a shit-hot EA until I had a snide, bitchy, incompetent, gaslighting CEO boss who happened to be female and was sacked by the board a year after I left her employment. She sounded very much like @TheOccupier actually.

It’s very common for senior female executives to have a higher turnover of assistants than their male counterparts. I would put it down to societal conditioning. They have to be harder nosed to get to the same role as men at the same level but equally may be doing more of the mental load around their children if they have them and are expected to be “friendly” with their assistant because they’re both women. And their criticism can be perceived as bitchiness where it wouldn’t necessarily be seen that way from a male boss. They are more likely to be micromanagers.

Wrongly or rightly, a LOT of EAs will go to agencies on the hunt for a new role and say as a blanket rule that they will not work for a woman based on their experiences doing just that.

LOL! You know nothing about me. Maybe if you took responsibility for your performance at work, and for your other issues, you'd feel less bitter. The internalised misogyny on this thread is very depressing.

And you know nothing about me. So maybe bear that in mind when making snap judgements about me being a “not very good assistant”.

@HedonistHuntress unfortunately I kind of agree and for the reasons you give too -

Blimey! How rude, you sound exactly like the type of person that people don’t want to work for

Women do tend to be more detail-oriented

WTF am I reading?

OP you have a boss issue. Change bosses.