I do like her. She’s my long time friend and I am not the only one who is asking these questions in her orbit. There are other details I’m not adding here but loved ones are concerned for her generally due to a pattern of successive jobs and relationships within super short periods of time. |
| Lord spare me from friends like this. |
I’m starting a grad program next spring anyway so I really don’t care but I am more hurt by the fact that she knows I make less and asked me to buy things |
Buy things for her? Or buy things for yourself? Just stop being her "friend." Actually, you're not her friend anyway. Just stop pretending to be. |
She is not an EA for a huge corporation. In fact, when asked if it was non profit or what capacity the business was, she said she had no idea. |
| OP you’re quite a storyteller. |
| Places with money have extra to share. The boss wants to pay people closest to them well. |
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If any partner or lawyer is rude to our EAs they will be lit up.
Most important job. |
She should be friends with the retail worker who posts. They remind me of each other. |
| I was a personal assistant to a high profile person for many years. It was a great job in lots of ways but the stress of being on call 24/7 takes a real toll. The hours are crazy, you can never really plan for your own life and you are constantly worried about what comes next. The work comes home with you and never turns off. It’s a choice to do a job like this, of course, but you are way off base to think that your so called friend is doing nothing all day. |
Then this belongs in the relationship section, because you're mad at your friend for being a sh*tty friend and jealous that she makes more than you. I was a nearly 6 figure EA in DC, and honestly, it's awful. You never really get any time off. Executives who have personal assistants almost always also have sh*tty boundaries, so you have to be available all the time. I wrapped my boss's kids' birthday presents. I got his car washed. One time I also had to go pick up the car where he left it in the far exurbs. If I wanted to take any time off, I almost had to make up a really extreme thing like "a super bad case of COVID" to take even one day off. When I disclosed my pregnancy to my boss, he "jokingly" said "You didn't ask my permission to get pregnant!" It's not all Netflix and chill! |
That's so pathetic. With that kind of $$ they should have an admin for each. I work in corporate and everyone "above" me treats EAs rudely. I don't get it. |
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EAs are underpaid.
It's amazing how departments would absolutely blow up of it weren't for admin staff and EAs. Senior staff are clueless trying to arrange flights, optimal travel, hotels, dealing with Visa requirements, arranging schedules, paying for things, making reservations for restaurants with important clients, etc. absolutely nothing would function without good EAs. A good EA is worth their weight in gold. |
A good EA *is* worth their weight in gold, but - like household help - are exceedingly hard to come by. My husband and I talk about this often: the qualities that make a good EA good are the same qualities that make someone a good executive - decisive, firm, organized, forward-thinking, able to put the pieces together, high EQ etc. I think that because these roles tend to be filled by women, and because women have so many (better, higher-paying) career options today, it's really hard to find someone with all of the above qualities who wouldn't instead opt for a better role. Frankly. |
Worth a higher salary than a doctor in residency? They also work long hours under stress |