The Secretarial Job

By Robyn Smith


Health problems had forced me to leave construction work and seek other, less strenuous employment. I wanted to stay in the same industry, but I was worried because of my physical limitations.

I did have some skills I thought might be usual, particularly my ability to type at high speeds. On a manual typewriter I could push 92 - 95 words per minute, but I couldn't type on an electric to save my life. All that changed again with the advent of the computers and word processors and I found I could again reach my speed once I got used to the keyboard I was using. The new technology would come in very handy for me.

I was able to get an interview with a company that competed with my former employer and, as luck would have it, a beautiful woman who was assigned to my interview took a liking to me right away. She was clearly interested in helping me out and during our conversation my typing skills came under discussion.

I told her that at my old job, my secretarial skills were so polished enough that both my supervisor and our Sales Manager would often jokingly threaten to put me in a skirt and wig so that I could fill in for our regular secretary when she was out of the office. Besides, with the proper wig and makeup, I should be able to pass well enough for the front office. She found this amusing and decided to give me a typing test.

I only scored an 83 with no errors.

As we continued to talk, she mentioned that she was looking for a private secretary, if I was interested. Starting pay would be $25,000.00 plus a liberal sign up bonus. I told her, yes - I was interested.

We went on to discuss this position and I was informed that the job would entail a bit of travel to various meetings around the country. I loved that idea. She went on to describe all of the other duties that would be involved and I found that there were none that I couldn't handle. My primary concern was whether or not the job would provide the intellectual stimulation that I needed as well, especially in the long run. My other concern was what I considered to be a lower pay scale that what I had desired when we first sat down to talk. She explained that, she was already talking of starting me out at top scale in the secretarial position. Unfortunately, I lacked some of the serious qualifying points for a field service position that I really wanted, but it boiled down to either the secretarial position, or nothing. Reluctantly, I decided to accept, figuring that I could always keep looking. At least this would keep food on the table for us in the interim.

Then she hit me right between the eyes with something totally unexpected. I would have to come to work, and travel in a dress. It seems that her husband was one of the senior managers for the business and was also an extremely jealous type. She didn't feel that there was anyway that she could get him to buy into hiring a male secretary for her. She was barely able to get approval for a private secretary to begin with.

Not wanting to jump too quick and blow my cover with her, I decided to play it cool by advising her that there was a couple of minor problems. 1. No clothes or makeup. 2. Where would I change? Other than that, I thought it sounded like fun, and an interesting change of pace.

She thought for a few seconds then told me that I should meet her for lunch at one of the local malls. With that, she made a phone call and made arrangements for an extended lunch. She said that I shouldn't worry too much, she would see to it that I had a decent starting wardrobe and such, and that she would find some way to write it off as part of my sign-on bonus.

When she met me at the mall, she first verified that I was serious about what we were doing and I told her, yes. She confessed that she had tried to get her husband into crossdressing many times in the past but never succeeded. She also said that she had noticed that I had a few rather feminine mannerisms and that was why she decided to take a chance and ask. She also figured, correctly, that I already had a few items of clothing, but that didn't matter, so long as I was up front with her from then on.

She then went on to spend her own money and purchased me a rather sizable wardrobe, including lingerie, shoes and two wigs. She even added mastectomy pads for effect. All together, I figure that she spent close to $2,500.00 that day.

During our shopping trip, I mentioned that my voice would be a dead give away, but that I had heard that one could train their voice in order to pass. She said that I should not worry about that and proceeded to tell me that for the next two weeks, my only assignment was to practice on my passing and pick her up nightly for supper so that she could check my progress both in the voice training and in the makeup application. That meant that I had to dress each night for dinner. During the next two weeks, my new boss would also conduct a series of cursory interviews for the secretarial position, just to pave the way for a new face.

Following this two week training period, with full pay of course, I finally reported in to the office to assume my duties. Wouldn't you know it, the first person I meet was my boss's husband.

Well, I'm proud to say that I passed with flying colors. He even offered to take me to lunch along with his wife to welcome me to the company. I've been with them now for going on four months and I am loving every minute of it. I'll keep you posted as time goes on.


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