“It’s not that difficult.”
“The way you stood up to that Deputy Minister. I could never do that.”
“Sure you could. It’s the only way they’ll respect you.”
“Still, it must take a lot of courage.”
“It’s nothing. What can I do for you?”
“I picked up your interoffice mail. Do you want me to open it for you and respond to it or just put it in your in-tray?”
My own secretary had been at Interministerial Affairs for thirty-three years. She was two years away from retiring and had never once asked me if I needed her assistance with anything. She had a chronically sore left wrist, which she called a “repetitive strain injury”, even though she mostly copied and organized files and only used her computer when she was playing solitaire. Because of her injury, she was often absent from work, whic
