SecsintheCity

The Secret PA: Day 615

Dues, Departures and Doughnuts

This post has been long over due, sort of like that credit card bill that had a way of getting over due without even telling you. I moved house and then went on holiday for a few days and then came back to find a note for an overdue credit card bill for a credit card that I don’t even use! Not sure what that’s about since I am very good at keeping things like that in order so it looks like I’m going to have to make a trip to the bank. I can feel my stress levels starting to rise and it’s only Tuesday!   

Things have been a bit manic at work lately which explains why I’ve gone AWOL for a bit. The bosses finally agreed on an office space up in Manchester which is where I’ve been over the last few weeks just trying to set things up. It should be fully functional in the next 2 weeks but there is still plenty of admin that needs to be sorted for the move but luckily I’ve got Whiz Girl to help. Tie Max’s stag do is pretty much organised and the wedding plans are going relatively well…or shall we say with minimal margins for errors and rounded corners instead of corners being cut. 

There’s been a fair few changes in the office, with people moving around and coming and going. Pink Streak has left and Raggie’s internship finished. Helper has moved back home to Australia so I guess we won’t be seeing any more of his post it notes about the office when things are fixed…..or helicopters in the canteen. The blokes in IT gave him a remote controlled helicopter which had a fair few rounds about the kitchen/lounge area at lunchtime courtesy of the number of blokes wanting to have a go. Whiz Girl and I happened to go there to make a coffee and voila! Boys and their toys. 

Clawly is back but seems quite changed and actually seems to like her job and doesn’t talk about leaving like she used to. She even seems ‘uninterested’ in the Curly Scarecrow. There’s a new bloke in Finance who decided it was smart to leave an invoice on my desk in my absence and couldn’t understand how it went AWOL by the time I returned to the office. 

I had a nice break for a few days in Brighton with the girls which was lovely but it just went so quickly. Scarlet and Pepper are up in Manchester for a couple of days this week and Tie Max is on Jury duty so in that sense things are a wee bit quieter. Some of the finance, sales and marketing teams are moving up to Manchester and new staff are being taken on so in that sense there’s been a bit of a restructure. I might have to look for a team PA for the Manchester office but for now it looks like I’ll be managing things from here. 

It’s so sunny outside today; hopefully it’ll stay like this over the weekend. Oh there’s Whiz Girl with our doughnuts and frappuccinos. Yum! Got to go get my caffeine shot before tackling some reports and sinking in to a world of spreadsheets.

 

More soon xx

 

  

    

     

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The Secret PA: Day 590

Gigs, Gags and Geiger!

As much as I love the sequence 4 day week- 4 day weekend – 4 day week it does result in a bit of a squeeze when it comes to fitting 5 days work into 4 days. Goodbye lunch hour, hello lunch bar i.e. 2 x cereal bars acquired via the kitchen vending machine with change collected from my purse, handbag pocket and desk drawer.

I also made two trips to Manchester before Easter to recci for office spaces before drawing up a shortlist to take the bosses to see. It wasn’t too hard to get it down to 5 because I had a pretty detailed spec. I won’t be spending a lot of time there but the bosses will make trips up and I will sometimes need to go with them so I did choose places that I liked too ;) Let’s see what the bosses think. Worst case scenario they won’t agree on any so it’ll be back to square one. That’s not unusual and when you have three to contend with….it’s hard to please everyone.

The Easter event went well and the intern’s gig was a bigger hit than I expected. It even went on to YouTube before midnight and a few clients are interested. Of course Scarlet wants us to own the relationship so essentially we’ll be working as her agent but then intermediaries play a key role in the way businesses develops today which is fine as long as your contract safeguards your spot in the middle. The risk is often that A and C will develop a relationship and you’ll get eliminated from the equation but that’s why it’s a key clause in contracts. And after all, we did give her the opportunity to perform and it was a company event funded by sponsors. The bosses are also well connected and we have the resource to support her and as they say “it’s all about the money honey” #cheesy  

The weekend went so quick, then again it always does when you’re having a good time. I spent it with family but we also had friends round as friends I grew up with were also back at their folks for the Easter break. Too much eating and too little exercise. I haven’t even been for Pilates in at least a month!

We did go shopping one day though which is exercise when it’s a marathon shopping day out. The best part was my bargain buy at Kurt Geiger. It doesn’t get better than 70% off really and I did need new pumps for work. I did go for a much needed mani pedi with mum after which was nice. A change from going with the boss where it’s her having a manicure and me writing notes. 

The only non relaxing bit of the weekend was Twitter’s April Fool’s joke that did cause me momentary panic.

For those of you who didn’t have the pleasure of being woken up by a text saying Twitter was going to start charging for vowel usage in tweets and then met by Twitter’s articulation of this new rule only to end up at the below, you saved yourself a few extra heart beats.

It was pretty ingenious though I have to admit. It’s been a while since someone came up with a good April Fool’s Day prank. I have to say that Grumpy Cat didn’t go down as well with me….and by the sounds of it with the bosses too…they were discussing it when I walked into work on Tuesday and they weren’t impressed. They were impressed with Twitter’s April Fool’s Day gag.

 

Anyway, I’ve got to head over to HR…. There a bit of reorganisation and movement of sorts happening in the office at the moment…

 

Fill you in later xx

 

 

  

    

     

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The Secret PA : Day 578

Printers, movers and bakers

When the arrival of a new printer becomes the highlight of your day you know you have well and truly embraced the admin side of your job. When you are surrounded by 5 others as you watch the printouts emerge stapled and hear a cheer it proves efficient admin is the backbone of every office. It needs to be done and it needs to be done right. To be fair it is a pretty cool printer. The staple feature is just one of the 40 features including a confidential document print option so you don’t have to dart to the printer before peeping toms get to it – quite important when you are the boss’s confidante.

I also had to co ordinate operation house move for Pepper which took most of Wednesday so I was glad to return to the office to find freshly baked cake on my desk, courtesy of Nancy. She just bought a new mixer and has wasted no time sampling it’s features. On Wednesday it was lemon drizzle. On Thursday it was chocolate and banana and there’s likely to be a few more to come. So much for my attempt to be healthy this week.

I wasn’t particularly good on Tuesday as we were taken to a Thai restaurant in Stratford-upon-Avon by a client and then Scarlet and I had dinner at a 600 year old pub The Old Tavern. The meeting went well and we were taken round to Shakespeare’s birthplace, Anne Hathaway’s cottage and the theatre to get a feel for the era and the costumes that the client wants to incorporate into the theme of the event. I have always enjoyed theatre and Shakespeare so I really enjoyed the tour and am very excited about this event and so is Scarlet. So much so that I started putting notes together that evening on the train home as Scarlet gave me a brief of next steps.

The event at the weekend went smoothly, except for one slightly tipsy boss but nothing gossip worthy. I met a few really lovely PAs: a legal secretary, 2 private PAs working for Entrepreneurs and 2 working in Fashion and one working for a Travel company. Networking is really important in the PA world because you never know where you might need a contact; always be helpful because you just might need the favour returned one day.

The intern Raggie’s last day is today and Pink Streak leaves next week. Clawly returns in a month so the temporary Clawly will be gone two weeks after the Easter break. She has got a couple of interviews lined up. I also got her to update her CV on SecsintheCity and link her LinkedIn profile to it.   

The bosses have decided to set up a new office in Manchester. Next week I have to go up to check out some office spaces and draw up a shortlist for the bosses. I’ve never had to coordinate setting up a new office so this should be an interesting experience. The bosses will still be based in London but there will be a small set up with a sales and account management team.

Oops, there goes my phone. I have to go for my weekly catch up with the bosses and then it’s home time. After working last weekend I am looking forward to a lie in this weekend. I might even have a skype call with Banker Guy. Not much to report on that front. It’s been a fairly dormant element of my life but I’ve just been so busy I haven’t had much time to really think about it to be honest.

 

Ok, got to run. Enjoy your weekend.

 

Xxx  

 

  

    

     

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The Secret PA : Day 672

Planning, spreadsheets and Shakespeare

Thank god for Kleenex balsam is all I can say – Oh and Scarlet of course! Had it not been for her full box of Kleenex I might have had no skin left on my nose after the sniffles last week which would have been a bit rubbish since I had a meeting with Scarlet and Curly and Curly’s divorce lawyer and I had to trial the canapés for this weekend’s event (for which I did need my taste buds.

I worked at home on Monday and came in feeling better and then the sniffles crept back up on me. Luckily they came without the cough and fever so I managed to get everything planned for the upcoming Easter concert and this weekend’s event.

The event this weekend is for clients and it’s a sit down dinner. I am quite looking forward to it as some clients will be attending with their PAs so it will be a good opportunity to network. The bosses are doing a short presentation and Q&A over aperitifs for which I had to put together the deck. I do love Power point and even more so with the recent spike in spreadsheet usage that has snuck into my list of tasks after taking on the role of PA to the FD.

This ‘spreadsheet usage’ has now gone beyond the regular call of duty to include ‘wedding planning’ spreadsheets. Yes, you guessed it. Tie Max is getting hitched to his long term girlfriend and has a stag do that needs planning and he wants my help on the wedding bits. Hen do’s I have done. Stag do’s? Never. It’s going to be an interesting … project? experience? mission?!  I’ve started looking at destinations but suggestions welcome  : )

I’ve also had a few run throughs with the intern who is performing at the Easter event – her first big gig! I think it’s going to be a good break for her.

I’m glad it’s the weekend soon but not ecstatic since I can’t have a lazy day at home tomorrow because of the event but I do have dinner with the girls tonight and get to drool some more over stag do destinations and hotels tomorrow morning. Yay!

Next week I am going to Stratford upon-Avon next week with Scarlet to meet with a client who wants to do an Opera style event featuring Shakespeare inspired operas next month to tie in with Shakespeare’s assumed date of birth 23rd April). They’re looking at operas influenced by Othello, Hamlet and Romeo & Juliet, and Sir John in Love by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1929). We’ve never done a Shakespeare themed event so I am quite excited.

 

Anyway, got to run and grab a quick bite before my weekly meeting with Scarlet and Pepper followed by a catch up with Tie Max but have a lovely weekend all.

 

Talk soon xx

 

 

  

    

     

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The Secret PA : Day 668

VIVA-voom, a Groom? and ‘sightings’

In anticipation of VIVA Forever in a few weeks the Girls from the Office and I have planned a mini pre Viva Party and as there are five of us, we’ve decided to go all out and actually dress a part each. Whiz Girl and I were invited to a networking event at the Theatre which included tickets to the show and I was gutted that it was a date we couldn’t make but as luck had it we got discounted tickets courtesy of the bosses – perks of the job! I really can’t complain. 

What I could perhaps whinge about is the sniffles that have had me go through several boxes of Kleenex this week and I had to work at home on Monday so as not to spread my germs.

Curly Scarecrow’s divorce is case closed but I have a feeling I might be engaged assisting the wedding planner for a certain to-be-groom whose name I cannot disclose at this point in time. I have known of PAs who have helped plan their boss’s wedding but in those cases it was the bride. I might have a rather interesting experience in store.

As for setting up a new office, it looks like the plans are going ahead but there is still a debate as to which of two locations it should be. As you may have guessed Scarlet and Pepper are both convinced that their choice of location is ideal. They do always come to a consensus so I’ll just have to wait and see.

My fulfilling of my New Year resolutions is going well. I think I have managed to get my head around the complex working’s of the mind of Tie Max, my accounting skills are getting better as I get through ‘Accounting for Dummies’, Exchanged 6 business cards at the last event….speaking of which I did actually make a more valuable contact then expected. Looks like my judgement and commercial prowess is getting better when it comes to choosing who to hobnob with at events.

I even found myself networking at a friend’s 30^th a few weeks ago (unconsciously!). What can I say, it’s become second nature so I don’t go anywhere without business cards. Whiz Girl doesn’t have her own and I didn’t actually for 6 months until I asked and I do think we PAs should all have business cards.

In other news Clawly is back in a few weeks and The Scarecrow and Temporary Clawly were spotted having a drink together at the pub after work when the Girls and I went for a quick one….but they weren’t alone - Pink Streak and Raggie were with them. The four have been sighted together a few times over the last few weeks and the latter have been sighted alone over the last few months during lunch hour. Pink Streak is apparently leaving soon and Raggie’s time is nearly up. She came as an intern and then was given a short term contract. I think my rule about not mixing up personal and professional life has always stood me in good stead so I don’t think I’d ever change that.

We have a concert night coming up before Easter and we did have a situation involving a client and a Mermaid (sorry, his PA dressed as a Mermaid!) at a similar do last year but I haven’t had any such scandalous affairs to sort out since I’ve also started thinking about my holiday but we have a fair few festivals on so it’s all hinged on work as I don’t think I could go away and relax when it’s busy and we have big things on. I can’t believe I am in my 3^rd year here – Time has gone so quick!

And so has my lunch hour! Eeeek. Hope you all had a good week and have something nice planned for the weekend. I’m going to a hen do in York and going to make the most of it as Whiz Girl and I have to work next weekend because we have an event on.  The bosses will be there too though and the intern is actually doing a gig. It’s the first time she’s part of one our events but I’ve got a good feeling about it.

 

Anyway, got to run.

 

More soon xx 

 

 

  

    

     

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The Secret PA : Day 663

Lost and found, laughs and lozenges

With my briefing notes all done I was quite glad for it to be home time on Friday and I have to say the event was more fun than I thought….aside from the initial getting-lost-in-the-cold-on-the-way-there bit. I have an inherently bad sense of direction and my 3G gone AWOL which only exacerbated the problem. We were only attending the event to network….but there may be a deal in the pipeline as I made some good connections which Scarlet feels have deal written all over them.

It’s been a bit of an eventful week between various lost and found incidents. To begin with, we got a call from a police station saying that a projector had been found on the tube. At first I was baffled as we wouldn’t transport projectors around town. I then discovered it was actually a display stand that someone had taken to an event and left on the tube. Who left it is still a mystery but at least it has been found.

Other lost (and perhaps not found) items include spatial awareness and general sense of reality of certain persons in the office. Nancy always jokes about my slight lack of spatial awareness but then she told us what happened with one of the marketing manager’s at an event the other day. Apparently they were stood by a table and Lia suddenly turned and said she was going to go and talk to ‘that lady in the blue dress’. Nancy couldn’t see anyone in a blue dress so was really confused until she realised at the same moment Lia did, that Lia had mistaken a cut out of a person for a real person. Poor Lia, she went red in the face and thought she was losing her marbles. Whiz Girl and I were in hysterics when she relayed the story.

In other news, the girls from work and I have got discounted tickets to see VIVA Forever and we have a few new hires on the Sales Team who I need to book in for a meet and greet with the bosses. That’s one thing I find quite nice about the company. We are also going to set up a new office in another city soon so I might have a ‘big project’ coming up. Is a move on the cards in the next few months? Who knows.

Pepper has been working from home with conjunctivitis this week and the new receptionist was off sick for two day so Whiz Girl was filling in for her. This fluey bug seems to be doing the rounds by the looks of it. I just bought some Echinacea, Berrocca and throat lozenges in the hope it’ll ward off any illness. I don’t really take sick days and if I had to I’d struggle to not work from home. It’s hard to decide what to do when you’re sick because if you take a sick day you end up stressing about what hasn’t got done and will be waiting for you when you get back and if you work from home you feel like you’re under performing because you don’t get much done, so it’s better to rest and get better so you’re up and running at full steam quicker.

Speaking of which, I think I need to refuel with a chai latte before this conference call I have to go set up and be on with Scarlet, Pepper (who is working from home) and a client.

 

Stay well and enjoy your weekend peeps xx 

 

 

  

    

   

  

 

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The Secret PA : Day 658

A much loved Monday..... and a couple of crises

When your week starts off with the arrival of 4 boxes of A3 paper, an invite to dinner with the bosses at a posh restaurant and positive feedback on a project you’ve just delivered you really can’t complain. I never thought I’d say this but sometimes I actually love Mondays. Especially when the weekend has brought nothing but disappointments including an out-of-stock pair of shoes the boss wants, the hairdresser taking an inch to much off your length, a hurried goodbye and an unfruitful house hunt.

The A3 paper crisis was a bigger deal than you would think, so I was very glad to see the A3 boxes bright and early on Monday morning.

I’m usually very organised but every now and then I feel like I am swimming amidst piles of paper so high that they’d give Renzo Piano a run for his money. Speaking of which, has anyone been on the Shard tour yet? I’m hoping I might get to once the Shangri-La opens; their event space overlooking the city sounds prett-tty awesome and we have a few biggies coming up over the next few months.

The client event I went to with the bosses earlier this week was great in terms of networking and the food wasn’t bad but it was in the evening and we didn’t get back from Dublin until late so I was quite knackered the next day. This evening I am off to another event, without the bosses but with Whiz Girl in tow.

Luckily this weekend is going to be fairly quiet, Scarlet is away in Paris so not much for me to do in the way of sudden emergencies. In other news, the new receptionist is getting on fine so far. No major slips but looks like she has a major crush on someone….take a guess. Must be something to do with the strategic positioning of the reception desk on the floor. Of course no one knows the inside story of this someone’s recent divorce. Then again, it was really more of a Ross-Rachel reality spoof than a tragedy and he has bounced back, or so it seems.

In other news, the intern didn’t make it through the audition but apparently it wasn’t her voice that got her eliminated but her song choice. She’s taken it pretty well and decided to start recording some demos and Scarlet has asked me to help with that because then we might be able to get her involved with some of the festivals in the summer.

I have also embarked upon a long-distance relationship as Banker Guy has moved to NYC for an undetermined period of time. Hopefully it won’t be long but seeing as he hasn’t been brilliant at texting of late I’m not sure what’s going to happen. This game of hot and cold and the distance he keeps putting between us when the conversation becomes intense is driving me nuts. And they say women are complicated. Was it too good to be true or am I just being paranoid? Only time will tell. Thankfully I have so much on at work that I don’t have much time to fill with senseless brooding.  

After two weeks of research and multiple drafts I finally got a deck that I’ve been working on signed off so that’s a relief and it looks like I might actually sleep again. Only kidding. Jokes aside it’s a pretty big deal because it’s for a meeting with a client we have been trying to work with for a while and it’s just round the corner so I had to nail it this week so I can start putting together the briefing notes.

In fact I’m actually going to get started on that once I’ve got a green tea refill. I’ve also got to do a briefing note for Scarlet for Whiz Girl’s appraisal next week and get some PO requests from Marketing signed off by Tie Max, get tickets booked for some of the sales team next week before rushing off to the doctor’s and then home to get ready for an event I am at this evening. It sounds like a fun one and I do like a bit of a dance every now and again and Whiz Girl is good company. 

 

Have a lovely weekend all xx

 

 

  

    

   

 

  

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The Secret PA : Day 651

Out of Luck, Lines and A3 Paper 

Thank goodness for work and weekends without work responsibilities. I now have sympathy for celebrity agents, after this weekend’s debacle with Scarlet’s rising starlet. For those who missed my last post this is the intern who got a call for a singing audition. I was the one entrusted with the responsibility of chaperoning her to the audition.

We got there, queued up and then found seats in the main hall to wait; but when we got flung into the “panic room” the floodgates opened. First she started freaking out about performing in front of the judges and started hyperventilating. Then she came out with ‘my boyfriend dumped me’ so near Valentine’s Day. There’s mascara running down her face and her perfectly applied makeup is all blotchy. Poor thing now has a makeup job that looks like something halfway between a Damien Hirst painting and Miss Havisham’s face paint.

I did feel sorry for her but I was fighting my own turmoil on the man front with Banker Guy having broken it to me the day before V-Day that he was moving to another continent. Not another city. Not another country. Another continent!

It’s not permanent but he doesn’t know how long for at this point. How was V-Day? For once I thought it would be a nice day but despite the effort on his part let’s just say it was bitter sweet with more bitter than sweet. For someone who can talk a lot I had actually run out of words, lines, even emotions to an extent I think. It’s time like these I’m glad my job is manic so I can drown myself in it and escape from the other life, if you know what I mean.

Anyway, after a lot of cajoling, consoling and several cups of tea I managed to get the intern to pull herself together and just in the nick of time. Whew! That was close. For someone who thought her luck had run out because her man walked out,  she actually did pretty well and her luck hadn’t run out after all.

Back in the office we had other shortages. I had to print off some mood boards for which I needed A3 paper and after 15 minutes of checking all the stationary cupboards, all the printers, Helper checking the storage room, someone else telling me to stick two pieces of A4 paper together I finally managed to locate some in a place I used to hide a secret stash.

Whiz Girl is usually on the ball with the stationery and I’ve never really had to ‘have a word’ with her about anything but this was a no no. It may seem trivial but it was something I entrusted to her because she had proved capable of doing a good job and human as we all are I couldn’t have this happen again. I always keep a secret back up for emergencies, something I did even before I had Whiz Girl and am I glad I did.

Other than that work’s been good and it’s helped take my mind off stuff. We have a few events coming up that I’m working on so it’s a busy few weeks ahead but that’s what I like about my job. I am looking forward to a lie in and a movie night in with the girls on Saturday though; it’s been a while since we did that.

Anyway, I need to run off to pick up something from dry cleaner’s for Scarlet, she has some posh dinner to go to with some clients and I don’t think she’ll take it kindly if I’m not back in time but have a lovely weekend and speak soon.

 

xx

 

 

    

   

 

  

@TheSecretPA

 

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The Secret PA 

 

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The Secret PA : Day 651

Paradoxes, pressure and please don’ts

I’ve never been so glad to see the end of the week after the end of a month but I have to say that I will be sky riding when this week is over. I’d never really experienced month end like this before because I haven’t been PA to an FD before and this is the first big month since I started working for him. For those who have only recently started reading my blog, I used to work for two Directors in the Music business; I now work for three one of whom is the FD.

In addition to the pressure that month end puts on a finance team it was also the end of an audit month so let’s just say stress was free flowing and the pressure was on last week. As PA to Tie Max who was leading his team into the small hours to get the books closed I ended up having a few late ones myself. It’s all part of being a super PA so I’m not complaining. Hard work never goes unnoticed even if it does take a bit longer than you hoped to be recognised.

As if that wasn’t enough Twitter got hacked so I had to get Marketing to check everything in-house and contact the agency that looks after some of our clients. I was on my way to a party when I saw the news; my proactive gene took control of my brain and texted Scarlet. I also had to check my own Twitter accounts (one of which is this one) to make sure I wasn’t spamming the Twitteratti. Luckily there were no ‘incidents’ on that front.

It wasn’t really my job to manage our social media but it’s that sense of responsibility and going beyond your job description that success stories are made of. Most of you will know what I mean. ‘It’s not my job’, doesn’t really exist in my professional vocabulary and I doubt it does for most of you.

That said, Scarlet has decided that I should accompany an Intern to a second audition which will take her a step closer to her claim to fame if it goes well (Scarlet thinks she has great potential and is naturally looking at it as a potential business opportunity!). I went from being a responsible professional to a cheerleader in a matter of 24 hrs. Or maybe I am meant to be a chaperone rather than a cheerleader? Either way, I didn’t see why I was the ‘chosen one’ but I wasn’t about to try and contest it. It might actually be fun. It will mean kissing my weekend plans goodbye but I will get to take a day and a half in lieu which will be nice. And who knows, I might actually make some useful connections which is why Scarlet is keen that I go.

Also, I’m tired of being bombarded with Valentine’s Day offers from the various venues and partners we work with for our events. In my head I’m screaming ‘Please Don’t spam me!’. To my computer it’s more of a mutter under my breath.

For the last two years I was probably bitter and therefore annoyed but I think I haven’t been such a Scrooge this year. Until now Banker Guy has been the model boyfriend for the most part, almost too perfect sometimes which is what worries me. Is this the calm before the storm? I certainly hope not but I have seen couples break up just before Valentine’s Day. Still, there’s not a single reason or shred of evidence that gives me reason to expect anything other than a perfect day so I’m going with that set of thoughts – it’s nicer ;)

Anyway, I have to go help the new receptionist out with something. So far it has been pretty smooth sailing with Rose (The new Clawly). She is keen, great with people…and has her wits about her. She also speaks Italian as it turns out. She is always smiling and is very dedicated. In terms of skills, she still has a fair bit to learn but she’s picking things up fast so I can’t complain. Another brownie point for SecsintheCity ;)

 

Got to run, wish me luck for the weekend!

 

Xx

 

 

      

  

@TheSecretPA

 

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The Secret PA 

 

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The Secret PA : Day 644

Hired, Wired…. and Mired?

As someone who loves the race….not just the running but also breaking through the ribbon at the finish line I don’t think I have a very well developed coping mechanism for being mired which can happen to the best of us. You just feel like you’ve hit a wall or got stuck in a quagmire …the clock ticking away all the while.

Have you ever felt like one minute you’ve got it all under control and suddenly there’s one loose end that gets snagged in the tail of a rocket to the centre of the universe and all of a sudden you feel like you’re being dragged out to Jupiter or some such place of ostracism. As a perfectionist it annoys ‘Me’ when ‘Me’ doesn’t meet ‘My Expectations’. I tend to take it quite hard when things don’t go quite right.

So much so that I can be expected to have a sleepless night over it. If you’re back in the office mentally after going to bed it’s probably a sign you need to press pause and get off. All you workaholics out there will know what I mean. If you’re brain is on overdrive fuelled by stress it will actually lower your productivity in the long run so stress is actually counter productive. I am usually quite good at it and in fact have become Whiz Girl’s anti stress coach – the role that Nancy played in my professional life when I joined. Still, I have been quite wired and Mired this week – the combination is lethal.

On the bright side, I have found a replacement for Clawly who is away on maternity leave. I used the SecsintheCity talent pool and I have to say that being able to pick the candidates as well as getting applications saved me time and effort. I was speaking to Gemma, the Head of Sales at SecsintheCity and apparently 70% of jobs are not actually advertised! Seeing how many jobs are on SecsintheCity only makes one wonder how very many jobs there are out there. If you aren’t on SecsintheCity I’d say that’s definitely the place to be discovered.

I have certainly discovered a few good candidates on there myself as that’s how I found Whiz Girl and Clawly’s replacement – our new receptionist. The job title is where the similarity ends. She started off as a receptionist in a hotel in Hampshire and then worked as a hostess for a VIP lounge at an airport. She’s working to pay for her vocal coaching and is also taking up a course to train for the theatre – she wants to be a singer in Musicals one day she says.

There were a few candidates with similar experience and in fact one who had a fair bit of receptionist experience in The City but she wasn’t really very well ‘acquainted’ with the big players in our industry and she seemed a bit ‘over-keen’ about meeting celebs. I was afraid if she even met someone semi famous she might go in to star struck mode and behave like a groupie which isn’t a good thing. The other candidate I interviewed was from a Cruise Liner background. It was a tough choice between her and ‘Rose’ (the new hire).

Anyway, I’m back in the office now – had to go check out a venue for a client lunch with bosses next week – and I must finish this presentation which I have been having sleepless nights over.

 

Today home time is definitely going to be G & T Time!

Hope you’ve had a relatively stress free week!

 

Enjoy the weekend  X x

 

 

 

    

  

  

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The Secret PA : Day 637

Pensions, Private PAs, Snow and.... Some Drama 

So I managed to sort out my work Pension scheme this week –don’t know why I didn’t do it sooner. I also made it through the week – which was spent juggling more of Tie Max’s lists than Scarlet and Pepper’s – and with a greater understanding of the finance function and lesser spend on Chai Lattes (Green Tea almost all the way!).

I also ordered my copy of ‘Accounting for Dummies’ and have shortlisted a few potential online courses in Accounting. I’ll wait until end Feb to start that though as we have a lot going on at the moment with a tour we’re involved with just round the corner.

The holidays are already a distant memory and life is back on the high road at break neck speed. Clawly has left the building but her Facebook updates haven’t. As for the Curly Scarecrow, there’s not been much drama since he accidentally married his high school sweetheart in Vegas and has now filed for a divorce.

Aside from that it’s been pretty uneventful to be honest, so much so that I have actually begun to have drama withdrawal symptoms exacerbated by the fact that there is a wait for the new series of Downton Abbey. I have actually on occasion been compelled to watch Coronation Street and Made in Chelsea every now and then.

I have also secretly been tempted to look at the Private PA jobs on SecsintheCity every now and then…I have to say when I see the salaries it does make my jaw drop. And cool as my job is – very chuffed with a sizzling new desktop calendar from an Artist we are working with together with a record label – I can’t help but wonder what it would be like to work in a non-office environment. As someone creative I always thought I’d find working in Finance would be a struggle but I’m beginning to actually like the variety it brings to my job. Of course me working for an FD is very different to actually working as a PA in Banking like some of my mates from Uni here. They have a regular 8-5 job and the Blackberry goes off at 5pm sharp. Mine doesn’t.

Either way, I think whichever sector you work in, being a PA is pretty awesome. What is not looking so awesome is the travel disruptions :( 

Anyway, got to run to the bank and pick up a prescription for Pepper and then collect some props for a Snow themed Jazz concert. Fill you in on our Travel Troubles if we have any. Scarlet was supposed to be getting the Eurostar to Paris and it’s looking a bit 50/50 at the mo. Oh well, we’ll see.

 

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow ;)

 

 

X x

 

 

 

    

  

  

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The Secret PA: Day 630

New Year. New Skills.... and Spreadsheet Thrills!

Happy New Year! Hope you all had a fabulous one I certainly did. Another year, another set of resolutions…and in my case another boss. Now in my 3rd year here I have 3 bosses.

 

I also have 3 new New Year resolutions.

 

You may recognise some from last year – they have been reworked and made their way back into this list.

1. Anticipate Tie Max’s needs and find my way into his complex mind (the closest thing to a numerical obstacle course).  

2. Improve my knowledge of accounting: Take a course in Finance and Accounting for Non Finance People and read this book cover to cover.

3.  Update LinkedIn Profile with skills and experience gained over the past year to build my personal brand for enhanced industry networking.

4.  Attend at least 1 Networking event (on the SecsintheCity Blog) per quarter (great for venue ideas) 

5. Exchange at least 5 business cards per event

6. Learn Italian – We are working with a few potential sopranos this year and travel to Italy may be on the cards for the bosses so it would help me to learn the basics – you never know

7. Sort out my personal finances – Get on a pension scheme

8.  Go the Gym 3 times a week

9.  Spend less on shoes and lattes and save more each month.

10. Stress less when delegating – I will now be managing not only Whiz Girl but also the new receptionist. I eased up last year but not without the occasional peaking of stress levels. 

(shouldn't be too hard now that I have a Stressberry! - It was on my Christmas wish list) 

Far more realistic I reckon since last year. Last year was tough but I have a feeling this year is going to be good and I am excited to see what the year brings in and out of the office.

 

Need to find a new receptionist this week to replace Clawly who is now on maternity leave. Will then have to spend next month training her. It’s been a manic week, even more so than last year because I now support the FD and Jan is year end when they close their books and he and his team have been working really long hours this week and he has needed my support so I have ended up doing the same but then I have been known to be a pathological work-a-holic ;) 

 

Got to rush, more later x

 

 

    

  

 

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Christmas Card from The Secret PA

Wishing you all a Merry and Music filled Christmas ..... 

 

 

...and a Rocking New Year 

 

 

    

  

 

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The Secret PA: Christmas Wishlist

 

Whats on your wishlist? Do tell xx  ;) 

 

    

  

 

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The Secret PA : Tie Max's Christmas Shopping list

Christmas Shopping for the Boss - Volume 3

Not sure if any of these is my kind of pressie......

 

 

I learned that you can actually buy 'nothing'. It's a saleable gift item. I'm not kidding! 

 

Working on my wishlist ;)  

 

I promise to share it once it's done x 

 

 

  

  

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The Secret PA : Pepper's Christmas Shopping list

Christmas Shopping for the Boss - Volume 2

Easy peasy lemon squeezy. 

 ;

 

Wait until you see Tie Max's. It's quite...odd. 

 

Got to run, more soon x ;) 

 

 

  

 

 

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The Secret PA : Scarlet's Christmas Shopping list

Shopping for the Boss - Volume 1

Maybe I Should I add Personal Christmas Shopper to my skills and experience, or perhaps include it on my LinkedIn profile.... Just a thought  ;) 

 

Will get you Pepper's when I have a few minutes ;) 

 

Later xx 

 

 

    

  

 

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The Secret PA : Day 593

Audition done – Now for the budgets and flu jabs...

After a manic week, lost keys and other miscellaneous stress inducing events I was looking forward to a weekend of doing absolutely nothing. The bosses and an intern had other plans for me. We have an intern who has studied opera and is temping until she can find an opportunity to sing. With so many talent shows masquerading as popular telly, it’s possible to get a break if you’re good. After months of waiting, Rose was invited to audition in London.

She is very talented and the bosses agree with me. So much so that they decided that I should go along for moral support – they are needless to say working on a plan of their own because they believe she has the potential to be a star and she doesn’t have an agent yet. Let’s just say we have a fair few big investors looking for ‘music talent’ that will give them a guaranteed ROI.

When we arrived there was already an extremely long queue and it hadn’t started moving yet. There were families with kids, Mums and daughters, friends obviously doing a double act, people with their dog, instrument or other such accessory. Then all of a sudden.......

....we started being instructed to ‘bunch up’.

After registering, each contestant was given a sticker and a number and we had to wave to camera as we filed up the escalators. This was followed by loud cheering activities outside the main hall where we all had to wait. It was quite entertaining to see others practice their acts, some were clearly very talented. It was a medley of shimmery shiny showstoppers and less enthusiastic I-don’t-want-to-be-here and I’m-terrified contestants who looked like their parents had decided this was their calling.

We finally finished late evening but her audition went well, we’ll just have to wait and see.

 

In other news, Tie max has decided to tighten the purse strings this year so I am now organising an unextravagant Christmas party – It’s next week and the theme is candy striped gilded minimalism.

 

I also have to start the search for a new receptionist, must go ring the girls at SecsintheCity. I can’t believe it’s almost Christmas! Wait until you see the boss’s shopping lists ;) I’ll give you a sneak preview when I get a few minutes.

 

Got to run.

 

More soon x x

 

 

    

  

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The Secret PA : Day 585

Locked out and ludicrously ridiculed

You know I was supposed to have my appraisal with Scarlet and Pepper a while ago.

Then it got pushed back and Scarlet was not amused by the ‘situation’. I created that resulted in having to make a change in her diary. I still can’t believe I locked myself out of my own desk drawer!

I was to have my appraisal on Thursday so the evening before, I stayed late to complete it. It took a while; after all I had to really think through my short, medium and long term career goals. Funnily enough, when I was almost done, Scarlet and Pepper came out of Tie Max’s office just as I was finishing and said they were just about to sit down and do their version of it.

The next day I was feeling a bit apprehensive because I wasn’t sure how Scarlet would react to my goals.

They were a bit far fetched to be fair. 

Picture this: Me struggling to find the key to my desk drawer where I had very safely hidden away my appraisal form the night before. A very safe place, so safe that even I couldn’t open it. After a really thorough check of my hand bag, gym bag and the pen stand/organiser on my desk I still hadn’t located it. That’s when I really began to panic. I had Scarlet hovering around me, Pepper wandering around nonchalantly and here I was unable to open the drawer with my appraisal form. Talk about failing at the first hurdle.....

I went charging off to HR but unfortunately no one had a spare key. Scarlet has a similar shaped key so I even tried to use hers but it wouldn’t open. By this point I am mortified and hoping the floor will open up and swallow me. It doesn’t. Finally Scarlet decides to reschedule and goes to tell Pepper. By 3pm, my body has gone into *cringe*. Sadly I have no paper bag to cover my head with.

The anti climax though is when and where it surfaced…..

I came in over the weekend to collect a dress that needed to be delivered to Scarlet. As I hadn’t managed to locate the key to my desk drawer, I decided to have another look around the desk where I spend a significant part of my life. Something told me to empty the desk organiser and voila, there it was. My very special key. ‘Feeling ridiculous’ doesn’t even come close to describing how I felt at that moment. I decided not to tell Scarlet about where it resurfaced, don’t want her to think I’ve suddenly gone a bit ‘ditzy’.

Now I have my appraisal in 2 days.

 

May need even more luck now ;)  x    

 

 

   

 

  

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The Secret PA : Day 577

Strings – tied and tightened

Despite my concerns last week I actually did make it through the week unscathed as I started to learn the complex and statistical mind of Tie Max.

Then of course there’s the Christmas shopping – can’t deny the fact that I am a pathological shopper and at least I know the preferences of two of my bosses. Still, there are some rather odd things on Tie Max’s list which I am not even sure where to buy.

As a result of taking on the FD Scarlet and Pepper bumped my appraisal to next week – I’m coming up to two years very soon. Can’t believe how time flies. Clawly is going on Maternity leave at Christmas and I have to hire a receptionist whom I will actually have to manage. It’s a maternity cover as Clawly is apparently coming back in the summer. Not sure how it’s going to be with me managing her when she’s back. She doesn’t know it yet though. We had a few internal applications for the role from interns but I’m using the SecsintheCity CV Database because they’ve got loads of candidates who will be perfect.

Find a new Clawly is definitely at the top my to-do list. So glad it’s the weekend, looking forward to a girl’s night on Saturday with some of the girls from work. I will also start Scarlet’s Christmas shopping since I’ve already got her list and I can do some of it online.

Next week I need to check out a few client Christmas lunch venues and I have an appraisal with Scarlet and Pepper….it got postponed (and taking on the FD wasn’t the ‘only’ reason it did) – Insert *sheepish smile* here – Long story….tell you about it in my next post.

 

Got to run, need to start reviewing some CVs for Clawly’s role.

 

More later xx 

 

 

 

   

 

 

  

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