I am a relief medical secretary so I cover people on annual leave and sickness. It means I have to learn 8 or 9 different jobs and all the little individual things that people do that they forget to write in their job description. I came back to a job which is a job shared job and found this note:

"Tracey, please dont try to 'rearrange' my desk files etc. If Y(other girls name) or I want to rearrange stuff we will"

What do you make of that? Do you think shes having a go at me? I've racked my brains and I cant think of anything on her desk that I've moved! Im quite fretting about this because I feel like Ive upset someone but Im not sure how?? :(

Does she mean computer files on the desktop? You can either ask her what she means or ignore her - I wouldn't have thought it's worth getting upset about. :)

Leave her as much of her work still to do when she comes back as you possibly can get away with :)

JG - Im not sure which she means. I havent moved anything on her desk and I have my own name on her computer file so I put everything in there which means I dont have to touch anything else??

Im baffled!!

As for leaving her work....she's done that for me!

Oh well I have an interview next week for another job - cant come quick enough!! :)

Instead of doing any of her work spend the week thinking up an equally bumptious note to leave her :)
for instance "instead of doing any of your work I spent the week trying to think up an equally bumtious note to leave for you but in the end I simply could not match it" :)

lol @ Isabel.  I have similar way of thinking :D

Tracy, don't fret over this.  She probably wrote that under the stresses of PMT, onset of dementia or something.  Do your job, get your money, go home, that's my motto.  Mind you, having read Isabel's reply I would have to leave that for her.  What could she say, the silly moo.

As Lucy says, if it really bothers you ask her face to face. Written messages are so easily misunderstood (aftr all, that's what started this off!) and it's honestly not worth getting uptight about. Getting into strife will only make you look bad and might affect your reference when you leave.

sounds like a nasty dig to me!!!!

Pass the note to her boss, and ask them to get her to explain it!

Or just ask her directly what she means ;)

Hi Tracey,

I'm with LJS ;)  Don't get heated up about it - if you really feel you need to follow it up then politely ask what she meant.  Turning to sarcasm or a go-slow on the work front will only leave you in a poor light with your superiors :)

regards, Teri

:D If Tracey took my suggestions seriously she would deserve bumptious notes ;)

I thought you were a trainee NHS Manager??? Does that mean you are looking for a job outside the NHS now?? Remember we had a discussion about this?? All the best, Dawn

Sounds like she is being petty, obviously she hasnt got enough work to do. 

I would ask her to her face, really put her on the spot and watch her squirm. 

Hiya Newfie, I am still doing the training to be a manager but TBH the way the NHS is at the minute I wouldnt apply for one if it came up! Im applying for a consultant's secretary job in Surgery.

I think I will have to have a word about it because if Im moving things innocently then I need to know. I just think there are nicer ways of putting it rather than sticking it on a post it note! Thanks for your nice comments! I'll try not to stress too much about it but its hard when you want to try and please everyone and something like this crops up! :rolleyes:

As Ricky Nelson would say
"But it's all right now, I learned my lesson well.
You see, ya can't please everyone, so ya got to please yourself"

I would just calmly say you didn't understand the note as you have not intentionally moved anything. Let her explain, and then let her feel embarrassed when she's found she's been shirty with you over nothing, or over a misunderstanding. The calm, higher ground is always the best place to be. I hope it works out for you.

Ok, avoiding sarcasm or go slows ;), how about this? 
Leave her a note saying "mindfull of your desire that I not interfere with your desk top I have given your draws a good bottoming this time, they were in a shocking state! :)"
Don't get upset Tracey, she's just being petty.  If the worst thing that ever happens in her life is to have to rejig something you have inadvertantly moved she ain't doing too badly and remember, even in the modern, cash strapped NHS, laughter is still the best medicine :)

Let it go over your head. 

I think perhaps you may be doing such a sterling job she knows it ;-)

Hope she isn't talking about a stapler or pens!
Some people are just so picky,I would definately go with the ,'please explain this note to me,I dont understand' approach.
That way,you remain nice,stupid little things like this really can get under your skin,try not to worry,think about what a totally boring life she must have to take the time to even be bothered to write it in the first place.
Ash

Hi Tracy123

I think I know what she is talking about.  I've known other med. secs. who have had a weeks holiday and they've come back to their filing system totally changed and their draws cleared :d  Can you imagine what this would feel like if you have worked happily in this environment for 15/20 years and someone decides that even though they are only there a week that they will change everything?

I definitely don't think it's a dig at you, but maybe she's had a past experience where someone has done this :rolleyes:

hi tracey, i work as a secretary in an office of one (me!).  on the rare occasion that i manage to get on holiday my boss hires temps to cover the basics, typing, answering phones etc.  on every single occasion i have come back from holiday and found most of my template letters (written by me) have been reworded or rejigged in some way or another.  i know it might sound petty but it is really annoying.  if my boss can cope with my grammar and nobody complains year in year out why do temps feel the need to come in and change everything. i'm sure in your case you have not intentionally gone out to change things but in my experience a lot of people like to think they know better instead of just getting on with the job in hand.

I would leave a not to say that you don;t understand as you haven't touched anything and maybe it was someone else?

Can't see the point of escalating a simple thing like this myself :)

I havent cleared any desks out.

I havent moved any templates (I've been doing this job for 2 1/2 years so I have my own)

I havent moved any files on the desk.

I'm stuck! I think Im going to have to ask her because I just dont know what Im meant to have moved!! And its bugging me now! Plus if I was moving stuff surely other secretaries would say something because when I showed them the note they didnt know what she meant and that would have been a perfect opportunity for them to say 'well actually.....yeah you do move this that and the other??!?'

I don't understand why you are bothered about it? I'd throw it in the bin! We get FAR worse than this at our work - its a petty note - treat it as such and stop letting it wind you up :)

Just to put another twist on it, to be honest I would read it as yourself and others but could it possible be that, other people have used their desk and moved files etc and this may be a note just to let you know not to also do this?

"Tracey, please dont try to 'rearrange' my desk files etc.:-) as in the past others have If Y(other girls name) or I want to rearrange stuff we will" :-)


Just a thought, probably wrong, but you never know.

Otherwise something has obviously been moved (unbeknowing to you) to cause the note

It is a point Carrington.  My daughter was always "borrowing" things of mine to the extent that I would go to her room first to look for things.  If my things weren't in her room I just assumed that she had just dumped my item where I would eventually find it.  When she went to Australia and things went missing I was initially stumped.  She was the main culprit but not the only one it turns out.  In fact I have found that I don't always put my things back where I find them myself :D

Well... I've asked her and she said ..."Oh it doesnt matter now!"

So Im none the wiser. We were in the corridor at the time and she stood talking to me until I brought the subject up and then started walking away so maybe she was having one of them bad days and left a hasty message and then when she got home realised how she must have sounded?

So its kind of sorted but I still dont know what Im meant to have shifted?!?1 :rolleyes: