Administrative Professional’s Day

Okay, ladies (and gentlemen)…..

We all know Administrative Professional’s Day is another made up holiday like Valentine’s Day that was created just to guilt people into spending money on flowers. As an admin, I know I am usually unappreciated by whoever I work for so in theory, it is nice to force them to recognize my contributions at least one day a year. However, this whole thing is complete BS.

A few reasons why the holiday blows…….

1) Usually your boss doesn’t really remember to get you a gift (mostly flowers) and someone else makes the purchase, writes the card and sneakily puts it on your desk when you are in the bathroom

2) Flowers are expensive and die quickly – sometimes they also smell way too much and having them next to your face all day can be annoying. Also, sometimes you are allergic

3) If they buy you a gift card, it is usually either to somewhere you don’t shop or somewhere too expensive to buy anything with just the cash on the card. For example, I was once given a gift card to a New York spa. Sounds great! Except that even though there was $150 on the card (sounds like a lot of money!) when you actually go to the spa, you could only get a facial and still had to pay a bit extra to supplement the gc. Overall, I had a nice experience but when I think about what else I could do with $150…………

 

So, my advice to those bosses who choose to celebrate this fake holiday…..

1) Don’t buy flowers! They are a huge waste of money and a lot of us don’t appreciate them. Gift cards are the way to go – and I don’t mean to a store. I mean like an Amex one. Cold hard cash! You have it…..share it with us.

2) If we have a good relationship and chat it up on a regular basis, take us out to a fancy lunch at a place we cannot afford ourselves. However, if we are not that friendly or close, do NOT torture us with a lunch. Making small chit chat for an hour and using our best table manners with our boss is worse than a first date with someone you really like/hate.

3) Perhaps give us the day off without docking our PTO. Even though it’s a Wednesday, we could always use a free day to run our errands or just sit home in our jammies. This is a great and free way to appreciate us.

The best advice I can give though is to be nice to your admin all year long. Even though you may view us as peons, we are the reason you are as successful as you are. Without an admin, you would be lost. Also, remember that we know everything about you and could ruin your life in an instant <insert evil laugh here>

Advertisement