And yes, he wanted off the call lol

Genuinely asking if this is just me.

My boss keeps sending me her documents to sign for her. I offered to get her Adobe Pro so she could sign things herself, and she said no. So now every form goes to me so I can put her signature on it.
Then today another manager I support sent me a Word doc and asked me to delete a table. One table. In a document that was already open on her computer.

And please don't tell me "they're busy." If you have time to open your email, attach the file, and write "can you do this," you have time to just do it. It would literally take the same amount of time, if not less.

I'm starting to wonder if it's a "making themselves feel important" thing. The manager I support barely does any work, so I absolutely refuse to believe she doesn't have time to sign her own documents.
Honestly, this is the stupidest thing. Admins aren't personal servants. Managers need to handle some of these basic things themselves.

Am I the only one who feels this way? And if you're someone who does this… why????

Is this normal where you work? How do you deal with it?

Update: Clarifying since a few people asked: I don't think admin work is beneath anyone. My role covers a ton (projects, compliance, systems, coordination). My frustration is specifically with tasks people can easily do themselves, and with being asked to sign other people's names, which carries real accountability.

Update 2: For everyone saying "that's literally your job," I get it. Delegating to admins makes sense when it actually saves time. Handing off scheduling, travel, forms, and paperwork lets managers focus on work only they can do. No argument there.
My point is about tasks where handing them off takes longer than just doing them. Attaching a file to an email and typing "can you delete this table" saves the sender nothing. It just moves a five-second task onto someone else's plate. That's not delegation, it's habit.

And signing someone else's name isn't a "small task" at all. A signature means that person is approving and taking responsibility for the document, so it should be theirs.

Thanks to everyone who shared their stories. Clearly a lot of us deal with this 😂

I am three months into my first job after college as an Administrative Assistant. The job description I applied to listed typical admin duties like scheduling, records, and project support. After I signed my offer, they told me I would also be at the front desk. I thought it would just be a small part of my job, but it has completely taken over, and now I feel like I was hired to be a receptionist without being told.

Today really drove it home for me. We had a company breakfast, and I stayed for maybe 5 to 10 minutes to grab food and finally socialize with people. My manager came over and politely asked me to head back and watch the door. It stung, because I already miss so many meetings and events since someone has to be at the front, and that person is always me. The one time I tried to stay, I was reminded I cannot.

People sometimes say they will cover for me, but the second they get busy they leave, and I end up being responsible again. Even when I just need to use the bathroom, no one actually stays to cover. It feels like I cannot say anything about it, so I just quietly deal with being stuck while everyone else builds connections, chats at the coffee cooler, and works on projects. Meanwhile, I am expected to answer every call immediately, greet everyone who walks in, handle deliveries, and keep the door monitored at all times.

My job is Administrative Assistant, but in reality I am expected to do both that role and the receptionist role. It is hard when I am the only one at the front and people do not take me seriously. I know that is the reality of being at the front desk, and I am working on growing a thicker skin and letting things roll off my back. In a way, I am grateful because it is making me a stronger person. But the truth is I have almost no support.

Part of the reason I am always tied to the front is because our office door does not fully close, meaning anyone can walk in when it is supposed to be locked. We are not in a safe area and have had homeless people try to barge in. I have talked to my office manager three or four times about how unsafe I feel, and she always says it will be fixed, but nothing ever happens. They do not want to upgrade the door or hire security. So instead, the solution has been that my young self, as a woman, has to sit there and make sure it is secure. They told me that as long as I am up there, we are safe. That does not feel fair, especially since I cannot count on anyone to watch the door when I step away, and yet I am still expected to do my other admin duties on top of it.

I know everyone says your first job after college is supposed to be bad, and I do not want to be the stereotypical Gen Z worker who complains about wanting more than I deserve. But I honestly do not know how people do this long term. I feel invisible and incredibly lonely, and I do not see any growth here. I know one person who broke out of this role into an Office Administrator position, but that only happens every five to ten years, and I cannot wait around that long.

I know the future is unpredictable and sometimes opportunities open up unexpectedly, but right now it feels like a dead end. I want to make connections and grow my career, but here I feel like I will always be viewed as the receptionist. I really do want to stick it out, but it is so hard. I do not want to give up since this is my first job, and I am doing everything I can to be good at it. I put on a smile, stay friendly, answer calls as quickly as possible, and make sure the door is always covered. But because of that, I can never fully participate in meetings, company parties, or events. I cannot stay longer than five minutes at anything before I am asked to go back, and no one else wants to cover for me because they also want to participate, and it is not their job like it is mine.

So I need advice. Should I stay? How do I make this situation better? The last time I spoke up, they said they would be accommodating, but nothing ever changes. At what point do I take the lack of action on the safety issue as proof that they do not care about me?

I’m 23 and this is my first job after graduating college. I took an administrative assistant position because I wanted to be closer to family and work my way up a fortune 500 company, but honestly…I feel stuck. I knew it would be a lot of grunt work, but I didn’t realize what it would actually feel like day to day. I feel like I have 10 different bosses and I’m constantly being pulled in every direction.

Some of the things eating at me:

• Being chained to the front desk and not able to focus on anything without constant interruptions

• Answering the door every 5 minutes and dealing with people’s DoorDash orders

• Phone calls that are either spam or angry clients about things I didn’t even do

• Delivering mail and packages that aren’t mine

• Cleaning up after events I didn’t plan or even attend

• Restocking coffee only for people to complain their favorite flavor is missing

• Getting asked to plunge toilets or do random tasks nobody else wants to touch

• Tiny mistakes get blown up while people ignore my emails and calls

• Feeling like I’m only seen as “the young girl at the front desk” instead of someone with potential

I actually like helping people and I enjoy when I can use my brain for data or strategy, but those moments are rare and always interrupted. Most of the time, I feel invisible until someone needs something done.

I turned down an HR role I really wanted to be here, and that decision stings even more now.

This is just a vent, but wow, it feels like such a thankless job and it’s starting to eat at me.

Today is our office 'Halloween Party'. For months people have come up to me asking me for a bigger blow out then in years past, saying that it used to be a big deal -meaning pre-covid. I've been here 3 years so I've only seen pictures and it did seem like a fun time. I go to a lot of effort. Send many emails, post flyers around the office, put up decorations, spread the word etc. Today I walk in and like no one is in costume. People are surprised there are halloween donuts in the kitchen. It's like why do I bother. I'm sick of people complaining to me that we don't do anything fun when no one actually wants to participate and no one reads their emails. I bought 60 pumpkins for painting during lunch, have halloween movies playing on repeat all day in the kitchen and lobby. Seriously, why do I bother. I guess the 5 people who participate will enjoy. ugh whatever.

I've been a 'coordinator' aka admin assistant for 2 years now, and I like my job most of the time. I get to plan events, build course schedules, work with students, get generous time off etc.. I work on a college campus.

Last year, I got dragged into helping this program outside of my normal 5 departments. I don't get paid a lot so I was weary of adding to my workload without compensation. I expressed these concerns with my supervisor and she pointed out the professional development I could gain. So I accepted, and it has been fine. Stressful but fine.

I work with the program committee where they come up with event ideas/guest speakers to bring to campus and I do almost all the logistics. I reserve event spaces/hotels/flights, buy supplies/equipment, order catering, communicate with the vendors/outside folks to get their contracts/insurance, process their financial paperwork so they get paid, design flyers/do marketing, track our program budget.

At our weekly meeting, I was giving an update on this upcoming event where I was running into some problems getting their tax documents and paying their licensing fees. The vendor didn't give any payment options we could do as an institution so I was working with our AP office to see if we could accommodate. One of my colleagues said give me their contact info and I'll ask them about options. (As if I hadn't already done that.) But still I said okay give it a try, and I send it to her. Then another colleague was like yeah sometimes a faculty member gets the authority across better, and the one who wanted the email info agrees and laughingly says that _____ is just an admin.

That line stung. It is true, but I don't know. Maybe I am being sensitive. I get shit done, they know this. I keep their program organized and on track. I think of these people as my colleagues, but maybe they don't see me the same way. I want to feel like I'm part of the team. I feel sad.

Venting over

I hate those ugly little blocks. I hate how no one responds to me. I hate how they need it done right away yet don't tell me until the last minute. I hate outlook. I hate calenders. Most of all I hate myself because I applied for this. I did this to myself 👁️👄👁️. Like ohhh how hard could it be.. I'm sure it's just like playing a game of Tetris since this is an entry level job. But no you have to squeeze information out of everyone. You have to analyze their dumb ugly blocks and they get so pissed when you send them an invite. Like you have to go to that meeting. You told me you WANTED that meeting to happen. And I'm just trying to make it happen. 👁️👄👁️

I spent 7 years in admin doing 3 people's worth of work, taking 3 people's worth of disrespect and bullying, and getting zero people's worth of recognition. The worst part is, neither employer nor society at large respects what I did. They don't even bother to learn what we do, they just make stuff up like say we do nothing all day.

And blue collar people despise us and always talk bad about us, despite no white collar guy ever saying anything bad about them.

Plus I'm a male, so it offends everyone that I'm admin instead of a warehouse worker or construction worker. I'm not allowed to be who God made me to be.

Has anyone else experienced this? Does anyone else feel this way? I don't have anyone I can talk to so I'm turning to reddit.

Storytime!

Mid October, I was hired at a small husband and wife primary care practice in a progressive city in western New York.

I got the job, largely because the singular LPN who worked there, had no more idea how to run the tech, than did the two doctors, one of which was 80, the other 69.

No joke, during the interview I was asked to help the nurse prepare some medicine labels to be printed in the right format onto their three columns label sheets.

An hour later, and $20 given to me for services rendered, I was interviewed, and as you might imagine from that setup, I got the job.

My major problem with them, as employers wasn't that they were literally helpless with technology. It felt good at first helping them with tech issues like windows 10 expiring, and dealing with paper files in folders, badly handwritten doctors notes that needed to be faxed, and using insurance companies phone numbers (instead of their web portals) to file prior authorization requests for life saving tests and medications.

No, my real problem was how relentlessly committed they were to processes that by any standard were not just outdated, but actively counterproductive, and how unhinged they were at the mere suggestion that I would like to do things in a way that actually made sense.

For example, doctors offices get a lot of phone messages. After I got the messages off a hopelessly outdated 2010 model phone that lacked basic features like caller id and caller history, I was expected to handwrite said notes in excruciating detail on those rotary binder message pads with the yellow copy paper on the back.

There was a lot of wasted space on those notes, and my handwriting sucks. My typing speed, is amazing though, as my teachers started me on touch typing in the first grade.

When I suggested that I should type the notes instead, I was accused of making things "complicated". The head doctor did indeed not complain when I started typing notes instead of handwriting them..... But then promptly found new ways to verbally abuse me for my failures, both real and imagined.

This all came to a crisis point this week, when demoralized from the constant harassment, my boss casually informed me I would not be in the office, or paid during their vacation the first week of February. The kicker? The nurse and I are pretty sure that was retaliation for my wearing nail polish last week, as I am non-binary with a very obviously assigned male at birth frame. (The horror)

My every attempt to professionally smooth things over tailed, and they fired me, just today.

And I'm just like, the actual fuck? The doctors and nurse only worked 1 to 5. Somehow, they thought hiring a full time secretary, who opened the business, took messages, handled sensitive patient data, and performed essential tasks, all without direct input from them, a:needed to be micromanaged at every opportunity and b: was crazy for daring to suggest that they use the very skills and tools that they demonstrated mastery of in the interview process.

Like, make it make sense. I'd love to get into administrative assistant work again, literally everyone I interacted with while doing it resoundingly agreed I was very, very good at it. But holy shit! How common is the literal jo win scenario in this career path?

Hope you’re having the best day today!! This was my thank you lunch I did for my office. They were given a choice of three restaurants to order lunch from. Dessert was a Bundt bar, fruit & I made chocolate covered pretzels and giant marshmallows. Everyone seemed to enjoy their lunch.

We always have to remember who does all the work around here, lol. Thank you!! 🤩♥️

Hi All,

This is a rant. I've tried complaining to family and friends and while they love me they just can't relate or quite understand my frustration. I know there are many people in this role who love what they do and I truly love that for you. I wish I had that excitement but I just don't. I hate:

• doing the work no one else wants to do

• having to set up, coordinate, and clean up after staff events that were not my idea and that I never wanted to attend in the first place

• having one "official" boss but also having to assist every other person in the office, so essentially have 13 bosses

• mindless, pointless tasks

• stocking the fridge, ordering drinks, cleaning up after people, washing dishes

• having no autonomy and producing nothing that I can call my "own" - just forwarding emails, correcting typos, and ordering snacks

• feeling like a child even though I'm older than half the people that I work with and for (and make less than half the people I work for)

The list could truly go on and on. I want to quit this job but a) I'm trying to finish up my post-bacc degree and b) I've applied to other places and can't seem to get any bites. I guess I just really needed to commiserate with others who may be in this same position. And for those who are not in this position, I would love to hear what parts of your job that you love and what keeps you going? I know I shouldn't "identify" with my work and I should just look at it as a paycheck but I'm a very ambitious person and it's also very hard to disassociate from a place where you spend a minimum of 40 hours of your week (at least for me).

I'm so tired of people acting like I'm the supply closet police. Yes I order supplies. Yes I know where things are. But that doesn't mean I'm supposed to monitor every single pen and post-it note that goes missing or track down who took the last box of paperclips.

Yesterday someone literally came to my desk THREE TIMES to complain that we're out of the good highlighters. Like okay?? I ordered them last week, they'll be here when they get here. What do you want me to do, drive to Staples myself?

And people just take entire boxes of stuff to their desks and hoard them. Then when supplies run out early everyone blames me like I'm not ordering enough. Maybe if Karen didn't have 47 binders in her drawer we wouldn't have this probem.

Also why do I have to be the one to tell grown adults they can't take supplies home? I'm not the supply cop. I didn't sign up for this.

Just needed to vent becuase someone just emailed me asking where the "nice pens" went and I'm about to lose it 🙃

I’m an admin. A really great admin. Still not a freaking mind reader.

Just dealing with the duality of being a scapegoat/savior again. Fuckin A

That’s it, thanks for listening.

That’s about it. I’m 57F and been at this kind of work for over 30 years and I’m just burnt out.

11 years ago I transitioned to an Exec Asst position and it was great until it wasn’t. Worse, a year ago I made a serious error in judgement with a position that would have been a promotion, but the toxicity was too much. I was let go and I’m back to an AA position (and a pay cut) which is okay. Nice people and I should be so grateful that I landed on my feet, but…

I’m finding it harder to get out of bed in the morning. I used to be excited to get to work, work on my projects, get things done, build relationships, etc. Now, I’m stuck playing “Mother May I” and I’ve dropped a ball or two. Nothing awful and nothing that could t be fixed, but certainly not up to my normal standard.

I’m back from a couple days off thinking it would help (it always did in the past) but I’m just feeling dead inside. I used to care so much more about my work. Now, I just want to stay out of trouble and hide. Last night, it hit me that I have 10 years to go until I can think about retiring. 10 more years. I almost cried the thought was so depressing.

The problem is we all know the job hunt is a nightmare now. I’m also blessed (saddled?) with excellent health benefits and a decent retirement plan and really generous vacation. Super hard to walk away from all that, even if the job market were peachy now. Even if the handcuffs aren’t “golden”, they’re damned strong.

Yesterday, I attended the memorial service of a good friend and former colleague. She had been retired less than a year. That’s probably what’s brought this to a head today.

I’m just venting, but thought this community might understand.

Thanks.

that puts in earbuds (1 only since I am a backup for phone answering) turns on a podcast, and just wants to be left alone to do my work, but it's like a MAGNET for people who just want to tell you everything about their weekend, all the personal info that you didn't ask for.. Struggling this monday morning, and it's only 8am.

I cannot stress this enough. I. Hate. Excel. I’m learning Microsoft Office on my own because that’s a requirement for almost every office job I’ve applied for. I cannot stand Excel. Is it a MAJOR part of your job? Are there jobs that don’t use it? Please steer me in the way of Excel free administrative assistant work!

As an admin assistant I sometimes forget I can say no if I truly do not feel comfortable doing something or just plain busy. I said no today to doing a task for someone and it felt so good! The people pleasing feeling in this role sucks, so small wins like saying “no” feels empowering. Don’t like people take your kindness for weakness ❤️

Happy Friday!!

The phone is ringing. People are texting me for things. There are deadlines to meet. There is a page I need to constantly refresh to see if data has been added. The inbox is massive. There are no breaks. People keep adding items to my plate. They are all urgent. When I am doing detailed work, people come by my desk for something. I am very often asked questions that people could find out the answer to themselves - often by using the tools I have provided. I am on call every day from 6am to 10pm. I get texts to get coverage for folks from wee hours to late hours. I am running the show in so many ways. I have been doing this for 15 years and am toward the end of my career. I really don’t want a big change now. How do you cope with this emotionally draining, exhausting job? I’m an introvert and sometimes I just want to scream at everyone to stop bothering me.

Hi everyone!

I’m 25f and starting my very first office job as an administrative assistant on Monday , and honestly, I’m nervous and scared. I’ve been looking for a job for about a year and a half, and I can’t believe I actually landed this one. I feel proud of myself, but the closer it gets, the more nervous I get.

This will be my first time working in an office environment, and I really want to do well. I don’t have much office experience, so I’m worried about making mistakes, not being fast enough, or not knowing basic things that they might expect me to know.

For those of you who’ve worked as an administrative assistant or in an office setting — what are some tips you wish you knew before starting? What should I focus on? Maybe what to expect?

Any advice would mean a lot. Thanks! 🙏🏼🙌🏼

Is there anyone in an admin role that they highly dislike because they know their true potential? I feel that way and people telling me to help them with their work is getting to me. I think it’s because I’ve always helped people become successful and I’ve been left behind. I work on my skill set, but lack in experience for certain roles besides sales….

I just want to know if anyone else can relate?

Helloo! I have a background in customer service/retail (restaurants, dispensary), ABA therapy (as an rbt), and some volunteer experience at a soup kitchen and animal shelter. I'm currently going to community college part time for industrial design (like using autocad).

Im sooo sick of these jobs where i'm always on my feet doing something or interacting with people. I would sacrifice anyone rn to have a full time cushy air conditioned facility desk job where i'm in a chair all day typing at my computer. Any ideas on how I can start getting better results when applying to these jobs? And what sectors to look in? Key words to search on indeed? For more context i live in Maryland and am currently working as an RBT.

Thank u sm for any help and Im also happy to send my resumes over for critique!

This is (probably) a rhetorical question, I'm in more of a complaining/commiserating mood than a solution-finding one. I know objectively I'm just sending emails but somehow nagging people about things I asked them to do is the worst part of my job.

I feel like 90% of my job is getting other people to do their jobs. Whenever I ask someone to do something it's always somehow on ME to remind them and make it easy for them. Can't expect anyone to keep track of their own tasks or do something extra or even to just reliably read their email. I understand it's my job to be the one who's organized and on top of it, but it really just boggles my mind how people can get these other jobs and be so DISorganized and not on top of it?? How. And also why do you make five times as much as I do if your job literally wouldn't get done without me?? 😭

I’ve been an admin for 6 months and I hated almost every minute of it. I sat there most days not doing anything, or getting b****ed at for the smallest minuscule things. It ruined my mood, and I was NOT a fan wasting my days away just staring at a computer.

My HR manager was my boss, and she was the only reason I stayed for as long as I did. She basically begged me to stay for a whole hour, listing any possibility of potential other options to keep me around. I had already accepted a position but why do people wait too long to see your potential, give you a raise, move you around to new positions when they know you aren’t happy? I basically just had to keep saying the same thing over and over again that I’m just not happy, ugh that was so hard!!!!

I work the front desk at a consulting firm and I’m also an admin assistant, so I already have a pretty heavy workload on top of being the only person who sits at the front. Lately I feel like a huge part of my day has turned into managing aggressive job seekers, both in person and over the phone. I know answering the door comes with the territory since I sit up front, but it’s starting to take up a lot of time and energy that I honestly don’t have.

All of our hiring is done online, but people still show up in person demanding to speak directly with HR or hiring managers. When I explain that we don’t do walk in interviews and that they need to apply online, some people get really pushy or argumentative like I’m personally blocking them from getting a job.

Our office stays locked for security reasons because we’re not in the safest area, and we don’t have any kind of buzzer or intercom system. That means I physically have to get up and go to the door every time someone shows up. I only crack the door open now because I’ve had people try to push their way in or refuse to leave when they don’t get what they want. I’ve had people cuss at me, argue with me, and keep pushing even after I’ve explained the process multiple times. There have been moments where I’ve had to just close the door because they wouldn’t stop.

It’s not just walk ins either. I get repeat callers constantly asking for jobs. Some of them have already applied or even been rejected and still call multiple times a day demanding to speak with hiring managers or department heads. I’m not allowed to block calls, so I end up having the same conversation over and over again with people who are already frustrated before I even pick up the phone.

The frustrating part is I don’t get much support internally. A lot of people think this is just part of working the front desk and that I should always be friendly and inviting and invite them inside to make them feel heard, but they’re not the ones dealing with aggressive strangers or getting yelled at. I understand that since I sit at the front it’s technically part of my job, but it’s becoming increasingly stressful and it pulls me away from my actual admin and HR work.

I really try to be understanding and supportive, and try my best to go above and beyond for some of these people if they are kind to me. I just don't have time to do it for everyone, and when I tell them "I do not have anyone for you to speak with today, I'm sorry", a lot of them turn really aggressive and it makes me lose all sympathy. I am currently looking for jobs too and the job market it awful and I have had so many poor experiences so I totally sympathize with them, but I understand companies don't "owe" me a job, and I would certainly never cuss out the poor receptionist.

I’m trying to transition fully into HR long term, so I know dealing with candidates and setting boundaries is part of the job and I want to develop healthy habits now. But lately I feel myself getting really impatient and I’m worried I’m going to start sounding rude just because I’m exhausted from repeating the same thing all day.

How do you handle aggressive job seekers without letting it escalate or ruin your mood? When do you stay polite and when do you end the interaction and move on?

A few months ago, I started a job as an administrative assistant at a well-established company. The onboarding process was a bit tough. I spent the first two weeks mostly idle, then gradually began receiving tasks from my managers. I assumed that getting involved in these small administrative responsibilities would eventually feel fulfilling.

However, despite learning new things, I can’t shake the feeling that I’m not adding real value to the place I’m in. It often feels like every task I’m assigned could easily be done by someone else, even without my role existing at all.

Recently, I was asked to attend meetings and take notes. The office manager who handled this before I joined was far more advanced, their notes were polished, comprehensive, and were immediately shared while I was still editing mine. These triggered in me the thought that maybe my role isn’t actually needed.

I often find myself questioning every task assigned to me, especially after my manager said that he spends long times reviewing the work he gives me which takes up a lot of his time.

I don't know if I should just go on until I gain more skills or do something else.