Treated like a secretary

[Krisle]

Am I the only accountant treated like a secretary? It has happened at the last two jobs I have had. I am asked to scan papers for my boss, make copies, book his hotel when he travels etc. Right now, I am the only person in our office. My boss works in a different country and everyone else has left. However, before they all left, all the sales guys would ask me to book meetings, hotels, dinner reservations etc. for them as well. Wanting to make a good impression when I first started, I did these things. We didn't have a secretary and I was the only woman in the office.
Every time I would bring this up to my boss that I felt like I was being treated like a secretary, he would just call the sales guys sexist pigs and tell me to say no to them. Well my boss does the exact same thing. It is just that he is my boss and it is a little harder to say no to him. I have begun saying no a lot more, especially now that I am also leaving, but if this is what it is like as a female accountant then I don't think I want to continue in the profession. I studied accounting because I love numbers and I thought it was a lot of fun. Now I find I spend half of my day writing emails on behalf of my boss or doing assistant work for him because he is too lazy to do it himself.
Please, tell me it gets better. Tell me this is not something to expect at every job. I am currently studying for the CPA exams in hopes that when I move back to the states, being a CPA will give me a little more respect.

 

[Wallis002]

That does sound frustrating. I have not had that experience and I hope you find a position in a company that treats you better.

 

[kirby]

question 1 - what country are you in now?


And as to your question, it is LOTS better in the states than what you described. Partly due to anti-discrimination laws and partly due to some enlightenment on the part of everyone. Certainly, the size of a company helps to avoid this as a full on HR dept will be on the alert for these kinds of things and will provide trainings to avoid lawsuits. So welcome and I hope you will very soon leave that disaster.

 

[Bad Medicine]

Am I the only accountant treated like a secretary? It has happened at the last two jobs I have had. I am asked to scan papers for my boss, make copies, book his hotel when he travels etc. Right now, I am the only person in our office. My boss works in a different country and everyone else has left. However, before they all left, all the sales guys would ask me to book meetings, hotels, dinner reservations etc. for them as well. Wanting to make a good impression when I first started, I did these things. We didn't have a secretary and I was the only woman in the office.
Every time I would bring this up to my boss that I felt like I was being treated like a secretary, he would just call the sales guys sexist pigs and tell me to say no to them. Well my boss does the exact same thing. It is just that he is my boss and it is a little harder to say no to him. I have begun saying no a lot more, especially now that I am also leaving, but if this is what it is like as a female accountant then I don't think I want to continue in the profession. I studied accounting because I love numbers and I thought it was a lot of fun. Now I find I spend half of my day writing emails on behalf of my boss or doing assistant work for him because he is too lazy to do it himself.
Please, tell me it gets better. Tell me this is not something to expect at every job. I am currently studying for the CPA exams in hopes that when I move back to the states, being a CPA will give me a little more respect.

I know this is an ancient post, but hey, wth.

I think it depends on how big the company or business is. If it's huge, then, yeah, accountants get to do just accounting, but small businesses still have to get everything done, so people have more than one role. I can understand a woman might be hyper-sensitive to being treated like a secretary, but one person businesses treat themselves like secretaries, janitors, and everything else because they have to do EVERYTHING, so when the business grows to only 2 or 3 people, it's probably not fair to expect the owner to keep scrubbing toilets, counting petty cash, booking everyone's hotel reservations, etc ... s/he is going to delegate some of that stuff out to other people. I think its completely unrealistic to think that you can be a part of a really small business and do nothing but book keeping and accounting, you'd be sitting there playing solitaire all day while everyone else was busting their asses doing a million other things.

 

[BillLumbergh]

The smaller the business, the more hats you will wear. Sometimes in small business "Accountant" handles anything and everything that has to do with money. Sometimes this can be a lot...

 

[Nora]

Yes, it depends on the size of the business and your work. Are you just responsible for recording transactions (basic bookkeeping / junior accounting functions) or budgeting and management decision making (senior accountant functions)? Some job tasks can roll over to other employee's work depending on your job role and the size of the company. You said there's a secretary now so what you can do is to let your boss / colleagues know that you'll delegate the task to her when they ask and then just send an email to the secretary (cc to the colleague in question, maybe another copy to your boss) and do it in a professional manner, instead of in a complaining manner. After all, you want to leave a good impression even if you're leaving the company.

 

[me-too]

I also get this now that I expressed I have a problem with it but my boss is responsible for this since he shows a complete lack of respect for me in the workplace. But I am also offended that I work in a very sexist environment and feel that this was blatant sexism that is allowed in my negative work environment. I have 20 years experience in my field(not a secretary but a designer) and am 45 and my boss basically demeans me in many ways. I do a ton of work while he runs around taking credit acting like I do nothing and stabbing people in the back all day-he is very insecure and to him everyone is a threat. Anyway recently in a meeting he mentioned a coworker asked if I could order office supplies! I already expressed before that I had sent a package for him when he could've just picked up the phone and done it himself but-again- I was not a secretary. Again in this meeting I said I am not a secretary or intern. My boss then demeaned me acting like I do literally no work when I do all his and now saw that I was bothered by this the next day and demeaned me further by asking me to send an email telling one of my coworkers he could not make a meeting! I expect more of this as he is a complete a___. It is a nightmare weekly working with a psycho boss like this and I am working to get out quickly.

 

[kirby]

The worst thing you could do to him is to leave, as you plan to do! Go for it!

Also sending you private message. Log in to forum then click on envelope icon at top

 

[Asha Kanta Sharma]

There is no scope in working with so much disrespect. I do prefer a low paying job but high job profile which enlarges our exposure for a better career growth and prosperity. Even I have gone through such incidents in the initial career days of my life but I have taken all the learning out of it and moved on..........Learn all the things from the organisation and move out of this...