Monthly Archive for December, 2009

sta’s year in review

Published on December 31, 2009 in Week in Review. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

2009 has been an interesting year in assistantland. Here are some facts and figures:

The most popular post of 2009 was actually a post from 2008 – the post where I announced that Kathy Griffin’s first assistant, Jessica Zacijek, was leaving her job. The #2 and #3 posts were from this year, and they were also about the Jessica/Kathy situation.

The most popular tag of 2009 was “Office Politics.”

The most popular category of 2009 was, as it has been every other year since the site launched, “Horror Stories.” Refresh your memory with the story of the office Halloween grinch and a boss who earned the nickname Miranda Priestly 2.0.

The most popular celebrity of 2009, after Kathy Griffin of course, was Christian Bale. His former assistant Harrison Cheung’s tell-all to the Mirror and the story about Bale’s wife being the former assistant to Winona Ryder made him a popular guy on STA. The gratuitous hot photos probably didn’t hurt his ranking, either.

The most controversial post of 2009, by a landslide, was a post about Susan Boyle getting her very own assistant. Some really militant Susan Boyle fans – some of whom had the same IP address – thought it was impertinent of me to suggest that Susan should be nice to her assistant.

As for my own personal favorites, my new favorite tag is “Post Ideas from My Mom.” My mom is a regular reader of the site and occasionally sends me links to things she thinks I should write about here. Lots of them end up on the site, such as this story about a secretary who got fired for eating the boss’ sandwich and this post about a Texas office who adopted a cat as their mascot.

Thanks for a great 2009, and I look forward to an even better 2010.

evil boss alert: tyra banks

Published on December 30, 2009 in Assistants in the News. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Tyra Banks announced yesterday that her self-titled talk show would be ending this season. That announcement was reportedly news to the show’s crew, whom she neglected to inform separately. Many of the show’s crew were from L.A., where the show had originally been based before Tyra worked out a deal to get more money for herself if the show was in New York. [In case you're wondering, she did not offer additional pay or moving expenses for the crew who opted to move cross-country with the show.] Now, several former employees have dished to the New York Daily News about Tyra’s reign of terror:

“There had been high turnover of employees for years,” a past crew member says, insisting that many people quit after just a few months because it was “pretty difficult to work for Tyra.”

“She and the higher-ups on the production staff could be extremely brutal,” the source says. “She really is a diva.”

“When the show moved from L.A. to New York, several staffers weren’t even directly told about the change – they heard through the grapevine that it was going to move locations. Even so, a lot of those people gave up their lives on the West Coast so they could continue working for the show. Now they’re out of luck.”

I thought in spirit of today’s post I’d pull some old Tyra-related stories, including the one about the truth behind her “apartment makeovers” and this one about a former assistant suing her. Enjoy!

elisabeth moss, assistant once more

Published on December 29, 2009 in Fictional Assistants and Video. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Elisabeth Moss may be a brilliant actress, but it seems like her success as Mad Men’s secretary-cum-copywriter Peggy Olson could be backfiring for her. Since the show has started, she’s been part of two other high profile projects – and she played an assistant in both of them. First, she costarred with Raul Esparza and Jeremy Piven in a Broadway production of David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow, which concluded with Piven’s hilarious fake “mercury poisoning” incident. Now, she’s in the new Sarah Jessica Parker/Hugh Grant vehicle Did You Hear About the Morgans?, where the two actors play a couple who accidentally witness a murder and are placed in the Witness Protection Program. Elisabeth plays SJP’s character’s assistant. First Jennifer Hudson and now this – how does Sarah Jessica Parker keep getting such high-caliber actors to want to play her second banana?

Anyway, Elisabeth is pretty awesome playing non-assistants too. I loved her as Zoey Bartlet on The West Wing (minus that whole terrible storyline with the gross French boyfriend and the kidnapping), and recently she did this great Funny Or Die video with now-husband Fred Armisen:

advice from the person interviewing you

Published on December 29, 2009 in Survival Guide and Tip of the Week. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

In the semi-regular feature here at STA, “The Other Side of the Aisle,” bosses get a chance to talk about work from their perspective. Here, one boss (we’ll call her “Cheryl”) talks about her experiences interviewing potential assistants and gives helpful pointers about what bosses want people to say or do in interviews.

__________________

As someone who interviews 15-20 people a year, mostly for part time admin positions, I see a variety of folks come through my office: some who think they have found the perfect job, others who are just simply in need of anything that will keep them busy or pay the bills. The following are a variety of patterns I have seen over and over again – they are truly meant to help people like you who are on the search. It may sound strict, but when you get over 200 applicants for one position, it’s the little things that stick out. Here are some simple tips that anyone can use to set themselves apart.

If you read this and these things sounds super crazy obvious, all the power to you- you’re probably already getting to the top of the resume piles!

DO: Follow the instructions on the job posting.

AND: If it says no calls, please don’t call. Even if you are super-qualified and experienced, it will likely get your name on a list of people who won’t get interviews because why bother interviewing someone who can’t follow directions?

DO: Show up on time for the interview.

AND: If you get to the area early, grab a coffee nearby or take some time for yourself to transition into “interview mode.” More than 15 minutes early is overdoing it – it’s tacky and if you’re interviewing at a small office, your presence can actually be awkward for those who are about to meet with you. If the folks interviewing you don’t jump to take you early, especially if they are just finishing with someone else, don’t act disappointed. I suggest waiting patiently with a magazine in the lobby or simply reviewing your resume. Yes, excessive text messaging will give the impression that this is what you will do with all of your in between time, or when the boss isn’t looking.

Continue reading ‘advice from the person interviewing you’

this week in assistant lawsuits

Published on December 29, 2009 in Assistants in the News and Celebrity Assistant Soapbox. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

STA’s mascot, Naomi Campbell, is once again back in the news with some assistant-related drama. However, this time she’s the one suing instead of the one being sued. Naomi brought a suit against her former assistant, Vanessa Frisbee, who allegedly violated her non-disclosure agreement by selling a story about Naomi to a tabloid publication. Instead of waiting for a verdict, Naomi claims she’s “tired of litigation” (excuse me while I laugh hysterically for a minute) and has pulled the plug on the whole trial. That doesn’t come cheap, though – she now has to pay £300,000 for her and Frisbee’s legal fees.

In other European celebrity assistant news, U2 bassist Adam Clayton is pressing charges against his former assistant, Carol Hawkins, whom Adam alleges embezzled €1.8 million from him over the years. From the Irish Times:

Mr Sreenan [Clayton's attorney] said the matter went back to September 2008 when Ms Hawkins – who worked as a housekeeper and personal assistant – had come to Mr Clayton and confessed she had misappropriated €13,000 of his money. He had dealt with this in “a compassionate manner” and had altered his financial arrangements accordingly and kept her on in employment.

However, counsel said it had since emerged that Ms Hawkins, without the authorisation of Mr Clayton, had used his debit and credit cards.

On November 19th last, when allegations were put to her, she had accepted the cards had been used and money taken without Mr Clayton’s authorisation but she had disputed the sums involved, Mr Sreenan said. Her employment had been terminated.

Quite the celebrity assistant drama going on this week! I’m definitely keeping an eye on these two cases. Plus, did you know Adam Clayton used to date Naomi Campbell (see photo)? Isn’t it great when these posts come full circle?

horror stories from AOL users

Published on December 28, 2009 in Horror Stories. 0 Comments Tags: , .

My mom sent me this post from AOL that collects user-submitted workplace horror stories. Here are a couple of particularly horrible ones:

On Administrative Professionals’ Day (formerly Secretarys Day) all of the support staff got taken out to lunch by their bosses. My boss told me to make sure to save my lunch hour for her because she needed my help with something. I thought maybe just maybe she was going to surprise me by taking me to lunch to celebrate the occasion and thank me for all of my hard work. Even when we pulled up in front of her house I thought she may have fixed a nice lunch at her place. Nope, she just needed me to help her put flea collars on all six of her cats. – Submitted by Nancy

My worst boss owned a printing company. He was trying to attract a new client. The client was a catholic seminary. The day before the client visit, my boss hung up crosses all over the company from the front door to the bathrooms. – Submitted by Karen C

The worst Boss we have installed microphones (bugs) in our cubicles so he could listen in, when we figure out the hidden microphones we started talking in codes or tune in a small radio and tune it to all talk station this drove him nut’s, he took the radio away but we still talk in codes till he got fired for being drunk on the job. (Yeah) – Submitted by Jimi

intern commits cardinal sin

Published on December 27, 2009 in Interns. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Internships at fashion magazines are among the most competitive and sought-after internships in the world. However, one fashion intern might be in trouble after this story made rounds online:

Outrage at Grazia magazine after an intern sent out regularly to buy skinny lattes for the beauty desk announced at the end of her stint on the mag that she had in fact been buying them all full-fat ones. [Gawker via Media Monkey]

Or maybe she’s trying to subvert the paradigm and defeat the system from within? That would actually be awesome. If that’s true, she can be my intern anytime she wants.

good news for your job search

Published on December 22, 2009 in Junk Drawer. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Looking for a new job in 2010? Well, here’s some good news – one of the ten best professions for job prospects next year is Executive Assistant. In other words – you!

Here’s what Careerbuilder (via Robert Half International) has to say:

Companies with leaner teams are looking for employees to take on a wider range of duties. Executive assistants who can wear many hats, support multiple managers and adapt readily to change are in particular demand. These individuals are likely to see starting salaries of $35,000 to $47,000.

In case you didn’t catch that, it’s a fancy description for “Combo Job.” But hey, at least it’s a job. If you’re thinking of switching careers, this list seems to indicate that you should probably check out IT or financial services.

rachel mcadams dating assistant?

Published on December 22, 2009 in Assistants in the News. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Normally, when a famous person dates a celebrity assistant it’s a male celebrity and a female assistant (cases in point: Christian Bale and Sibi Blazic, Alejandro Sanz and Raquel Pereda, etc), which is a power differential I’ve never been entirely comfortable with. However, according to the New York Daily News, actress Rachel McAdams might be doing her part to buck the patriarchal trend. She’s reportedly dating Ben Jackson, a former model and the personal assistant to her Sherlock Holmes costar Jude Law. Sadly, the paper does not have any photos of said former model, but if I can get my hands on some I will definitely be posting them later.

assistant, heal thyself

Published on December 21, 2009 in Polls. 0 Comments Tags: .

When I was an assistant, my entire day consisted of organizing my boss’ life. I had dozens of phone numbers – for his wife, his accountant, his lawyer, his best friend, etc – committed to memory. I spent hours arranging his travel, buying his kids’ birthday presents, keeping him on time for appointments, and prepping him for meetings. If you’d seen me at work in full on assistant mode, you would have thought I was a really organized person. The thing is, though, that I was so good at being his assistant that I had absolutely no energy left over for myself.

At home, things were really different. I would go to the grocery store without a list, only to come home realizing I’d forgotten some important ingredient. My room was a mess. I let dishes pile up in the sink until my roommate had to flat-out tell me he wasn’t going to do them for me. I was often late to meet people because I couldn’t keep my own schedule organized. It’s a sad and scary truth: assistants spend so much time running another person’s life that they often don’t have the time, energy, or incentive to run their own.

Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever been so good at your job that your own life faltered or had to take a backseat? Tell me your stories.