Crocs are one of the scourges of humanity. They come in bright colors that look good on no one, are made of this weird hard plastic that is actually bad for your feet (despite their claims that Crocs are ’so comfortable’) and bad for the environment, and they are responsible for half of the abomination that is The Crugg. Now, the newly introduced hole-free Crocs At Work line is designed with the ‘medical professional’ in mind. “Available in black, navy and pearl, Crocs Specialist’ introduces fun and style into the workplace, is certified by US Ergonomics, is odor and bacteria resistant and can be easily cleaned with soap and water,” says a press release.
Look, fine, maybe nurses like Crocs because they do well on a hospital floor or something. Mario Batali thinks they’re great for chefs, although I suspect his endorsement of Crocs as kitchen footwear is a cover for his absolute lack of style.
Would you be able to get away with Crocs as acceptable footwear in your office? If so, where do you work, and do you have photographic evidence?
If you missed the awesomeness that was Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog, you can check out the Neil Patrick Harris/Nathan Fillion musical on iTunes or hold out for the upcoming DVD release. And if there’s anything cooler than those two stars singing about being superheroes and villains, it’s the fact that Michael Boretz is involved. Boretz spent five years as the assistant to Dr. Horrible (and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Firefly) creator Joss Whedon and was rewarded for his work by being named a producer on Dr. Horrible. As producer, Boretz had to do everything from hiring the art director to coordinating post-production, and he loved every second of it.
Boretz worked as a PA on the John Cusack thriller Identity before being hired to work for Whedon. During the five years he spent as an assistant, he somehow found time to write and direct Splitting Hairs, a short film that impressed his boss. Kudos to Boretz for his hard work, and for his richly-deserved payoff. And also, thanks for making me laugh like hell.
There are many ways to arrive at Save the Assistants. Perhaps you subscribe to our RSS feed, or read links a friend sends you, or randomly arrive here through Google. Either way, we’re always happy to welcome more beleaguered assistants into the fold. And we’re more than happy when you send us horror stories to print, or email us to say you quit your job and just wanted to share, or when you give us a heads up about some assistant-related story you think we should cover.
However, there seem to be some people who don’t get what this site is all about. In fact, quite a few of them seem to think we’re an employment agency. Many people email us asking us to help them find an assistant, or ask if we have Kimora or Diddy’s phone number so they can call and apply to be their assistant.
After the jump, an example (with names changed to protect the guilty) of how not to email STA.
Continue reading ‘how not to email save the assistants’
If you follow Kimora Lee Simmons‘ reality show Life in the Fab Lane, you’ll remember Kimora’s assistant Mallory, who was a staple of season 1. However, Mallory seemed to disappear without any explanation from the show or from Kimora herself. So, what’s a curious assistant-seeker to do? Ask the internet, of course.
Someone asked the ever-random Yahoo Answers, “What happened to Mallory?”
The response chosen as the best: “Seems like she got fired cause Kimora has a new assistant in training and an assistant. There [sic] both 2 black girls. Mallory smiled too much maybe Kimora did’nt like that or maybe Mallory got tired of her constant demands and quit. Trust me no one wants to be treated like that. It’s like everything Mallory did wasen’t [sic] good enough for Kimora.”
That’s not conclusive, but I guess for now it’s the most we’re going to get. Unless Mallory wants to call me. I wonder if she signed a non-disclosure agreement.
Wednesday is Hump Day, the sign you’ve slogged through half of the week. But this Wednesday, July 23, is also Insult Your Boss Day. MIT lecturer A.C. Kemp invented the holiday as a way to let workers vent about their boss-related frustrations. (Wouldn’t it be awesome if there was some website where you could do that all year?)
If for some reason insults related to your boss don’t flow quickly and easily, Insult Your Boss Day’s official website has some helpful snark tips. However, as an STA reader, I sincerely doubt you need any assistance. Frankly, around here every day is Insult Your Boss Day. That said, it’s about time somebody made up a fake holiday I could really get behind. I mean, at least this one has a goal other than selling Hallmark cards or making single people feel like shit for not having a Valentine.
These days, even internships at glamorous workplaces like magazines and fashion houses are so sought-after that you practically have to be a celebrity to get one. Ashley Olsen interned at Zac Posen while attending NYU, and sister Mary-Kate interned for photographer Annie Leibowitz. And you can’t forget about Sean Avery’s ‘internship’ at Vogue. And now another celebrity kid is taking a spot an actual journalism major would kill for: Frances Bean Cobain is interning at Rolling Stone for the summer. So how is Frances doing as an intern?
Page Six reports that Frances is not very popular with the other interns at Rolling Stone. They quote several ‘insiders’ who say “she doesn’t get coffee for anyone . . . calls in sick all the time and wears funny outfits.”
Are interns even allowed to call in sick?
I guess this is what happens when you allow not only a celebrity, but a 15-year old-celebrity, to be an intern. Maybe this is why Teen Vogue banned high school interns.
I am one of the seven people in America who didn’t go to see “The Dark Knight” this weekend. Luckily, the always-reliable John Brooks went to a midnight screening and reports back about Alfred (Michael Caine), the loyal assistant who helps Bruce Wayne and his alter ego, Batman.
Early estimates (source: my head) put box office receipts for The Dark Knight’s opening day somewhere in the 400 bajillion dollar range. That’s good news for the fake world’s most beloved fictional PA: Alfred Pennyworth. Since I found myself with nothing else to do at 12:01 AM on Thursday night/Friday morning, I casually decided, purely on a whim, to see this largely overlooked little movie from the guy who made Memento.
Part surrogate father, part loyal servant to the great, bi-polar, largely insane avenger for justice, Bruce Wayne (known by night by his stage name “Batman”), Alfred finally gets the praise, screen time, and the chance to utter all the best aw-shucks words of comfort to Mr. Childhood Trauma he so richly deserves.
Continue reading ‘guest post: alfred, best assistant a (bat)man could ask for’
I was really excited when I heard the news that Joan Jett was going to play a character based on slain realtor Linda Stein on an episode of Law and Order: Criminal Intent. The episode aired last night on USA, and was disappointing, to say the least. It’s pretty standard procedure for L&O to take “ripped from the headlines” storylines and then add some twists so that the plot doesn’t exactly mirror the real-life event. However, this episode mangled the plot so much that Joan Jett was barely featured. Her character was already dead when the episode started. She appeared in a short flashback scene (a tape from her character’s TV talk show that was taped the day before she died). The Natavia Lowery subplot where her assistant was a suspect got cleared up within the first 20 minutes of the episode. The rest of the hour was based around the ongoing twists and turns of Jett’s character’s son and next-door neighbors. The episode wasn’t a total wash, but if you went in hoping to see more of Jett (as I did), it was a big disappointment. And it didn’t even have Vincent D’Onofrio in it.
Remember like a million years ago when music producer Phil Spector was charged with murdering B-movie actress Lana Clarkson? Well, it wasn’t actually a million years ago–more like five. But since then, he’s already had one mistrial, and California has had to retry their case against him. In order to prevent another deadlocked jury, the state’s upping their ante with some new witnesses. One of them is Norma Kemper, Spector’s former assistant. Kemper did not testify in the first trial but was recently contacted by the prosecution. Kempner testified that she witnessed Spector brandishing a gun during a dinner in 1996. She is now the sixth woman to testify since the beginning of the trial that Spector either waved a gun in her presence or pulled one on her.
Look, I’ve had a ceramic mug thrown at my head, but having a gun waved in your face? Not even Naomi has tried pulling that stunt on one of her assistants. Well…that we know about, anyway.
No, your job definitely does not pay you enough. Especially when you take into account all the unpaid overtime and boss-babysitting you have to do. But if you’re low on cash, might I suggest asking for a raise? Whatever you decide to do, don’t end up like assistant Monica Leissner of Dartford, England. The personal assistant, who worked at a law firm in London, developed a major coke/crack habit and started stealing money from her employers in order to pay her dealer. The kicker? It turns out that the company hadn’t yet done a thorough enough accounting of their bills to notice that the money was missing. Instead, Leissner got busted when she had a leetle too much to drink at a company-sponsored party and told her boss everything, from the fact that an ex-boyfriend had gotten her hooked in the first place to the fact that she owed more than 25K on her credit cards.
Continue reading ‘tip of the week: don’t embezzle, and definitely don’t tell anyone if you do’
