Brew the Darn Pot!

There has been an unfortunate rash of burnt coffee pots.  Admin Gal is contractually restricted from hunting the offenders down and showing them the error of their ways.  

The end results is appealing to the variety of higher powers that are observed in the department. 

Admin Gal believes if any of the higher powers were as caffeine addicted as the offenders were, they would brew the next pot.  If this doesn't work?  She will instal a badge swipe machine to meter coffee usage.

That'll boost Admin Gal's popularity.

Chain of Command

Admin Gal has noticed that as people climb the corporate ladder, the rarefied air can sometimes go to people's head.  As the titles of Managers, District Managers, Director etc. start getting attached to names,  individuals can forget that they still must report to someone.

Frankly?  When your boss says a meeting must take place, you shouldn't push back.  You should say - Yes, sir/ma'am!  Just because you sit in a management position, doesn't mean you don't have a chain of command you fall into.

When you say 'NO' to your boss enough times.  Your boss will say 'No, we don't need you working here anymore.'

Traveling Well with Others

I’m sitting on a jammed packed flight, on my way home from a successful business trip. I’m grooving to my iPod as I review my notes, when the man in 17C decides to fling his seat back to it’s fullest recline. I now have six inches between the top of his balding head and my nose.

Can I tell you that I am justifiably offended?

Most people will recline their seats minimally, understanding that the people behind them might have their laptops open working, meals on the tray, or are enjoying a book.

Instead I must restrain myself from jamming my knees in the back of his seat. In order to not spend the rest of he flight staring at his bald spot, I now have to sit slouched. Somehow I do not believe that he will pay for the chiropratic adjustment this is going to require.

I really dislike inconsiderate people.

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.