On Secretaries

Secretary: A person, usually an official, who is in charge of the records, correspondence, minutes of meetings, and related affairs of an organization, company or association.

Have been busy with Dinner & Dance sponsorship work for the past few days, waking up at 9 in the morning to call up potential sponsors so I can call again in the afternoon if their marketing coordinators aren't free in the morning. This gives me lots of contact with manager's secretaries and secretary's secretaries. Over the past few weeks of sourcing for sponsorship, I have come to realise that secretaries in Singapore are either utterly good-for-nothing, or they're from an inferior race of homo-sapiens who are intellectually challenged. Let me explain...

Earlier this morning, I called up a potential sponsor's marketing manager (a reputable beverage company) to follow up with our sponsorship proposal. This is what I heard over the phone:

She: "Arlow!?!"
Me: "?!?!? Urm.. Hi, my name is.... may I speak with Mr. Tan?"
She: "Mr. Tan? I think hor, he's in a meeting right now and I dunch know when he is coming out... I think he will be free in the afternoon. Call back later? Byyeeeee~~~" *Click*
Me: "!?!?! WTF?!?"

You can imagine all the questions marks over my head at the end of that telephone conversation. Just what kind of secretary picks up the phone and goes "Arlow?!?" ? The very least a proper secretary can do is to say "Good Morning" and state whose office it was. I was calling his personal office phone line mind you, and I certainly wasn't expecting to be hung up upon without given a chance to finish what I wanted to say.

Another similar incident happened yesterday afternoon, I was calling up a well-reputed mobile company's marketing manager with whom I corresponded with a few times before:

She: "Hi! XXX company, marketing manager's office."
Me: "Hi, may I speak with Ms. Elaine Seah please?"
She: "Ms. Elaine? How do you spell that?"
Me: "?!? Urm... E-L-A-I-N-E S-E-A-H???"
She: "Elaine Seah? hmm... I don't think there's a Ms. Elaine Seah here..."
*She No. 2 comes along and takes over the phone*
She2: "Hi, I'm sorry, Ms. Elaine is currently in a meeting, call back later."
Me: "!?!"

Point Number 1: How can you not know who your freaking boss is?!?
Point Number 2: You're telling ME to call back later?!? You retarded piece of shit you're SUPPOSED to ask me my purpose, take down my particulars and YOU tell YOUR BOSS when she comes back later to call me back! Its your freaking job you overpaid glorified coffee-making typist!!

As of now, I am truly convinced that the intelligent secretary is a myth. =_=