I'll be your... secretary.

My inclination would be to make an itemized list of all these tasks you've done, and have a sit-down with your boss, and ask him, one by one, to say whether it falls under your job or not. If those tasks are taking you away from the work he expects of you, mention that as well. I would couch the discussion as wanting to clarify your responsibilities so you can best meet his performance expectations. Just a factual, businesslike talk. This will let you know more clearly exactly what is expected of you. If it is in fact expected that you do those types of tasks, you can then decide whether you want to continue there or not. I understand what you mean about the subtle (or not so subtle) girl-on-girl pressure. But just remember: they aren't reciprocating. They aren't playing nice. They aren't your friends. So, it's OK to not give them what they want, if it falls outside of your work scope. "I have to run that by the boss" is often a good way to get people to knock it off.

I actually held a job before (in my early 20s), where my boss asked me to put together a powerpoint presentation for her for 7 am the next morning. The problem was called me at 11 pm the day before. I said no, and it was maybe one of the biggest professional mistakes I have ever made. She took it very, very, very personally. I do not see how this is YOUR professional mistake.

I don't know if I'm allowed to say no, so if my boss is standing there or might overhear, I usually say yes. I figure he would set these limits for me if this was not expected He'd be kind of a controlling asshole if he explicitly told you you couldn't do nice things for your co-workers when you wanted to. How is he supposed to know that you don't want to? This question should be directed at him.

There is a lot of girl on girl, "why aren't you being helpful" implications behind this. I don't know if you know what I mean, but there's a sort of sense when I say no like, "why aren't you being cooperative?" This is where you hide behind your boss. "Oh sorry, [Boss] said I'm supposed to focus on [plausible task] from now on." This has worked for me in the past. Also, that thing about your old boss? You did not make a mistake there. You have to stop telling yourself that you did. Just because you're the lowest person on the totem pole doesn't mean you're not a human being.

Unless your job description is "concierge", you are not being paid to manage your colleagues' personal lives. I've been an actual secretary for much of my adult career, and I've been asked to do personal things for people...hm, once or twice, when I knew them fairly well and it was urgent and it was a favor? It's not appropriate for people to ask you to do personal favors for them at work or to intrude on your weekends. 1. What about you gives off the vibe that they can treat you this way? Are you insecure and anxious to please? Were you discouraged from developing boundaries as a child or young adult? You are probably giving off some kind of "bully me" vibe and these bullies are recognizing it. 2. You could discuss this with your boss, but I'd try handling it on your own first. People ask you to do personal favors for them on work time or because they are your colleagues? You're sorry but you have work deadlines and can get to it...next week, maybe. Why didn't you do a favor for them on the weekend? You were out volunteering and since it wasn't directly work-related you felt that it could wait. (And clarify - does your office really expect a junior admin to be checking email on weekends and working for free?) You need to not have time for these things. If people ask why you don't have time now, well, you have family concerns that are taking up more of your time lately. (No need to specify that you are your own family and your "concerns" involve a good book and a glass of red.) Absent some very clear spelling-out in your job description, you are not expected to do personal work for your colleagues. If they are in the market for a PA, that's one thing - and I'm sure that can be a fun job for the right person. But when someone hires a PA, they spell out what that person's role is.

Okay, to start: the phone calls and emails on your days off? Ignore them until you are once again on the clock --- do not use your personal time to do their errands. They can wait until your normal work hours, or if they're in a hurry, they can do it themselves. As for doing these favors while you are on the clock: prioritize. In other words, put actual work first; if you have the time available after that, then you can hunt up their new apartments(!) or whatever..... but work always comes first, even if it arrives on your desk after the favor is asked of you. And finally, "I am typically not invited to hang out socially with these people"..... considering what they're like at work, perhaps you ought to consider this a good thing.

Gosh, I would love to help but I am swamped with my regular work right now. If I get a free moment, I'll check in with you, okay? Gee, I would love to help but I am concerned about spending work time doing something that is more of a personal time thing. Would you mind running that by my boss first? I wouldn't want us to get in trouble. Go to your boss, tell him that you feel like you are running personal errands for people and it is taking you away from your actual job (even if it isn't). Ask him if he would support you saying no. Avoid naming names. Do not ask him to send out a memo or tell the staff himself- just ask that he support you when you say no. You don't want to seem weak to your boss or the staff. Look them in the eyes when you say no. Be direct, no shuffling or mumbling. "Boss and I were concerned that the personal errands were affecting my actual work so I can't do them anymore, sorry."

To add to my previous comment: When you say no to an unreasonable request, and the requestor reacts unreasonably, that is not your fault and it does not mean you were wrong to say no.

Am I understanding correctly that you are doing personal errands for your colleagues, for free, on the weekends and at the expense of your actual job and they berate you when you don't? I've got laundry and piles of tedious paperwork, can you be here in an hour? I won't even yell at you. I'm sorry, but they are taking terrible advantage of you. This is not what typical admin work looks like and this is not a professional environment. My first priority would be to find another job, but I understand that's not always possible. It may be difficult to turn this situation around now that your desk is where bullshit lands, but here's what I would do - 1) Get a written job description from your actual boss, i.e. the person responsible for your hiring/firing/pay grade/daily activity 2) Put all your energy into following that job description and keeping that person happy 3) Refer all requests that fall outside your written job description to the person in #1 People will not be happy with this change, but you don't have to worry about that. What you do have to worry about is whether your boss is happy, and you do that by redirecting your energy back to the actual job you were hired to do. And hey - if people trust you with highly sensitive tasks, maybe consider doing (well compensated!) PA work on the side. If not, learn to draw better boundaries for yourself from the start; it's much easier to avoid this pit than to dig your way out of it. Good luck in this and in your future job search.