Secretary's Day
I became the Secretary of our Apartment Association few months ago. Our apartment complex houses 576 units and managing it is like managing a business or a company.
Everyday, I am bumping in to things that will need attention being Secretary. Here is a sample of things I get pulled in to.
1. Everyday, I check my email early morning to look for any task that needs immediate attention. These emails are sometimes beyond my control. I see emails that says, "MC (Management Committee), please get rid of monkey menace in our apartment. There are too many these days and are destroying our clothes in balconies". Sadly, these monkeys were invited by few animal lovers and they fed fruits and nuts to them. Now, if we kick them away, it feels like we are kicking away our guests :).
2. At 9am, estate manager calls and tells BESCOM (electricity board) guy has come to disconnect power of people who have not paid bills. For next 30 minutes, I negotiate with that guy and convince him that I will make the residents pay ASAP. Don't cut the power. Power is not cut. My task will be to send a reminder to all the residents. Is it my responsibility to remind them about BESCOM bills? Hopefully not.
3. 12noon, Swimming pool coach calls on my mobile, during my office meeting, and tells,"water in the pool is not clean". I say to myself, "Oh no. I am busy right now. Will take care of it later". By, 2pm, I call up the maintenance folks to work on cleaning the water and make it ready within 24 hours.
4. 6pm - I get down from my office cab at the apartment gate. One senior resident is coming in to in a taxi. He gets out, walks to me and tells, "sir, you need to get rid of that rubbish near the main gate. If it catches fire, it will impact our transformers that are right next to it." My answer, "OK." I discuss with the housekeeping folks and the security to get this done.
5. 7pm - I check my emails again! Pardon me. I need to refresh my email atleast once an hour. I have to keep a tab on office work and other important messages. Here, I see emails requesting for bank account information of association for making online payment. One owner emails, "I have dues for 2 years. Can you remove penalty?" I reply, "Sorry sir."
6. 8pm - Plumber calls me and tells, water level in tank is low. Water tanker vendor is not coming tonight and will come next morning. Task in hand is to find alternate vendor for that night and get the issue sorted. It will take an hour or so to track it and sort it out. Bottomline, we don't want residents to see dry tap in the middle of the night.
7. 8:30pm - One newly moved resident calls me with a concern. His concern is that his assigned parking lot has been occupied by someone. I had to suggest him to talk to the estate office and also the owner of that vehicle and request to him/her to not park the vehicle henceforth.
This is just a sample list of things I do day-in/day-out. I volunteered to be the Secretary to support the community in whatever best way possible during my spare time. Unfortunately, it is consuming more time than I had assumed. I have a family and a full-time job elsewhere to focus on as my priorities.
Everyday, I am bumping in to things that will need attention being Secretary. Here is a sample of things I get pulled in to.
1. Everyday, I check my email early morning to look for any task that needs immediate attention. These emails are sometimes beyond my control. I see emails that says, "MC (Management Committee), please get rid of monkey menace in our apartment. There are too many these days and are destroying our clothes in balconies". Sadly, these monkeys were invited by few animal lovers and they fed fruits and nuts to them. Now, if we kick them away, it feels like we are kicking away our guests :).
2. At 9am, estate manager calls and tells BESCOM (electricity board) guy has come to disconnect power of people who have not paid bills. For next 30 minutes, I negotiate with that guy and convince him that I will make the residents pay ASAP. Don't cut the power. Power is not cut. My task will be to send a reminder to all the residents. Is it my responsibility to remind them about BESCOM bills? Hopefully not.
3. 12noon, Swimming pool coach calls on my mobile, during my office meeting, and tells,"water in the pool is not clean". I say to myself, "Oh no. I am busy right now. Will take care of it later". By, 2pm, I call up the maintenance folks to work on cleaning the water and make it ready within 24 hours.
4. 6pm - I get down from my office cab at the apartment gate. One senior resident is coming in to in a taxi. He gets out, walks to me and tells, "sir, you need to get rid of that rubbish near the main gate. If it catches fire, it will impact our transformers that are right next to it." My answer, "OK." I discuss with the housekeeping folks and the security to get this done.
5. 7pm - I check my emails again! Pardon me. I need to refresh my email atleast once an hour. I have to keep a tab on office work and other important messages. Here, I see emails requesting for bank account information of association for making online payment. One owner emails, "I have dues for 2 years. Can you remove penalty?" I reply, "Sorry sir."
6. 8pm - Plumber calls me and tells, water level in tank is low. Water tanker vendor is not coming tonight and will come next morning. Task in hand is to find alternate vendor for that night and get the issue sorted. It will take an hour or so to track it and sort it out. Bottomline, we don't want residents to see dry tap in the middle of the night.
7. 8:30pm - One newly moved resident calls me with a concern. His concern is that his assigned parking lot has been occupied by someone. I had to suggest him to talk to the estate office and also the owner of that vehicle and request to him/her to not park the vehicle henceforth.
This is just a sample list of things I do day-in/day-out. I volunteered to be the Secretary to support the community in whatever best way possible during my spare time. Unfortunately, it is consuming more time than I had assumed. I have a family and a full-time job elsewhere to focus on as my priorities.
Comments
sorry to note your sufferings!But at the end yu.get satisfaction that yu. have done some useful service to fellow residents.Give more responsibilities to estate personnel for day to day problems.Let them sort out minor problems.Major ones yu.may try to solve.All the best for coming days.
jayaram.d,s/s 1026