Red Light, Green Light

I remember playing Red Light, Green Light  when I was a kid. The purpose of the game is to reach the 'stop light' without being caught in a moving violation (red light).

The corporate work place is somewhat similar. We are all heading for the same goal, but the journey there is fraught with obstacles, lights and diversions.

While the game is often a singular event, in the corporate environment the employee is seldom alone.  We should be working together to obtain the goals and projects given us.  Checks and balances exist to help us keep moving along.

Sometimes, we hit the Red Light.  The key to surviving the sudden stop is to be paying attention to everything around you so you are not benched.

You've got to Move it, Move it

Admin Gal has been movin' it all right.  The floor move is looming, her vacation is scheduled smack dab in the middle of the move (excellent timing one would say - ha!), she is training new admins, AND packing out her boss's office and her own.

Admin Gal is pretty sure that the company is conspiring against her to make sure she is too exhausted to enjoy her 10 days free of the corporate overlords.  

Never fear, where Admin Gal is going, she'll be beyond the reach of cell phones, email and/or smoke signals. If the office implodes before she gets back, she will dutifully put all the pieces back together.

Holiday Cheer

As the Holiday Season descends upon us, Admin Gal has a few words of advice:

1. Remember that work Holiday function is just that - WORK RELATED!  You might not remember anything you said or did, but your colleagues will - guaranteed!
2. Holiday music is to be used judiciously. Just because you LOVE holiday music, be kind to those around you who aren't so inclined. Use your headphones.
3. Scents of the season should be kept at home.  Pine, cinnamon, apple pie are popular scents for candles, potpourri, etc.  Those smells can cause serious sinus and allergy issues in enclosed places such as office environments.
4. Holiday Gift Exchanges or Secret Santa's are not the time to find your inner prankster.  Having a co-worker open something that is NSFW or immature will be remembered far longer than the season it was given.  Not the memory you want to give.

If these simple guidelines can be followed, Admin Gal feels you will survive this Holiday Season with goodwill and cheer.

When Under the Weather

Dear Team,

When Admin Gal is under the weather, certain protocols should be observed.

1. Inquiries of her health and well being is always appreciated.
2. Flowers are always looked upon fondly.
3. Good wishes for return to health are also considered appropriate.

Admin Gal is aware that her presence and skills are missed when she is not at her post.  She can not control the vagrancies of the current viruses or bacteria that are floating around the world.

What is not appreciated are phone calls or emails demanding she carry her germ ridden self into the office to take care of projects that are only important in the mind of the person assigning priority.  Or who do not want the task themselves (which is often the case).

The projects were present the previous day and will survive until Admin Gal is back in the office healthy and whole.  OR she can spread her contagion about the impolite person's office.

Your choice.

Admin Gal

We are All Adults... Maybe

Didn't your mother teach you, when you take the last of anything you tell someone?

In the office environment, you tell the person who orders office supplies when you take the last of something.
Seriously?  How are they supposed to know.  By their super-dooper, psychic spidey sense attuned to the supply cabinet.

Or possibly the emergency office supply dog that will come bounding down the cubicle aisle like Lassie did to raise the alarm.

The admin goes to the supply cabinet once-a-week to do inventory.  If there is a run on an item and the last one is taken.  Courtesy should prevail.  Let. The. Admin. Know!

The Admin can only work so many miracles.  Reading minds is not among them.

Supply Management

Admin Gal doesn't mean to complain -- actually she does.  In her office, she has had a vast influx of new consultants from far off lands who apparently do not understand that office supplies are not to be hoarded, taken home or used frivolously.

Seriously, how many pens can one person use in a month?  Or pads of paper?  Or correction tape?

The sad reality is that the office supplies are dwindling faster than they ought too.  Admin Gal's trust has been sorely abused.  She is going to have to lock the supply cabinet and be put out as every Tom, Harry and Sanjay comes to her desk to beg for a pen or pencil.  I do not want this.  But if this is the only way I can manage the office supplies, so be it.

The Air is Filled with Music

Songs fill the air as unattended cell phones ring forlornly for their owners.  Pieces of songs from Alicia Keyes, Black Eye Peas, Metallica, Gershwin filter across the floor.  Then the annoying message alarms that range from Beep, Blat, Honk, Clash and Boom.
Admin Gal admits that she likes a relatively quiet workplace.  Not silence, just everyone doing their job. If someone is listening to music, that's what ear buds are for.  This need to abandon a cell phone on the desk and leave it off vibrate is just plain inconsiderate of others in the work place.
Yes, we live in the age of unilateral communications.  Be considerate, keep you cell phone with you so the rest of us don't have to listen to people try to get a hold of you.

Idle Chatter

Every office has one.  You know the person.  The one who can't be quiet. Who has to fill a void that doesn't exist with noise.  Standing in the cube aisle making idle conversation, annoying those around them. The one who makes chit-chat.

Chit-chat in and of itself is benign.  Something to be done when nothing else is to be done.  However, when you have a person in the office with apparently nothing else to do but chit-chat among others who have actual duties to perform, the effects can be devastating on productivity and moral.
That aimless person, unless managed effectively, curtails the productivity of others.  Sowing seeds of resentment in their wake. They seldom recognize boundaries, leaving the person they are bothering to be blunt.

Times are tough.  Everyone should be putting their shoulder to the wheel, showing their value to their employer regardless of the state of the company.  If your company is in the midst of downsizing, your work ethic will be recognized by recommendations after the job has been eliminated.  If you are lucky enough to be in a company that is stable, you will likely to be around for another day.

The old adage 'idle hands are the devils workshop' hold true in this day and age.  Idle chit-chat brings nothing but problems.

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!