Pst. C'mere. I'm supposed to be working on summer student issues right now, but this is way more important.
It's Secretary's Day. What you decide to do in the next few hours could save you great pain later. Take two minutes to send an email to your assistant, secretary, administrator...whomever takes care of those reimbursements, travel plans, and otherwise keeps you from committing horrible acts of fraud by keeping you stumbling along the right side of the bureaucracy.
In this email, tell your secretary that awesome is too small a word for what s/he does. Maybe think of an example to show you remember something that really helped you out. Like that time you lit your pants on fire in the lab and your secretary knew JUST WHERE the fire extinguisher was and how to use it.
If you have a few bucks in your pocket, maybe take your assistant to lunch, or get a nice plant for the desk of the person who is likely the hub of help for your group.
Okay. That's all I have time for now. Remember, the more BS paperwork your secretary can pull from your desk, the more time you'll have in the lab to set your pants on fire.
Of course, if you forget secretary's day and decide to be a curmudgeon, someone may forget to see if the extinguisher is charged this month, and you'll just have to stop, drop, and roll my friends.
Thanks for the reminder! Growing up with an admin for a mom, I know how much it thrilled her to have someone just say a simple thanks. I'm glad I now get to "share the love" with some of my amazing colleagues.
Posted by: Heather | April 21, 2010 at 01:41 PM