A Word to the Wise

When asking for a favor to an Admin who does not support you, you the recipient of said favor should do everything in your power to make things easier for her.

If you do not,  said Admin might do one or all of the following:

1. Conveniently move your task to the least priority pile.  The pile that gets done when hell freezes over.
2. Mail your Visa application directly to the Kremlin, even though it was for Brazil.
3. Schedule hardware maintenance on computer without providing a replacement.  
4. Cancel your smartphone contract and charge the cancellation fee to your personal credit card.
5. Revoke your access to all essential drives that contain anything that might be remotely useful in the day to day operations of your job.

As an Admin, we are required to be helpful, not be taken advantage of.  

Following Directions

Policies and procedures are in place for reasons that are specific to the bottom line of the company.
As an admin, I am amazed by the convoluted efforts made to get around those simple steps.  All so they can "Save Time"or a classic "I don't need to follow procedure". When in reality they who go against the established protocols are just causing more problems than solving them.

The need to circumvent the process is rampant from top to bottom in an organization.  Executives do it as much as the employee at the very bottom of the employment rung.

So here is the truth, when people come to me in a fit of frustration.  Complaining about how they can't get something done because the process is broken, they present a pile of papers or an email chain of misery to me and beg me to do what they can't.  A couple of clicks of the mouse, clicks of the keyboard and a form or two printed later... VOILA!

I have performed a MIRACLE!

Maybe I have a sick sense of humor or I'm immune to their plight, they come to me grateful that I've gotten done what they've been unable to accomplish.  I simply say, when they ask how I got it done so quickly, 'I followed the directions.' without batting an eye.