this is just getting ridiculous

i used to think my job wasn't too bad. my boss wasn't too demanding, my work hours weren't too long, and i got to do glamorous things like go out for long lunches with glasses of wine and appear on tv.

but recently all of the personal assistant things that i've had to do have gotten out of control. i understand i'm good at getting people to do what i want over the phone, and i can usually predict what my boss wants before he asks, but i'm getting really tired of being at his every beck and call. especially when i want to work on my own things.

there have been many ridiculous requests leading up to this outburst, but today just took the cake. most of my time is spent making car reservations for him. he takes cars to penn station to take the train to his house upstate, he takes cars to lunch, dinner, and home to his upper east side apartment during the week some times. who makes all these reservations? moi.

my least favorite type of car reservation to make is the airport pick up. first of all, flying is itself a harrowing experience, and if everything isn't perfect when it comes to the pick up, it falls on me. obviously i'm not the one actually driving the car, but i still feel responsible and guilty.

anyway, i get this email from my boss just now. he needs a car to pick him up from the airport tomorrow. he knows his plane number and airline, because he has his ticket on him, but he doesn't have the itinerary so he doesn't know what time exactly he lands. he thinks around 11:20. doesn't specify a.m. or p.m. and doesn't even say an airport. i know he left from newark, but you never know. this wouldn't be a big deal if he had given me an itinerary before he left. that's probably my fault.

my boss suggests i bother the company travel agent for the exact details, but i decide to do that as a last resort. i check the airlines' website. no a.m. or p.m. offered on that, either, and it says he's landing at 10:50 at jfk. could this be the right flight? since he's flying from europe, i'm all confused about time zones.

i break down and call the travel agent. she is busy, has to call me back. now i feel awful. she calls me back and we discuss. i was right. 10:50 a.m. at jfk. ok, now to call the car service.

booking the car itself was fairly painless, because he has his own special account and account number. but there was one little caveat that my boss requested. the car is driving all the way from jfk to his house upstate. could he possibly get a car with gps so he won't have to give directions the whole way and sleep instead? a silly thing like that can really push me over the edge. not sure why. i guess i commiserate with the people who have to book these cars. i know what it's like to get pushed around by the man. its hard to bend to their wishes every hour of the day.

and after can you book this car for me, find out when it lands and at what airport, and bother other people if necessary, i feel like adding that one extra request is over the top.

also, i guess, more practically, adding on that the car needs gps allows for one more thing to go wrong, one more thing that will be my fault come monday.

speaking of monday i'm thinking of taking a personal day. its hard for me to think of doing normal things on sept. 11...still. i know i went to class and everything when i was in college, but being in new york on sept 11...i just feel like i should do something revert and respectful in randy's memory. the only thing holding me back is that its my boss's first day back in the office in a week and a half and he'll probably need me to be around to do things for him. like car reservations to the four seasons. i'm leaning towards taking off because i think my mental and emotional stability come before my boss's need for black towncars.