Dear Sue:

I am in a quandary over the value placed on secretaries and support staff. There are many executives who treat support staff like family and value their input, ideas and suggestions. However, my concern is with executives who continually treat support staff as second-class citizens.

After a lack of communication created a problem, I had a run in with two of the people I support. After it was all over, one ended up making an apology and admitting he was wrong. We talked it through and have since had a very pleasant working relationship.

The other person became irate and threatened my job as a result. He tried to force me to work overtime without pay, miss my ride home and incur an expensive cab fare in order to correct the problem. I refused and became very upset. We exchanged words and I ended up being reprimanded, but he was not. What really bothered me was the fact that when he was questioned about what happened, he denied everything and everyone believed him.

Within this company, it has been a common practice to allow middle-to-upper management speak to and interact with support staff anyway they see fit. In addition, I was promised a large bonus for some additional work I did. I came in early, skipped lunch and stayed late on may occasions to finish this project. I never received so much as a thank you, let alone the bonus. This is not only demoralizing, but will make me think twice before offering to help out in the future.

Do you have any suggestions for dealing with companies that place little value on support staff? Ironically, some of these executives can barely turn the computer on so I know my services are needed. - Unappreciated Executive Assistant.