I'm invisible

I was talking with a colleague this morning.

Me: "I saw a bit of Mars Attacks last night."

Colleague: "Oh yeah it was on Sky, yak-yak yak yak yak."

"I never realised Jack Black was in it until...."

A customer walks up with a mobile phone and a Blackberry device, places them on the desk in front of my colleague "Will he lose anything off either of these?". No by-your-leave or smile just hijack the space and cut me off.

I wandered off muttering "Oh so I'm invisible now?"

You rude bitch. OK we weren't talking about work but at least acknowledge there's a conversation going on and make some sort of "sorry to interrupt" comment. If you ever need my help you're going straight to the bottom of the pile. I would never just barge into the monologue of shoes and handbags that you offload on your workmates.

Some secretaries, sorry PAs (ha), are like that. Full of pride in their delegated authority with none of the political charm their boss needed to get to the position he/she is in.

Want to know how to get people to do things for you? Treat them as people and not staff.