After weeks of waiting, I've finally been allocated a new secretary. Her name is Maria.
Our first interaction, via chat, was to book my flights:
Me: 2 things please:
1. Just call me Anthony in emails. Mr is too formal.
2. Arrange approvals for my travel. What time is the cut-off for booking?
Maria: Actually it is at 4.
Me: We don't have much time. Please call them directly. Don't rely on email.
Maria: and for #1, i'll call you Mr. anthony
Me: do they already have my credit card on file?
Maria: i have the number, expiry date and your name stated on the card
Me: OK but Mr is too formal. You can use Mas if you really need to.
Maria: nop
sorry, but I never like to used that words in the office
except for my friends
Me: OK. Up to you. Please call amex also to make sure the card is activated
I guess that was OK - a bit of cultural learning on my part. We established some boundaries. (Or more accurately, Maria established some boundaries and I had to tow the line.)
I didn't think much of it, though. Until our chat today:
Me: Hi Maria. I still have 4 expense items that need to be processed this week:
1. relocation from Vietnam
2. travel to Malaysia (KL) in May
3. travel to Malaysia (KL) in June
4. travel to SG last week
5. travel to SG this week.
Maria: thats more then 4
Me: OK 5 key items!
Note that the first 3 were already approved by Finance.
Maria: ok
Anthony: this is a lot of money, too ... so please make this a priority,.
Maria: ok. noted.
no worries.
btw, i would really appreciate if you using less exclamation in the conversation
Me: less exclamation?
Maria: yes (exclamation sign --> !)
Me: i used one.
i think that's acceptable.
Maria: i mean next conversation
if you remember, the first time you introduce yourself
you used around... well, more then 10 times.
ok then
I've been accused of many things, but nothing this heinous. I was stunned and my jaw dropped: slowly but literally dropped.
Further, I am not a heavy exclamation mark user by any means. I didn't even use them until I was about 30. (Remember the theory, Alexandra?). There may have been a couple of emails on a Stilnox but that doesn't count and Maria would never see these.
So I scoured all of my old emails and chat history to Maria, looking for signs of excitement or exuberance. I found nothing. Not a whit. The only instance of any exclamation mark was the one used today.
Indeed, my first written words to Maria were:
Maria - could you please book travel and coordinate my approvals? Please don't confirm flights until all approvals finalised. I will probably look at a 6.30pm flight on Monday morning
And yet here we are, Maria had already issued her new boss with his first written warning and I decided to fight it.
Me: you've got the wrong person. That wasn’t me.
.. to which she did not respond.
I think there are many layers to this Maria onion but I also need to defend my name against being unfairly branded as an Enthusiastic. Given the way things have started, Maria could turn out to be the most confronting creature I've ever encountered. (And that's coming from me - raised by a mother with Cheesel's hair and styling.)
