Dragon at the Gate

So, part of my job is to screen calls.  I have an understanding of the calls that my boss really needs to get and the call that will potentially benefit business.  BUT, I really don't have time for arrogant sales people who think that I don't have a brain cell to think with.
My boss trusts me to get his messages to him.  If the message needs to be routed to another party, I will do so.  Don't lie to me, don't try to get around me, don't try to intimidate me.  I remember these things and it won' t go well for you the next time you call.  I keep notes on people who call.
I am the dragon at the gate. You can be pleasant and gain passage, or be a crispy critter.  The choice is yours.

Flexibility!

I’m so flexible, I’m a pretzel! 

So, I spend a week and a half setting up 90 minute high-level executive meetings over a three week period. Juggling schedules, begging for meetings to move to accommodate said meetings, bribing where I can, to get all the meetings scheduled. 

One phone call destroys my hours and days of hard work.  The admin who made the call gets my frustration, but the executive who made the decision has no clue how hard it was to arrange all the meetings.  He just said ‘Make it so’. 

Instead he wants one mega meeting, which was the original idea.  Two weeks ago this meeting would have been easy to arrange.  Now, putting this meeting together for tomorrow is a logistical nightmare.  But, since the company officers attending the meeting are high enough up in the company, everyone can clear their schedules and make due.

Hierarchy is a double-edge sword.

Random Acts

Every once in awhile you find yourself the recipient of a random act of kindness, not for anything in particular just for doing your job. Yesterday, was a day for random acts of kindness for me. Both to give and receive.
To Give:
I received a frantic call from one of my fellow Admins in our New York office with an AP question. This was an arena I could find a solution to her problem, the people I needed were all around me. With help from my network, her issues were swiftly solved. I made sure to that my friend who spearheaded the fix, by emailing a quick ‘good job’ email to her boss. This is something I would do for anyone who has gone out of their way to help me. My friend said to me she was only doing her job, to me she moved a mountain. I had to make sure that her effort was acknowledged.
To Receive:
The same day, someone came to me looking for a typewriter. We have one on the floor, but it hasn’t been used since I started with the company. She had forms that had to be manually filled out. We plugged in the dinosaur and found out that the ribbon was dry as a bone. I looked at the form and realized that I could make an ADOBE form out of the form if we scan the document. Really, it was an easy fix. It took a few minutes to do and a few tweaks after that to perfect it. And Voila! No need for a typewriter. I was just doing my job.
This is what she sent my boss:
“Hi XXXX
Every once in a while, even though great people perform above the bar daily, someone really exceeds expectations, and I wanted you to know that XXXX "saved the day" for me. All I needed was a working typewriter to fill out a form for some of our XXXXXXX employees. She was right on it....looking to ease my burden of having to use a typewriter. She created a form with Adobe......something I didn't even know was possible.
She is always great with requests and today she exceeded my expectations and helped with making the process more efficient....She saved the day!
And she taught me something!
We're fortunate to have her.
Just wanted to let you know.....”
It’s moments like this that make my day.

RESET Button

Have you ever had one of those days where you want to hit the RESET button?

Well, today was it.  Nothing particularly horrible happened, but nothing particularly right happened either.  At work I was juggling tons of balls in the air and inevitably one fell.  Not one that was work critical but was important to my boss. 

When you are an admin, there is a fine line between work and personal when you work at the executive level.  I try to keep everything in balance.  Most importantly, I try not to drop any balls.  But when you support a business unit president, vice president, assorted directors AND the various and sundry managers underneath them, life can get a little chaotic.

I really hate it when I miss a ball. It makes me feel miserable and crappy.  I do my best to shake it off and hit the RESET button the minute I walk out the door so that the next day is new.  But the hold over feels like an axe hanging over my neck.

Today I hit the RESET button.  Too bad I know that my RESET will only be good for me. My boss has a memory like an elephant.

Hear No Evil

As an admin, I find myself in a curious place.  People think I have WAY more power and influence than I really have.  That being said, I hear things.  Confidential things, which I keep confidential, think of me as a father/mother confessor.  Personal things, sometimes I’m thinking ‘Are you kidding me? Really? You’re sharing that with me? A stranger?’.  Thinks that make me want to wash my brain out, ick! 

But with all the things I hear, I have to act like I hear nothing.    That I don’t hear the squabble between co-workers a couple of aisles over, the co-worker lovers spat in the kitchenette, the plans for the business unit. 

At times that I have to make a judgment call and alert a manager or HR rep to a situation, because it is the right thing to do.  Sometimes I have to give carefully framed advice that will not harm the company nor the person to whom I’m talking to. 

I feel like I’m a camp counselor in a camp for grown-ups with no inhibitors.

Office Supplies

The purpose of Office Supplies is not to supply your home office, your children’s school supplies, your church auxiliaries or any other non-work related activity.  Instead, Office Supplies are to be used specifically for the purpose of conducting your job. 

My job is to order Office Supplies.  Not supplies that are pretty, neat-o, or make you feel good, but supplies that don’t break the bank. I am tasked specifically with keeping supply costs down.

If you have a brand of pen that you like, buy your own and lock your desk!

Oh! DON’T hoard supplies!  As the procurer and distributor of said Office Supplies, I am the only one who is authorized to hoard supplies.  I do so for a reason. YOU DON’T NEED A YEARS SUPPLY OF PENS OR STICKY NOTES OR NOTEBOOKS AT YOUR DESK.

Office supplies are a privilege not a right.  Some companies make you get your own!

Need a Miracle? Mighty Admin to the Rescue!

You're no good unless you are a good assistant;

and if you are, you're too good to be an assistant. 

~Martin H. Fischer

One of my directors pokes her head around the wall of my cubicle with a sheepish yet cautious look on her face.  I’m immediately suspicious. 

“What can I do for you?”

“I know this is last minute, but I need a meeting set up with …” And she names three top officers in the corporation, “Can you arrange it for this afternoon or first thing in the morning?”

On the screen in my mind I see myself, strangling this director and banging her head against the wall while chanting, “Lack of planning on your part does NOT constitute an emergency on MINE!”

Reality:  “Of course!”  And I get the details and set about pulling another miracle from my nether regions.