by JudyJB » Fri Jan 20, 2023 2:42 pm
This ditzy secretary had a problem because she was extremely literal and would do exactly as you asked her to do, no matter what because she was afraid to get fired. For example, if my boss needed paper clips and asked her to get a box for him from the storeroom in the basement, she would go to the basement and get a box for him, in spite of the fact that she had a huge coffee can of paper clips stashed under her desk that we found during our cleanup! Also, she would not do anything without being told specifically what to do and how to do it, so a lot of stuff she did not know how to handle was stashed away in one of her drawers, as we discovered later. The company was a big one and had tried to transfer her to other jobs she could hopefully do better, but none worked out. They even tried teaching her how to take initiative and solve problems herself, but it did not work. In a lot of ways, she was a very sad story, but she drove us crazy.
This was back in 1986 when we were just getting computers, but she was never given one. Her replacement DID get one, and actually knew how to use it. My boss did not want to lose me as his assistant, so he told me I could use the computer but only for personal things because he feared that upper management would think he had two secretaries!! I used one in another department for enrolling employees in training classes, but I was only there two years. When I got bored and had nothing to do, I would go for long walks in the attached transmission manufacturing factory, which was enormous and used to build B24 bombers in WWII. When I was there, 12,000 people worked there in three shifts. Fascinating place where I could watch the big stamping presses and all the grinding and cutting operations. Learned how to safely walk in a factory at that place--lots of fork lifts, golf carts, bicycles, electric scooters, and other stuff whizzing by.
Going for another desert walk today.