That Was Not in the Job Description

I started my current job a year ago last Wednesday, according to a previous blog post about it. So that’s kind of exciting I guess.

I work at a gymnastics studio. (I know nothing about gymnastics. I probably wouldn’t have hired me. But it has worked out okay.) When people ask what I do, I tell them I’m a secretary. This is true. I do lots of normal secretary things. I answer the phone and make phone calls, I take payments, I file things. But over the past year, I have also done many things that are very, very far from that norm. I thought it might be enjoyable to share some. (In no particular order.)

• One day a few months ago, I sat at a table pulling fuzz out of Velcro because I was told to thinking, “This is a whole new level of, ‘Not in the job description.'” It’s what led to the idea for this blog post. A replacement for a piece of equipment had arrived, and I was cleaning up the old one to send it back. As it was broken, I’m not sure why this was necessary, but maybe it was. I have pulled fuzz out of Velcro because I was bored at times, but I had never before been paid to do so.
• I am the IT Department. Also the Graphic Design Department. I have hooked up the computer after it was out for repairs, set up the answering system on the newer phone when the one that contained a tape from over 10 years ago died, added pretty things to the brochure, etc. All this has led to my boss believing I’m great with computers. Which is nice, except that now sometimes when she asks me to do something computer-related and I tell her I don’t know how, I’m not sure she completely believes me.
• Today I spent half an hour untangling an extension cord.
• Two words: Overflowing toilets.
• Calling people to tell them their class was permanently canceled on the day the class was supposed to be. Actually somewhat in the job description, but far above my pay grade.
• Field trip with my boss to pick up snacks for the display case.
• Collecting and organizing as many tools as I could find in the building. They were everywhere.
• Crawling around on the new trampoline putting down tape. This was actually lots of fun.

These are the memorable ones coming to mind at the moment. I will probably think of more in a few hours because that’s how these things work.