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> You would not have
> been mistaken for a secretary if you had been a male.
Not as likely, but there are still those who think all tech writers,
male or female, are basically secretaries.
Actually, despite my remark about Boss's Day in a previous post, I *was*
once mistaken for the boss when I was a secretary. I worked in food
service, and I was standing outside the office one day talking to my
lab-coat-clad boss. Because my "professional" attire was more obvious
than hers (and because this was food service and not a laboratory)
someone assumed I was the boss. I think that's another interesting
topic, but it probably belongs on the techwr-l chat page.
> An aside--I don't want to imply that being "just" a secretary should be
> worthy of contempt or discrimination. I could not handle the tremendous
> amount of organizing and scheduling and facilitating that the secretaries in
> my office handle every day.
Nor do I. I have been a secretary, and I know it's not harder work or
easier work, just different work. But because it is GENERALLY and
UNDESERVEDLY lower-paid and less-respected work, I agree that we
occasionally need to remind others that it is not what we do.
