office wife
n.— «Then there is the “office wife” role that the woman behind the typewriter or the data machine or the steno pad is somehow expected to perform…duties that never appear on a job description. A secretary must be a waitress, they say, who serves coffee and snacks to the boss; a personal shopper, who buys birthday presents for the wife; a nurse, who administers his eyedrops; a maid, who tends plants and dusts.» —“Secretaries See Parallels In ‘Nine To Five’” by Georgia Dullea New York Times Jan. 2, 1981. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Imagine telling someone how to get to your home, but without using the name of your street, or any other street within ten miles. Could you do it? We take street names for granted, but these words are useful for far more, like applying for a job or...
If you speak a second or third language, you may remember the first time you dreamed in that new tongue. But does this milestone mean you’re actually fluent? And a couple’s dispute over the word regret: Say you wish you’d been able...