I’m all aboard Team “Befriend Your Coworkers,” but I mean that you should go to lunch together or maybe plan a happy hour. One Atlanta employee, though, went far above and beyond – she gave her coworker a kidney.
Donor Ceri McCarron and recipient Betty Egwenike worked together as archivists at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library & Museum for more than two decades, but while they were chatty and friendly at work, neither knew much – if anything – about the other’s personal life. Egwenike had been diagnosed with a kidney disease several years ago and had been forced to go on dialysis and wait for a transplant. McCarron discovered by coincidence that she and her coworker shared the same blood type.
The disease produces cysts in the kidneys and eventually causes the organs to deteriorate and stop functioning. By the time she was diagnosed, Egwenike said 55 percent of her kidney function was gone. “I was surprised she was actually going to do it. I was skeptical because you can change your mind at any time. I kind of stayed in the background because I didn’t want to be harassing her. I didn’t ask, it was out of her heart.”
One Travelocity.com employee has either the coolest or lamest job ever – I can’t really decide. The gnome who appears in Travelocity’s ads has become kind of a Flat Stanley (or the lawn gnome from Amelie, your call), shlepping around the world and having his photograph taken in all kinds of cool places. However, since a lawn gnome is, well, an inanimate object, a Travelocity employee has been deemed his “personal assistant” and is responsible for traveling with the gnome wherever he goes. This could be seen as the most depressing and lonely PA job ever, since the gnome can’t talk to you or hold your spot in line for the bathroom. However, this could also be seen as the best PA job ever, since the job entails traveling around the world – stops so far have included Cancun, Las Vegas, and the Grand Canyon – based on the place Travelocity readers select in polls.
So – let’s hear your thoughts in the comments. Is this a humiliating job that requires you to lug a gnome around the world, or a job on par with Australia’s Best Job Ever? What do you think?
Kendra was always my favorite “Girl Next Door,” despite her braying laugh, because she seemed to be the only one not playing a weird role or speaking forced dialogue for the cameras. Now, Kendra has her own spinoff that details her marriage to football player Hank Baskett and her impending motherhood. So what happens when you become big enough to get your own self-titled reality show? You get an assistant, of course.
Rather than go through the process of interviewing people, Kendra hired her brother’s girlfriend Maranie to be her PA. However, while Kendra liked Maranie’s good attitude and organizational skills, she didn’t really know how to be an assistant. Kendra, as far as I can tell, didn’t put a lot of effort into training Maranie, although she did ask for very specific things, so Maranie at least had something to go on. However, the relationship didn’t last very long – Maranie made it about three episodes before Kendra fired her for not helping out enough when Kendra prepared a big dinner for some of Hank’s teammates and their spouses.
It seems like Maranie is still dating Kendra’s brother, though – perhaps they could have called Bethany Hamilton and asked for her advice about keeping assistants in the family?
Last season, Ugly Betty ended with our longsuffering assistant heroine Betty Suarez being promoted to Features Editor at Mode magazine, thus qualifying her as a Former Assistant Done Good.
However, that left a spot open for a new assistant. Actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler, best known as Meadow from The Sopranos, will join the show next season as Daniel Meade’s new assistant. For now, the role is recurring, but there’s definitely room for growth. Let’s just hope Jamie-Lynn fares better on the show than Lindsay Lohan did (i.e. doesn’t get fired from the show before her storyline is over).
Bob Weinstein, the movie producer and one of the two bosses (the other’s his brother Harvey, of course) in Rachel Pine’s book The Twins of Tribeca, needs an assistant! The economy – or the string of Weinstein Company’s movie flops – has made Bob downsize from multiple assistants to just one poor, beleaguered, overworked soul. Gawker has the job description:
The ideal candidate should have excellent communication skills, excel under high pressure, and be motivated, dedicated and extremely loyal. This person will be representing the executive and the company, and must be professional at all times. This is a 24/7 job; you will be the only assistant to this executive. You must be available on nights and weekends, and expect to spend long hours in the office.
How can you tell when a (male) celebrity has truly made it? Easy – he ditches the woman who supported him when he was struggling in favor of a newer, younger model. Singing ventriloquist Terry Fator, who has been performing as a headliner in Vegas since winning America’s Got Talent, is divorcing his wife Melinda after 18 years of marriage so that he can date his onstage assistant, 21-year-old Taylor Makakoa (who uses the stage name Taylor Dew). Sounds like a prince. Here’s a clip of Terry performing on America’s Got Talent:
The first season of SoapNet’s Southern Belles: Louisville is over as quickly as it started, but the few episodes managed to pack in plenty of drama. The show’s resident personal assistant, Hadley (who worked for an unnamed film producer) made two big life changes – she got together with her longtime best friend Russ, who recently admitted his crush on her, and she realized that her assistant job was going nowhere and she wanted to quit.
In the premiere, Hadley said that she was “taking a break” from a PhD program and was doing the assisting job while she figured out her next move. Does this mean she’s going to head back to academia, or will she end up doing something entirely different? My guess is that if the series does well enough to get a second season, she’ll be “working” by filming the show.
Unless spoiled rich girl Shea gets her own assistant next season, I don’t know what excuse I have to watch the show now that Hadley has quit her job. You know, because I only watch TV shows and movies that have assistant characters in them, obviously.
Update: My friend B., the blogger behind STFU Parents, contacted STA and wanted to add the following new information to this post:
Cracked.com has a hilarious article about some of the worst workplace safety videos ever. They feature everything from vintage mullets (the non-ironic kind) to superthick Canadian accents to people being impaled. Here’s my favorite, which is about how to handle those dames in the office who just walk around in their skirts asking to be sexually harrassed.
You can see the others – plus entertaining commentary and carefully analyzed screenshots – here.
Just when I thought former Naomi Campbell assistant Rebecca White – who decided to announce to the world she’d seen Heath Ledger do drugs with Naomi just hours after Ledger’s death – she’s back in the news again. This time, she’s attached herself to the biggest story in the news, the death of Michael Jackson. TMZ reports that White is being sued by Jackson’s ex-wife (and mom of his two older kids), Debbie Rowe. White appeared last night on the tabloid TV show EXTRA and spoke about conversations she allegedly had with Rowe.
In a defamation lawsuit filed today, Rowe claims White defamed her when she went on EXTRA and said she has an email from Debbie saying, “Do I want the kids? Hell no. Does it look good for me to ask for them? Absolutely.”
Rowe claims the emails are bogus.
And, Rowe claims, White is like Zelig, surfacing in a number of high-profile scandals. The suit alleges White claimed to have been a personal assistant for Naomi Campbell back in 2001 and made allegations Campbell forced her to smuggle drugs.
Regardless what I may think about Debbie Rowe, I can’t help but think she has a point about Rebecca White. White does have an ability to try and get herself in the news whenever there’s a celebrity death scandal, and that reeks of insincerity.
The economy going south has meant that the number of ads for virtual assistants has skyrocketed. All kinds of individuals and companies are touting the benefits of virtual assistants, and – of course – pointing out that you virtual assistants are cheaper than the real kind, since you don’t have to provide a living wage or health insurance. However, while a virtual assistant can plan meetings and send emails on your behalf, there are plenty of things he or she cannot do, including:
Fetch coffee.
Fetch drugs.
Pick your kid up from school.
Take your dog for a walk.
Solicit a prostitute for you.
Stand there while you throw a coffee mug at him/her.
Grab you a sandwich while they’re on their lunch break.
Wait in line all night to get you concert tickets.
I’m all aboard Team “Befriend Your Coworkers,” but I mean that you should go to lunch together or maybe plan a happy hour. One Atlanta employee, though, went far above and beyond – she gave her coworker a kidney.
One Travelocity.com employee has either the coolest or lamest job ever – I can’t really decide. The gnome who appears in Travelocity’s ads has become kind of a Flat Stanley (or the lawn gnome from Amelie, your call), shlepping around the world and having his photograph taken in all kinds of cool places. However, since a lawn gnome is, well, an inanimate object, a Travelocity employee has been deemed his “personal assistant” and is 
Kendra was always my favorite “Girl Next Door,” despite her braying laugh, because she seemed to be the only one not playing a weird role or speaking forced dialogue for the cameras. Now, Kendra has her own spinoff that details her marriage to football player Hank Baskett and her impending motherhood. So what happens when you become big enough to get your own self-titled reality show? You get an assistant, of course.
Last season, Ugly Betty ended with our longsuffering assistant heroine Betty Suarez being promoted to Features Editor at Mode magazine, thus qualifying her as a 
Bob Weinstein, the movie producer and one of the two bosses (the other’s his brother Harvey, of course) in Rachel Pine’s book The Twins of Tribeca, needs an assistant! The economy – or the string of Weinstein Company’s movie flops – has made Bob downsize from multiple assistants to just one poor, beleaguered, overworked soul. 
The first season of SoapNet’s Southern Belles: Louisville is over as quickly as it started, but the few episodes managed to pack in plenty of drama. The show’s resident personal assistant, Hadley (who worked for an unnamed film producer) made two big life changes – she got together with her longtime best friend Russ, who recently admitted his crush on her, and she realized that her assistant job was going nowhere 
