Is this normal administrative assistant work? Are all jobs like this?
Just wondering because I am finding myself extremely unhappy. I’ve been administrative assistant to the regional president for 8 years. About 4 years ago we merged with another company. We started off with 5 admins, 1 passed away, 1 was let go and 1 is extremely useless and can never be found when needed so that just leaves 2 of us dealing with all this.
I cover the regional president and his whole team which consists of 2 team leads and their direct reports so i cover 10 people total.
Here is my problem. The rest of the office - about 100 other people - comes to me for every little thing. I mean it when i say every little thing. They don’t where the supply room is, they don’t know what to do when the printer jams, they don’t know what to do when someone is at the door, etc.
Me and the other admin have sent numerous emails that should be idiot proof. We’ve spent time trying to come up with an organized system and the more we do this, the more everyone seems to rebel against us and they become worse.
It got to the point where I brought it to my manager, the regional president and the highest ranking person in the region. When i bring issues to him he always acts as though he’s on my side but if someone goes directly to him he just volunteers me off. I feel this defeats the purpose as they often cut out the middle man and just dump on me directly. If I tell them no, they go around my back to my boss and give him a sob story until he volunteers me to assist.
I’ve had to deal with everything in this office, from new hires that I have nothing to do with, to conference room bookings when they can book it themselves, answering the door when my coworkers are there ignoring it, planning every stupid little party they “need” to have on top of various other things and my actual job.
I’ve had enough and I am seriously considering looking for another position elsewhere but i worry it’ll just be the same anywhere i go. I don’t feel like my boss protects me enough as he doesn’t want to deal with conflict. I feel burnt out constantly, overworked and no one seems to realize or care. No one ever asks me how I’m doing, weekend plans or even says hello to me first. I honestly feel invisible until something is needed then suddenly everyone needs me as they cannot act without me holding their hand.
I have a fantasy where i put in my two weeks to my boss and the team i cover and tell no one else. On my last day, I send an email to the rest of the floor letting them know how awful they are. I would start the email by saying “you are the worst bunch of people i have ever had the misery of knowing” and i would end it with “I hope to never see any of you again”. The entire office would fall apart without me because no one is willing or capable to any work that they deem to be beneath them.
Does anyone else have the same issue in their office? This just feels wildly unfair to me. Things never used to be like this.