If you’ve ever been a secretary or “administrative professional,” you know it can be an extremely thankless job.
The week of April 18-23 is Administrative Professionals’ Week nationwide, but today specifically, Wednesday the 21st, is Administrative Professionals’ Day. (If you remember it being called “Secretary’s Day, too, you’re not that old- the name was only changed in 2000.)
Although many news outlets have said that management has traditionally been known to mark the day with flowers, candy, or lunches, do many secretaries or administrative professionals have the experience of being especially appreciated on this day? In my many years of corporate servitude, from the old fashioned doctor that appended “based on the works of L. Ron Hubbard” to the end of memos to the scary team of British women who demanded thirty Starbucks drinks be walked to, ordered, obtained and returned in twenty minutes, I’ve never seen it observed, much less celebrated. And I’ve never seen any “administrative professionals,” not even the receptionist or the basic administrative assistant, get sent so much as an email- much less flowers or lunch.
If you’re reading this and you’ve got someone who sorts through your snail mail, brings you coffee, files papers or in any way is your administrative subordinate, arranging for a lunch or even a latte would be a nice thing to do. If you’re a secretary, receptionist or administrative professional who has been treated nicely on this holiday for administrative support, we’d love to hear about it in the comments.
