Define: Secretary (see also Mother)

How many people work in your office?

If your workplace is like any standard small to medium company - there is a 'pecking order'.

The Boss (the owner or big dog).
The executive staff (the VP, Assistant Manager or Boss's Son or Daughter... you get the point).
The upper associates (the big earners - the ones who pull hard for big dollars for the company - sales teams or company leaders. In schools, banks or hospitals, they are the teachers, the nurses and the tellers...)
The 'life-rs' (meaning ones who have worked there for a hundred years in the same role).
The maintenance personnel. (the ones who keep the building looking shiny and running tip top)
The regular joes... people who are there to collect a paycheck and barely do more than come in on time, brush their teeth and tie thier shoelaces.
Then there is the pond scum, the mold that grows on pond scum and the spores that oozes out of the mold that grows on pond scum.

And then...

there are secretarys, executive assisants and receptionists.

(Hey, I am one and I've been one for a long time... It might be a tad dramaticized but it isn't far from the truth of the work force.)

We all know a great office assistant. This role is like the matriarch or mother of the family. They are the one who knows where the proverbial 'lost sock' is. (You know - who does the man of the house yell for when he can't find his good dress sock...'Honey, where'd you put my socks???') And like the matriarch of the family, it is publicly professed that she is the most appreciated person in the household but in truth not one tenth of what she does is known by those around her.

She is the one who directs traffic, answers calls, leaves messages and follows up to be sure everyone has returned those calls. She stocks the cupboards and fills the containers; orders the resources and invoices the companies. She is the 'banker' ('hey, ya got change for a five???'), the accounts receivable and accounts payable departments. She makes the deposits, orders the flowers, plans the Christmas and retirement partys. She is the forefront of the office; the first impression, the relationship builder. She remembers the names of the important clients as well as the names of their wives and where their children are attending university. She is the lead communicator, the computer expert and the office equipment repairperson. She probably does some advertising, or maintains the webpage and knows how to check the bloody voicemail. She makes the world greatest coffee and plans the occasional favorite lunch for those who are working so hard. She is calm under pressure, adept in first aide and the occasional illness, maintaining a stocked medicine chest for company use. She ensures that birthdays and special events are not missed and don't go unrecognized AND makes sure there is enough toilet paper and air freshener in the restrooms for the using pleasure of all. On top of that she is quite often the office counsellor (' Susie, YOU see how hard I work, he NEVER notices what I do!!!'), the last minute delivery person or driver... and the lovely one who gets all the crappy jobs that everyone else thinks that their day is too busy and important to accomodate. Like filing their own paperwork.

And she does it all for a fraction of the pay of the rest of the staff.

Being the office assistant is much like being a mother.
They are both roles that can be deemed as lower level or mediocre.
They are both roles that can go unnoticed, unappreciated and unrewarded.
They are both roles that require execptional flexibility, organization and commitment.
They are both roles that if you CHOOSE them as your path, you could be viewed as less educated, not driven or results oriented or achievement motivated and most certainly not as important as anyone else in the room.

Why is it that support roles such as these are so undervalued?

In a culture that insists on compensating people based on performance, why is it that these positions are ones that should be done with an open heart, a smile on your face, for the good of all others however, the person IN the role must have FEW expectations and be willing to accept unfair compensation for their efforts?

How's that for a rant?