Personal Assisting

As I was driving back to Emeryville from Pleasanton today, sipping on my orange mango vivanno, watching the sun sink down behind the hills on the 580, I pondered over my experience as a Personal Assistant. 

Current events have made me wax nostalgic I suppose.

In the beginning, I had no idea what I was getting into. I was hired for one day a week to help my original boss (Boss A) publish a book. I had some graphics experience mostly gleaned off my mother from so many years of living with her.  Boss A then paid for me to learn Adobe Illustrator because she thought I could illustrate her book. But in addition, I was the personal shopper and gopher when I wasn't working on the book. 

Eventutally, the book thing sort of fizzled (in terms of me working on it) and the personal shopper/gopher role became more predominant.

And then I became the handyperson. (and hired the guys when I couldn't do the job.)

And then the decorator (for the house in Florida.)

And then they moved and I was the packing person (and sometimes the moving foreman.)

And then I called and set up their utilities and waited for all the people to come and set them up.

And then I became the maid, and finally drew the line (cause really I hate cleaning.)

With the increasing work, the one day a week gig turned into two (sometimes more) days and I was up to my eyeballs in errands.

The perks were cool though. I got to use the VW when Boss A was out of town. When the insurance changed, I got an old company station wagon that no one was using. Definitely not as cool as the original car, but still not bad. I also got to make my own hours, and got to travel a bit. 

Then there were the other cars...Boss B started out with a Mercedes and then got a Lexus. Boss A also had a Mercedes, then traded it in for a Lexus coupe and finally upgraded to their sporty convertible. And I got to drive them all. (for some strange reason this is a perk to me. Go figure.)

And during it all, I became friends with the cleaning people, the cable guys and the security guys. Chatted cars with the dealership service people hearing all their war and horror stories. (Enough so that I don't think I'll be purchasing a Non-three-letter-German-car should I ever have the wherewithal to do so.) Then heard all about the life of the home warranty guy. 

It became my job to do all the stuff that my bosses didn't want to do for themselves. That was the best way to explain my job to people.

I'm the one that found the jewelers to get the watch band fixed and traveled to Marin to get it done.

I'm the one that returned the stuff purchased on a whim that Boss A then later felt guilty about.

I'm the one that purchased the socks and underwear, when the old ones got too holy.

As you can see I know way too much about my bosses That's the downside of the whole thing really. You are much too close. You become part of the family, and a failing on your job becomes a personal affront to them. They come to depend on you more and more, until you sometimes think that they have forgotten how to do some of this stuff for themselves. And you feel guilty, like the world will end, if heaven forbid you need to take a sick day.

The dissolution of Boss A and B sort of became a custody battle for me as the PA. They got shared custody of me really. I still do work for both A and B, though mostly for B,and sometimes for Boss C (who is a friend of A and B). 

I've gotten into an email sort of place with Boss B where I just get errands and do them.  Don't disucss much, just "this is what got done". 

It's not as glam as "The Devil Wears Prada" makes it out to be nor is it as much fun as it was in the beginning, when every new errand was an adventure. I suppose once you've gone to Safeway once a week for 6 years to purchase the same stuff every time,  it can get a bit monotonous. But hey, its a living.