[Brookhaven]

Well, I guess I’m a secretary. I take care of a gang of graduate students and am the only “staff” person there. I make the coffee for everyone, have for 25 years. The new boss didn’t seem to mind the coffee the first year, but suddenly he tries to beat me to the coffee maker to get his own, or hides his cup and I have to ask for it. It’s obvious someone has told him it’s not a good thing to let me get him coffee in the morning.

He's afraid of being accused of sexual discrimination.

Asking a secretary to get coffee is a hot button for feminists. Someone else in the building probably reported it to your boss' boss--"Did you know he's making his secretary bring him coffee?" Your boss got called in and read the sexual discrimination riot act.

A lot of women don't realize the mine-field men have had to negotiate. Do you open the door for a woman or not? Do you compliment her or not? Do you make an off color joke or not? Do you help someone--what, you think I can't do it because I'm a woman--or not?

Stop getting him coffee.

[CH3CN]

>>Your boss got called in and read the sexual discrimination riot act.

That sounds like a distinct possibility. Common sense is gone. We’ve built a system in which even courtesy has been destroyed.

Thanks all. You’ve helped me sort this out from angles I never imagined.