Customer Reviews

The Slam and Scream: And Other Powerful Strategies and Career Moves for Secretaries, Assistants, and Anyone Else Who Has Had Enough

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
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Very inspirational for those who feel "locked" into a Admin Asst./Secretary position. As I conduct my current job search, I've realize that I never want to be in that position again! Its amazing how those in "power" think they can treat us like their own personal servants to handle all the loose ends while they go leave for a long weekend at their summer homes. If you feel like you are worth more - YOU ARE! This book affirms that. A great read - very funny! A real eye opener!

I bought this book several years ago and by using the advice in it, my boss has gone from someone who screams at me daily to someone who never raises his voice around me. Those times when I thought my job would kill me, this book helped me cope. I highly recommend it!

I cannot give this book enough praise. It's inspirational. I bought copies for every admin I know, and in the year since five of us have gone on to much better jobs. My husband is a paralegal, and used advice from this book to make his work life better as well. Plus it's entertaining to read! A revolutionary book!

Here is the book you've been waiting for. It lives up to its title. Who hasn't felt like slamming and screaming? And the slam and scream is actually a strategy that Carole recommends but only for dealing with lawyers who are used to confrontation and screaming as a way of communicating. She used it once with an attorney and got promoted. She has other more subtle strategies that won't get you fired for dealing with business executives.

She sees secretarial work as a sort of "Twins Syndrome" after the movie Twins in which one twin Arnold Schwarzenegger gets all the brawn, brains and success and the other twin Danny DeVito gets what's left over, which ain't much. DeVito's role is described as a sort of side effect -- when the embryo split, it left him with all the unwanted features. Carole feels the secretary's traditional role -- that of making the boss look good but obliterating herself -- is one in which the secretary gets be a sort of side effect. Carole notes the secretary's role is to help her boss get ahead but not to have any goals herself and that no other working partnership relationship "demands this of one partner. In every other employer-employee duo, the two work for their mutual professional advancement, [but] with the boss and the administrative assistant, the assistant stays behind while the boss gets ahead."

Her advice: Don't get into secretarial work in the first place. But if you're in it, find ways to work well in it. Like work for partners in a law firm and not associates. And never work for an office manager (they have no power). Go back to school. Pick up other skills. "You may already be out of your trap and just not know it. If you can imagine yourself doing something else for a living, you're most of the way there.... Remember that all you need to have a career instead of a mere job is a sense of where you want to go....Relentlessly promote yourself, give yourself a resume that looks like a professional, and, above all, try like the dickens....Don't give up...."

I've been a legal assistant at the same firm for seven years. The lawyers are actually okay but my boss is the office manager from hell. She is completely psycho. This book helped me figure why, and what to do about her. Read it!

This book saved my life. I have a great job at a trade association, and I don't want to give it up. But my boss left, and they "assigned" me to a woman who does not know how to manage people. She also doesn't stand up to the Exec. Director. This book says assistants are only as powerful as the boss we work for. She showed me how to get out by moving to another boss in a different department. Things are much better.

The reviewer below, Ms. Hunter, must not have read the whole book. There is a big chapter on how to keep your administrative job if you like it, and how to make it better.

This is a very realistic book on how to survive the secretarial grind. I have a BA in English and was forced to take this kind of job due to a lack of any jobs at the time I graduated. I had a couple of nice bosses, but most were men who expected me to be almost like their personal slave. It's an age-old problem with secretarial work that Fungaroli addresses with biting, realistic humor. After 5 years and a lot of verbal abuse and put-downs (by men who had less education than me), I left the field for good. She gives life-saving tips on how to get the respect you need if you want to stay in the field and how to get out and never be a secretary again. If you're tired of being treated like you're somebody's indentured servant and you want better, this is a must-read.

If you are an administrative assistant, secretary, or receptionist and you have any self-respect, you must read this book. It will save your life. I worked as an administrative assistant with a Bachelor's degree in Corporate Communications - 3.3 GPA. The work not only bored me to death, but I could never understand why I was always being treated so poorly and with so much disrespect by everyone in the office despite all of my hard work and pitching in. This book explains it had nothing to do with me, it was the title "administrative assistant" which to most people, especially older men because of their upbringing and popular culture, really does equate with 'doormat'. No matter what your education or skill level or dedication, you will never be treated with any respect in this type of job unless you follow this book's advice. It's all about commanding the respect that is due you. Take charge of your happiness on the job today. Read this book!

This is a very empowering and motivating book. It assures you that no situation is one that is permanent. The author gives real life examples which in combination with her theories and experiences can motivate anyone to make a change. There are many "self help" books on the market that speak in theory, this one backs it up with real life experience. Her humor makes this book an easy, enjoyable read. The fact that the author waited to go to school and still finished with her PhD is very impressive and speaks volumes to those who believe that "it's too late". I believe that there are many people who will be able to relate to Carole on many levels. Anyone who works for someone else should read this book!

I loved this. In terms of pure "misery loves company" value, this was a great way to be reminded that I am not the only secretary whose talents and intelligence are totally underestimated. There were also great tips on why you don't have to take it and what you can do instead. Inspired me to renew my research into grad school!