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JANUARY 25, 2022

I never worked from home, as my role as a receptionist/administrative assistant isn’t conducive to that. I am clean, perfumed, hair brushed, and dressed like everyone else here. It’s just one more thing to clean and pay for. I am a woman in my mid-twenties. Aside from the usual “are you feeling okay?”

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DECEMBER 6, 2017

In our new office, we have an administrative assistant who is amazing. She makes coffee, orders food, sets up for meetings, cleans common areas, orders supplies, liaises with the building manager, and makes sure things like cable and phones stay on. I’m not bothered at all by the change. I answer this question over at Inc.

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OCTOBER 18, 2018

A reader writes: I’m in a new role at a company (three weeks) and have struck up a great professional relationship with a VP who was recently hired to clean up that department. It’s the Thursday “ask the readers” question. We have been getting along well so far.

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SEPTEMBER 30, 2015

I’ve worked in a few offices over my 12-year receptionist/administrative assistant career, but this is the first time I’ve ever come across this. I practically take care of everyone in the house and clean/mop the whole house. I am furious over this! I work in her home, taking care of her special needs son.

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OCTOBER 26, 2022

A reader writes: Since early 2021, I have been working as an administrative assistant in a fairly specific field (think a specialized field within a larger industry). This post, can I tell my boss I’m a bad fit for my job? , was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.

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JULY 5, 2016

A reader writes: Several months ago, I was hired as an administrative assistant by a very small nonprofit. When they offered me the position, I was told they could only afford to have me work seven hours per week (they stressed this was a strict limit).

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FEBRUARY 20, 2020

I am the manager of a small group of administrative assistants, and we rarely have job openings. It was all very bizarre; on my last day she kicked me out of my cube to “clean,” and then told me to just leave the office early, when past employees who have left usually work the whole day. Here we go….

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OCTOBER 11, 2017

I have been in my role as an administrative assistant for about two years now. I woke up early and made breakfast for everybody, but my partner didn’t get up in time to be ready to continue the trip, so I woke him up and since it was the last day of our trip, asked him to clean up camp and head out to the office.

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MARCH 30, 2022

His very first day he was helping clean up brush along the edge of a mountain biking course. First day she walks up to the administrative assistant and asks for a list of who she gets to “boss around” (in those terms). He decides to use the second floor bathroom to try to clean them. We had a guy apply for a staff job.

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