My So-called Secretary Life

Long story short (yeah, right!), I’ve worked at my current place of employment 3 separate times in the last 10 years. Am I one of those hot-heads that can’t keep a job, a mid-lifer criser who is desperate for change, or a flighty employee who’s never satisfied so they move from one job to another? No – and if I tried to explain, it would only look like I’m trying to pass some buck that I don’t care to carry, SO…we won’t go into that (unless you all comment and BEG me to do so…arms can be twisted but only so far, ok?).


The first stint was back in 2000 after my first child was born. My title was “Music Secretary”. I was satisfied enough with my job, filing music, pulling music, copying stuff, more filing, preparing music for the orchestra/band/choir, and other various duties (ha, she said duties – sorry, my kids are into it so I had to drop to juvenile level for just a moment), and did I mention – filing. I had a couple of chiefs at the time to whom I answered. Liked the job, no problems really, but quit after my second child was born to attempt being a "stay at home mom".

The second stint was about 3 or 4 years later. I needed a part time job and they were gracious enough to mention to me that they could use a part time secretary. Title this time – Secretary of Outreach and Administration (and yes, for you English snobs – I realize that’s a sentence fragment – grammar schmammar!). I had a character of a gentleman for a boss, but we got along wonderfully and I grew to see him as a father figure (a very high-strung father figure). Responsibilities included gathering area maps, marking them for “visitation”, entering individual’s information into a database, updating this information, editing and updating a personnel manual (that is still under continual, eternal evolution), and again, various other duties as assigned. I was able to move from this job into one that I hoped to have for a while in hopes of “get my foot in the door” to a teaching career.

So here we are, third stint, and as you can guess, never achieved the career in teaching. However, I am here again, this time, as music assistant (whatever the “politically correct” title is – I’m happy with “music secretary”). Once again, I have a similar job description as before with a couple of additions and, of course, those “various other duties.”  It has been my experience that these “various duties” in the past have been pretty predictable and mundane. Contrarily, my current boss is proving to be, shall we say, a little on the UNpredictable side. Let’s see…shall we glimpse into the world that has become my secretarial adventure? Yes…let us prepare for the adventure...tomorrow. 

I did the chapter and/or Title thing with the “Food Oddities”, so this time, I will write in a series of, shall we say, “short stories”. Since I’ve already gotten a little long-winded (WHAT? ME?), I’ll just start tomorrow with my few little tid bits. (Long story short? No such thing with the bloodline from which I sprang!)