Luckystott

2004-04-26 - 2:15 p.m.

It is pretty evident now that I will be temping the entire summer instead of going to back to school, so I am using this space to post my Work Wish List. I�m putting it out into the Universe because, basically, I am so freakin' tired. I just spent (yet another) year getting chewed up and spit out by the Audition Machine. It's not that I'm bitter, really�I just don�t feel like being all benevolent with my mad skillz (i.e. my scary-intuitive knack for save-the day problem-solving) for some lame admin who has traipsed off to Puerto Rico for the week and left no instructions whatsoever. Sure, I can proudly say that I am more than qualified to sit in for just about anyone for a week or two, but I work as an admin, not a psychic. So�do read the following entry and bear in mind, if you are going on vacation and decide to hire a temp to sit in for you, please leave the following at your desk:

1) password to log on to the computer. (Duh. you�d be surprise how many people forget to leave this for me.)

2) any other passwords I�ll need. (such as voicemail, copy machine, or, uh, the code to get into the BATHROOM, for example�)

3) a diagram of the office space detailing where I sit and where everyone else sits in relation to that. Also? Please tell me where to find the bathroom, pantry and copy room. Don�t assume that your co-workers will be sweet and willing to help me out. They hate you.

4) a note telling me who will be in the office during my tenure. Don�t make me find out until halfway thru the day that the Boss I am fielding calls for is actually working in LONDON this week.

5) If the Boss is traveling? Leave me a copy of the itinerary (again, Duh.) so I can track him/her down. Leave the phone number of the travel agent and car service. I might have to arrange travel changes and you'll definitely want me to confirm car pickups. God forbid we find the Boss stranded at JFK baggage claim should the car reservation go awry, as it often does. Most Bosses don't know how to stand in the taxi queue...so please think ahead to combat potential disaster.

6) a note detailing protocol. Tell me if your Boss likes to have his/her calls screened. If I am required to handle his/her calendar, clue me in to whether or not I should go ahead and put appointments into Outlook while I have the caller on the line and then verify with Boss later � or - if I should take a detailed message, present the request to Boss and THEN enter the appointment into Outlook and confirm back to the caller. (p.s. Your Boss will probably want to ignore me the entire week. No, he/she will not suddenly discover how to communicate while you are out of the office. Let me know how to do what you normally do.)

I could go on and on�but the point is THIS: Being an assistant isn�t rocket science. Just leave a folder covering all the pertinent info so I can help out most efficiently. I can�t tell you how many temper tantrums I have had to endure because some flaky admin didn�t leave some bit of information that the Boss needed right at that moment. True, I could probably snoop around the desk and make some calls and fix the problem eventually (insert aforementioned mad skillz here), but why should I waste a half hour trying to locate the travel agency�s phone number when it should have LEFT for me to begin with? Oh � and about my making phone calls to figure things out? I�ll probably start with HR�so it would behoove anyone who has me working for them to leave me the necessary info before they jaunt off on their tropical vacay. I mean, it doesn't make sense to me. You know you'll have to deal with your Boss when you return�so why not make it easy? Wouldn�t it be lovely to come back to the office and find out that everything went just fine while you were out? The filing is done, the copies have been distributed, and, no, you don�t have to worry about working late for the next two weeks playing �catch up�?

Honestly....DUH.

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