Quick! Read this before I feel guilty and take it down.

Disclaimer: If you are a potential future employer who has googled me and somehow ended up at this post, please know that I don't make it a habit to talk about work on this site...as much as I would like to ;-)

That said, allow me to momentarily throw caution to the wind and rant about work!

Because today, I am having management issues.

My new secretary needs to slow the f*** down!!(I am working on trying not to cuss so much in my posts, somebody give me a cookie....umm, make that a melted piece of brie, I hate sweets). I feel like I am spending so much time gathering things for her to do that I am not getting my own work done...it is REALLY annoying. She finishes stuff in like 5 seconds then immediately comes begging for more.

Case in point- I sent an email to her right before lunch yesterday asking for something, and when I got back from lunch it was already done. FOR GOD'S SAKE, TAKE A LUNCH BREAK! Same with her in-box...you throw something in there to be filed the next morning as you walk out at the end of the day, and she stays late to put it away. GO HOME, IT'S 5 PM!

It's not our culture here. I mean, we all work really hard and stay late if something *HAS* to be done, but staying late just so you can have an empty in-box? She even stayed late on her FIRST DAY. Does that impress me? NO! Why would someone stay late on their first day??? We like to eat lunches here and we like to leave at 5. I want healthy, happy, and satiated employees!

In some ways it's worse than having a total slacker....Ok, maybe not. But just the same, she is out of sync with the rest of us. In some ways, I think she is expecting a whole lot more of her job, when really--it is what it is....which is, IT IS WHAT I OUTLINED IN THE INTERVIEW. Nothing more, nothing less. It is doing mailings - lots and lots of mailings. "Gee, I can't wait to finish this mailing so I can do more important stuff." Ummmm......hello! And might I add that in her first week she suggested no less than 5 times that I buy a folding machine? Would you tell your new boss what to do?

My old secretary got it. If she needed something in the morning, she would say "Let me know when you get settled, I have something for you to review" instead of what I got this morning, when I was followed into my office with questions as soon as I arrived. Do I send a memo letting her know that I am not a morning person and not to approach me until I have had approximately 2 cups of coffee, checked my email, and taken my morning poo? I couldn't, that would be so Anna Wintour of me!

SIGHGHHHHHHHHHH.

Maybe I'm just not cut out for this management role, or maybe it's just all part of the learning experience. Or, maybe it's just flat-out making me look bad...maybe I'm the slacker! HA!

I am smart enough to know that this is all my problem as her manager, not hers. What do you do to rein in an over-achiever? And am I overreacting, it is really such a bad thing or did I just get smacked with the grumpy stick today?

***Later***
While I'm at it, I might as well get all this work stuff out in one incriminating post! If you are a major gifts officer, and your job is to personally negotiate big gifts with your prospects...gifts that you have no problem proudly taking CREDIT for, surely you can close the deal by following up on your own prospect's company match to that big gift. But nooooooo, why not treat me like your lowly assistant, which I am NOT, and have me do all of your matching gift legwork? Yes, I just loved sitting on hold for 30 minutes waiting for someone to answer YOUR question so you can take credit for MY work. Dumb biznatch. (Ooops. No cussing!) I mean, dumb poopooface.