Executive Secretaries
There used to be a lot more secretaries around. They have been either replaced by computers, or their boss was replaced by a computer and the more capable secretaries had become the boss.
The old situation where the grossly underpaid woman secretary was paired with the man boss was one which worked unfairly against women. If the secretary was a go-getter, The man got all of her ideas and work, and then he got all of the credit and pay.
I don't see the situation being that way as much anymore, although I know it is not extinct.
It was a stark contrast. They sat at a nice desk. They had nice clothes. They had tidy hair. They had close proximity to the boss. All the things the production supervisors did not. It only stands to reason, at least to them, that they were more important.
We production supervisors came into the office and looked like a wreck. We wore uniforms with food slop all over them, and a hair net, slopped up boots, and safety glasses. We came into the office with all kinds of horrible problems that the secretaries would figure was our own bad karma, and they would never have had such a problem if they were in charge. Of course, they learned some of this posturing from their bosses.
Human resource administrative personnel were often crusading against us supervisors as malevolent beings who loved to run off their precious valuable hirelings. Every time we would become short-handed our pain was compounded by HR complaining about us, and our boss listening to them.
Admittedly, there were cases where HR was spot on with their assessment of some supervisors, who could have used some more training or a kick in the pants. But these cases were not the norm. It is a huge difficulty to be short-handed.
It would be helpful if people were required to use some sort of objective criteria to back up their claims. All their information was hearsay as they had no practical experience with anything. They couldn't tell you the difference between a cooker and blancher.
Often times, the executive secretaries were the worst. If they were a manipulative type of person, as so many at all levels are in the workplace, they would use their proximity and time with the boss to fulfill their personal agenda. Feeling themselves to be on the same level as a vice-president, sometimes they would advise the boss on what we supervisors were doing wrong, or just making sure the boss knew everything bad that we lowly supervisors were up to.
These self-important administrative people must have been eating their hearts out when they saw how much more we supervisors were paid. If they didn't like their situation, there were plenty of more boots and hairnets to go around.