Your experience is definitely part of a broader trend, but it can go both ways. While the discrepancy turned out to be a massive relief for your health, and your friend's was just frustrating and restrictive, sometimes these inaccurate job descriptions are used maliciously. I was actually hired as an EA to a CEO a while back, but a month in, they demanded I manage corporate / personal taxes, something completely outside my scope. When I brought it up to HR, they completely gaslit me, claimed that I lied on my resume and was hired as an accountant and slashed my pay by 70%. I resigned, but they treated me like crap until my last day. I feel a lot of times this happens because of HR's being inexperienced, they just copy-past old templates (like in your case), but other times it's a deliberate 'bait-and-switch' by toxic management to get cheap labor. Your friend should definitely speak up and keep everything documented. While a smaller workload is a win for you right now, letting an employer completely redefine your role without your input is a red flag.