4:44 p.m. - 24 April 2002
Secretary
*tap tap tap* Is this thing on?
I'm going to Disney World! Yes, after nearly five years of pleading on my part, and Lee's desire to have a real vacation, any vacation, we've got reservations at Disney's All-Star Movies Resort in early November. Timed to coincide with Epcot's International Food and Wine Festival, natch. We originally planned to go last November, but then we bought a house. Vacation had to wait. But since we haven't really gone anywhere that was just the two of us since we got married, we decided it was time. All those guidebooks will finally come in handy!
It's Administrative Professional's Week; today, specifically, is Administrative Professional's Day. You know, Secretary's Day. We're just not called secretaries anymore (Side note: I adore *FootNotes*, but it has forever corrupted my spelling of the word secretary. I had to go look it up just now). Excuse me while my eyes roll.
I'm a secretary. Yes, my job title says "Administrative Assistant," and my resume is littered with that phrase, but I'm a secretary. I answer the phone, file, retrieve and open mail; you know, all the things a secretary does. Granted, in this particular position I have amassed good deal of specialized knowledge that is not generally required of a secretary (i.e., JCAHO standards for appointment/reappointment of medical staff, how to use credentialing software, etc.) but when it all comes down to it, I'm a secretary.
I like to think that I'm a good secretary. I've had nothing but positive performance reviews; I've come away with glowing reccommendations from previous jobs; my boss in Durham originally told me I wasn't allowed to leave. But I also know that sometimes, I'm not a very good secretary. I am the world's biggest procrastinator: I'll let filing go for months before I sit down and do it. If I don't write a message down immediately after I answer the phone, there's a good chance it will never get delivered. I web surf entirely too much. But at the end of the day, I want to go home and think that I did a good job. Most days, anyway.
This is not to say, however, that I enjoy being a secretary. Many days I do not. Part of the reason that I don't particularly want to go to my five-year reunion (which is this weekend and at this point, it's too late to decide to go) is that I don't want to show up and have to tell people that after graduating near the top of my class, I'm a secretary and aside from that little foray into grad school, that's what I've been the entire time since I left college. I'd like to tell people that I'm halfway towards that Ph.D. (which I'd be if I'd stuck with it). I'd like to tell people I'm working towards being a chef (which I may yet do). But right now, I'm a secretary. And I'll have to live with that.
To be continued, once I get home from work. It's quitting time at the moment.
Okay, so I lied. It's now Friday at 9am, rather than when I got home.
Part of what sparked this whole meditation on what I am and what I do is that there are murmurings that I will be transferring out of this department and moving downstairs to the Executive Suite, where I'd work for Administration. Now, my paychecks already come through administration, but I don't actually work for them -- except when they need someone to answer the phones. Which I've done four times this month. Which makes me think those were functioning sort of as interviews.
I don't think anything is official, but it seems as though decisions are being made about me that don't include me in the process; apparently, I'm not important to have a voice about my own career, such as it is. Honestly, if they'd come to me and asked me how I felt about moving downstairs it would be another matter altogether, but all this negotiating for me without giving me a say-so really bugs the hell out of me. To the point that it may be time to start looking elsewhere.
I don't really want to; I really like the fact that Lee and I work in the same building, so that I can drop by and see him, not to mention the savings on gas since we only need to take one car. I have a retirement account for the first time in my life. I like the people here. I don't think there is anyplace else in town that can pay me what I currently earn. But not letting me get a vote in my own career really rankles me. Even if I am just a secretary.
