As long as there are male bosses, and male customers there will be pretty secretaries.
I have a friend who is an engineer who would love to have a secretary. He is asked to do all kinds of things that would be easy to pass on to a secretary, leaving him free to do more engineering type activities.
Instead, these engineers bill out at $150-$200 per hour to do things that a secretary could do for a fraction of the cost. I think companies are shooting themselves in the foot by eliminating secretaries.
Booming economy in 2007. Back then, you could have a little attitude and, in you got fired, you could get another job in short order. Today, most people tread a little lightly, even though "the recovery is on track".
A lot of other guys in business I know still have them. There is always paperwork needs that needs done and in most cases, a real person needs to pick up the phone when customers call.
I have one that works for me that’s been here almost as long as me. Started out people in the group needed word processing, typing, etc. But now, with virtually everything done online now in the organization (timesheets, travel, ordering, etc.) there isn’t much use for a secretary. About all she really does now is make travel arrangements and answer the phone for most of the job. The rest of the time she drives me up the wall with all these questions about this or that because she doesn’t have enough to do.
My wife works for a multi-campus community college, the secretaries run the place. Administrators are constantly shuffling between campuses and between titles on campus, they usually leave the secretaries where they are. So if you go to see Administrator X there’s a really good chance there’s a really good chance they’ve been in that title on that campus for less than a year, the secretary has probably been there a decade though, guess which one really makes the decision on how your situation will be resolved.
The reluctant typist, who left out whole sentences and paragraphs and then blamed me for it.
The moody woman who was more interested in gossiping about her boyfriend with other secretaries than provide the assistance she was tasked with.
The petty, lying office obstacle who would run to the boss whenever she was asked to do her job.
In this day and age of political correctness and feminism, the last thing I need is a secretary!
A good secretary, administrative assistant, or executive secretary is a potent force multiplier. I suspect those who say they are not necessary have never seen a competent one in action.
When I lived in Francophone Europe, I used to laugh and laugh at the ads for secretaries wanted. They were still allowed (in contrast to the USA) to put up ads like this:
Seeking young, vibrant secretary. Must type x words a minute, have a pretty smile, be between 18 and 25 years old, nice figure, pleasant personality.
A good secretary is worth as much as anyone else in the office. I’ve only had 3 truly outstanding ones in 20+ years and they measurably increase the productivity of 15-30 people they directly work with and help anyone in the company as asked and sometimes proactively. I’ve had about 5 others who may as well not be there - if the boss learned to use the calendar they wouldn’t have a reason to work.
One thing I’ve noticed is that the good ones like getting things on “secretary’s day”, the great ones love it, and the bad ones are offended (we’re “administrative assistants” so it’s not our day).
Oh, is that what they're calling it these days?
Ms. Klopfenstein is either fictional (to make a stupid point), or stupid. It is very common for bosses today to use the coffee issue as an illustration of their sense of fairness and respect. "We all chip in around here" sort of thing. It's an empty gesture, but a gesture nonetheless.
However, even with the alphabet soup of employment regulations restricting businesses from doing what they choose, there is still no law against requiring the production and service of coffee as part of your job. I can guarantee you if an executive (never mind a secretary) emailed a CEO and said "I'm perfectly willing to do 80% of what you expect of me", that executive would be out on her ass in less than 9 minutes.
