A Beastly Week

Admin Gal is sorry for the delay, my dears.  This week has held her hostage.

The run down:

1. A 3-day meeting for a business unit only works on her floor.  Yet, they are cut off from their administrative support and needed hand holding, planning and feeding.  It wouldn't do to have starved corpses littering my hallways. It wouldn't do at all.
2. An executive on vacation.  But not really if you count the emails, telephone conversations and meetings he called into.  Admin Gal admired the dedication, but this is what put her much admired boss into the hospital last year with a heart attack.  She would rather not repeat the experience.  Good bosses are hard to find.
3. The floor move to the new building is on.  Finally.  The planning and panicking has begun.  Panicking on the Project Manager's part, who doesn't have a clue to the actual administrative minutia involved in.  Planning involved on Admin Gal's part in making sure that every desk is free of anything valuable and every person will receive all the contents of their cubicles.  
4. The department is an Admin down, so Admin Gal is covering three additional VP's.  All of whom have had heavy, last minute international travel schedules.  
5. And Admin Gal has developed sudden and vicious allergies to the building she works in.

So, gentle reader, how has your week gone?

Experiencing Technical Difficulties

Admin Gal walked into the office yesterday morning to find that not a phone in the building worked, the software program that ran her business unit has been taken hostage by gremlins and Monday has officially crapped all over Tuesday.

Spending the entire day sending email after email as to why the telephone system has the attention span of a gnat, the internet is as loyal as a cat and various programs have become recalcitrant has become maddening.

Here is the plain and simple truth.  Admin Gal did not break any of the following:

1. The phone system.
2. The internet.
3. The software.

Yes, she has called all the appropriate agencies to fix the problems.  No, hovering will only annoy her.

If you ask Admin Gal again 'Is it fixed yet?', no court in the land will convict her for the wrath she will bring down upon your head.

Have a nice day.

Helping the Helpless

Sometimes the helpless can not be helped. Being asked to call the help desk for an issue that requires permissions that I, as an admin have not been granted, is a colossal waste of time. You see, the help desk is bound by certain protocols that even the most resourceful admins have a hard time breaking through.

But I digress.

Oftentimes we, the admin, are asked to find forgotten passwords, give permissions to systems that we have no rights to, OR pose as the manager or executive in question to figure out a problem that they have described as "the computer is doing that thing that sounds like {insert an unpleasant body sound}."

Seriously?

I know we have super powers and if you were to put the admins in the governing bodies of the world, we'd have the majority of the problems fixed before lunch. But I don't know how to describe a problem to the help desk that sounds like a fart.

There are times when the management needs to suck it up and help themselves.

Pearls Before...

In the world of an Adminstrative Professional, there are a multitude of levels that can be achieved. From the receptionist, whose demeanor sets the tone for employees and visitors as they enter the facility. To an actual executive level, where the Adminstrative Professional sets policy and procedures for the admins through out the organization. An entire spectrum lays between.

I only point out this breadth of range because of common comments I hear amongst my peers. "I have no way to advance." or "Nobody takes me seriously because I'm an admin" or, my personal favorite, "I just can't do what they are asking me to do because they haven't trained me."

Pardon me as I call bullshit on these whiners! I'm sorry to be blunt and rude, but enough! We who are admin are not brainless space holders who do nothing. If that is all you do? Get out now. You are doing your peers no service.

If you feel stifled, plenty of opportunities abound.  You just have to take them.

Today's economic climate does not leave pearls strewn across the road for the lucky to find. Instead you have to be savvy. Take advantage of work assisted education. Look for grants and programs that might suit your circumstances.

Opportunities abound, no one will hand them to you on a silver platter.

Tech Support

(Thanks to http://xkcd.com/628/ for the funny)

Hanging by a Thread

I'm hanging by a thread of sanity.  My status of miracle worker is being severely tested.

Miracles, people!  I perform Miracles!  I don't create the impossible.  I don't make things appear out of nothing.  I don't create matter out of nothing.

Contrary to Popular Opinion ...

Contrary to popular opinion I am not a miracle worker, a maid or a butler, a childcare provider, a janitor, a dictionary or encyclopedia, an ATM, or whatever else the pointy-hair boss can think of.  I often produce what is perceived as miracles, however it is simply know how to do my job well.
I can not properly set-up meetings, this includes conference rooms, call-in numbers, and invite attendees, without ALL the information.  Just FYI, ESP does not come naturally in the role of Administrative Assistant.

Unless it is specifically spelled out in my job description/ contract, I am not required to pick up your dry-cleaning, walk your dogs, or oversee the contractors building your mega-mansion.  This falls in the realm of a personal assistant, and that is a whole different kettle of fish.

Your children are adorable. But if they have to come into the office after school and I have deadlines, please keep them in your office.  My desk is not for childcare or their entertainment.
I hope that this small tutorial can prove to be instructional in the use of an Administrative Assistant.

Sales Professionals

Everyday, I am inundated with sales pitches for various widgets, dowickies, and thingamabobs that are guaranteed to save the company, better the work environment, cure the common cold, and even make gold out of paperclips.  Yes, the world is their oyster, if I'd only put them in contact with the right person in my organization.

No, I will not put you in contact with my boss. That's why they pay me the big bucks!
Please don't think that I'm deaf if you are in a call center and you represent yourself as a director of sales of anything.  I'm not stupid.

A note to the sales professional.  Do your research.  Go to the web site, look around. I'm not going to do your job for you.

I get the best and the worst on my end of the telephone.  For every ten annoying calls, I get a gem that makes me grateful for those moments.

But as to the rest?  Fie on them!  I liken them to an infestation of rodents that are invading my workspace. Over, under, and around they attack I must be ever vigilant.

Jenga!

Sometimes I liken my job to a fast paced game of Jenga. You know that game that starts out with a tower of wooden blocks, each player strategically removes one, then places it on the top of the tower.  The object of the game is to not let the tower collapse on your turn.

The tower wobbles as you gently pull the block out of the position you have chosen.  If you' re lucky, it is an easy block.  But if your opponents have played the game well, all you have left are blocks that are critical to the the structure of the tower.  Anything you remove with bring the tower crashing down.

The thing is that the inevitable outcome of the game is the collapse of the tower.  And so it is with my job.
So many of my responsibilities and duties often rest on one block, one person.  When that block is removed, everything can come crashing down around my ears.  Does this mean that I've done nothing to shore things up?  Or make contingency plans?  Of course not, I've been planning for these moments so the impact is not as significant.

It always stings when the blocks come tumbling down around my ears.  In the end, I always build a better structure

Happy Administrative Professionals Day!

Always be nice to secretaries. They are the real gatekeepers in the world.

 —Anthony J. D'Angelo


To all my comrades-in-arms I salute you!  Remember we are many and THEY are few.  Without us, they would never remember where they were suppose to be, where that file was, and who got paid when.
Administrative Professionals UNITE!


(Okay, I'm over the top today, but celebrate your greatness.  We may not get a lot of recognition in the trenches but without us the various corporations, governments and organizations would be in terrible dissaray.)

While the Cat's Away

Well gentle reader, the cat is out of the office.  Does that mean that I, the mouse, have license to merrily play? To scamper about without a care in the world? To (gasp) slack off?

Only in my dreams!  When my boss is out of the office work related or on vacation, I find that my time is filled with people who perceive that I have a void in my life that they would like to fill.  For example:

Manager Minion (3 levels below my boss):  Oh look the boss’s admin is without guidance and leadership let me fill that void for her! (Placing a large amount of their workload on my desk for me to do)

Savvy Admin:  While I appreciate your attempt to make sure that I have enough to occupy myself while the boss is away, let me tell you what I have to do first before I can even consider your pile. (I proceed to educate them in my job)

Manager Minion (taking back the pile of work): Oh I did not realize that you did more than leap to his beck and call.

Savvy Admin (smiling benignly):  Yes, I do have a number of other responsibilities, but I would be happy to speak to your manager about your workload since you seem to need help with it.

Manager Minion (beating a hasty retreat): That won’t be necessary!

I find working with the boss remote strife with its own challenges.  It’s harder to judge moods and needs during the day. Knowing what meetings have been successfully completed is next to impossible. 

But, that being said, it is nice to have some down time.  So when the cat is away, this mouse will breath deep and catch up.