Summertime Dress Blues

The workplace, not for the fashion faint of heart

It's that time again!  The sun is shining, the mercury is rising, the winter time blues are being banished like a bad memory.  We all rejoice in the return of the consistent sunshine of Spring and Summer.
With this felicitous change brings a change in wardrobe in the workplace.  Hems rise, toes come out of hiding and shirts seem to have less yardage.
So here are some simple rules to follow as we enter the warmer months in the work environment:

1. If you think you are going to sweat, don't forget the deodorant.  More importantly, DO NOT increase the amount of your favorite perfume or cologne to combat your BO.  Your co-workers will rise in revolt and hose you down until you stinketh not!
2. Let's talk about hemlines.  Most companies have a summertime dress code, inevitable people will try to find a way around it.  Frankly, a simple rule to follow is if you can't bend down without showing the world your privates, the skirt or shorts are too short!
3. Cleavage.  Let's talk about cleavage.  As the mercury rises the décolletage seems to dip.  Showing too much skin, leaving little to the imagination.  Intimate apparel should never show when you are in a professional environment!  Cover up ladies!  Use a shrug, sweater, shawl, or, I don't know, and actual blouse that buttons.

Summer is a time to be cool and refreshing in most everything you do.  This can be done with class and elegance with your wardrobe.  Be aware of your company's dress code and stick to it.
What every you do, don't show your privates to the boss!  If you do, your summer will surely be blue.

A Jury of My Peers

A good friend of the Admin Gal recently pointed out  her frustration of meetings that run over their allotted time.  Admin Gal realizes this is a common theme in this blog.  But with so much material and so many people to help, how can this topic not be revisited regularly?

Meetings are an opportunity for people to come together for a common purpose to come to a decision. Or realize that they won’t come to a mutual desired outcome.  Normally, attendees come prepared ready to make the needed decision or touch base on the current milestone.  All of this can be done with in the allotted meeting time.

Here is when things can go terribly, terribly wrong.  Sometimes, when an attendee feels slighted, for what ever reason, they decide to hold the meeting hostage.  If you will, a meeting filibuster.  Not letting anyone get a word in until they’ve made their pointless point.

5, 10, 30 minutes later.  Everyone’s schedules are in disarray,  other meetings have been held up because of this person’s axe to grind. AND no decision has been reached.

This is where you wonder if a jury of your peers would truly understand if you went postal?

A Word to the Wise

Dear Sales Person, Employee, and/or Person in General,

Administrative Assistants around the world are not creatures who sit around doing nothing.  We are productive members of any business environment.  We contribute to ongoing projects, we maintain office order, calendar cohesion, document management, personnel moral, in addition to a myriad of other tasks and projects that are assigned to our functions.

Copying our supervisors on an email about a task that is not priority will not miraculously cause it to surface to the top of the list.  Flagging any correspondence with ‘HIGH PRIORITY’ only indicates your own sense of inflated ego.

To the sales people in specific, if an admin tells you their boss will not be meeting with you now or in the future – that is the truth.  Sending the boss an email with available dates and times and copying the admin is the epitome of classlessness.  Be prepared to be shut down.

We work with our bosses to prioritize our projects and tasks to benefit them, not for someone who is not in our organizational structure.  While the persistence and ingenuity can be admired, the audacity can only be considered appalling.

A word to the wise, flagging, prioritizing, or copying our supervisors/bosses with your projects and tasks only makes us annoyed.

Sincerely,

The Admins