i am not a secretary...i am a p.a. secretary is so demeaning but my boss insists on calling me that and i want him to use p.a. but he is my boss....how do I bring it up carefully?
2007-11-01 12:31:23 · 7 answers · asked by Tiffs 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Etiquette
Tell your boss: Would you refer to me as your Office Assistant, Administrative assistant, etc. I don't like to be called the secretary....unless it's Secretary of State.
2007-11-01 12:35:36 · answer #1 · answered by Lighthouse 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
My husband is a janitor. Some refer to that job as "Building
Maintenace" or "Building Engineer" .... Each of those sound
LESS "demeaning" THAN JANITOR.
But (over the years) ... I have come to learn that the "Title" does NOT matter as much as the QUALITY of your work.
I would suggest that you NOT get so "caught-up" or concerned about your "title" ..... Work (rather) on building your credentials. Concentrate on being the BEST Personal Assistant that YOU can possibly be! You can SHOW your
boss .... a WHOLE LOT better than you can "carefully" TELL
him. You want your boss to appreciate your VALUE as an
employee .... NO MATTER WHAT he calls YOU!
And like you said .... HE is YOUR BOSS .... and if he is
older .... he might (just) not be used to this term "P.A."
(Many use the terms P.A. A.A. and secretary interchangeably).
In your role as P.A. ..... DO YOU have a secretary??? Because if you DO NOT have your OWN secretary ... and
your job duties include "secretarial" work .... Then you are
technically a P.A. that performs secretarial duties .... SEE
HOW "confusing" that can get???
Again .... Do your job .... establish your value .... and hopefully
as time goes by .... you will ADVANCE to the point where it
REALLY will not matter to you .... that you were "once" called a secretary.
By the way ..... My husband is a janitorial supervisor.... Yet he
is STILL called "the Janitor!"
2007-11-01 13:33:28 · answer #2 · answered by kjh 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Ohhh my gosh, I find myself very often in this same situation.... I feel exactly the same way. I used to have a very close relationship with one of my bosses who used to do that and I would come and tell him straight in a joking way "hey you, who are you talking about? You've got no secretary.... only me".... and eventually he got it -- quite fast I'd say. However, my last boss was a neurotic woman and I wouldn't have been able to bring it up without upsetting her, ALTHOUGH I did frown and showed her my anger whenever she asked me to "bring her coffee"...... until one day she got the hint and asked me why I was mad, and I told her that I was no secretary and that if all she needed was someone to bring her coffee she could have hired someone with a lower profile and who asked for a lower wage, but I had not been hired to perform those functions..... she also got it and stopped asking me to do that. So you can probably do that, or do something else I used to do: whenever someone called my bosses and asked me "are you Mr. X's secretary???" I would answer out loud "NO M'AM, I'm his assistant, how may I help you?" and if the boss was around, way a lot better..... that's about the only way you can point this out without actually coming up and telling him on his face..... good luck!
2007-11-01 12:53:37 · answer #3 · answered by Lprod 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I am not you so I don't totally understand your situation but in general I have never understood why people are afraid of their boss. Sure they have the power to fire you but if you are working for someone where there is no mutual respect then maybe you are in the wrong place. If I were you I would schedule 15 minutes of one on one time and sit him down and let him know how you feel. He is a human being so ask him how it would make him feel if his boss or clients addressed him by a title that didn't suit him.
2007-11-01 12:42:57 · answer #4 · answered by elephant t 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
what is the difference between a secretary and a "p.a." besides the periods and abbreviation and all?
just keep referring to your self as a "p.a." and hopefully he will pick up on it if not at least you know who your are even if he doesnt
2007-11-01 12:42:52 · answer #5 · answered by darcymc 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Yea he probally should say my personal assistant . Which your right thats kinda tuff to bring to his attention since he is your boss. Try career builder.com they usually have good advice on situations like this. Good luck.
2007-11-01 12:37:08 · answer #6 · answered by the1lioness1queen 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You are arguing semantics.
IMO I think talking to him about it will not change anything.
2007-11-01 21:27:01 · answer #7 · answered by Terri 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋