Secretaries Week
Mon., April 22, 08:22 AM
Secretaries Week
This is the week that used to be designated National Secretaries Week. For bosses who didn’t observe the whole week, the Wednesday was always Secretaries Day.
The terms are obsolete now. I haven’t heard anyone refer to Secretaries Week in years, and I note that this year’s calendar is marked Administrative Professionals Day. Whatever. I never minded being called a secretary – but I explained that in Woman of the Nineties.
Nevertheless, I remember the day fondly, particularly at the Last Good Job I had. It wasn’t that I needed to be appreciated (this was a great position, where I always felt I was important to the department), nor did I need gifts, flowers, or a fancy lunch. Don’t misunderstand me, I like presents as much as anyone else. But Secretaries Day celebrated the camaraderie of our whole department.
It happened that several people in the department had birthdays that usually fell during Secretaries Week, so there were multiple reasons for us to have a good time together.
If the weather was good (springtime in Connecticut is not always reliable), we could walk to a nearby restaurant. Otherwise we would arrange to meet somewhere, for there were ten of us – more than one car could handle. One of the things that made it a great department that we were remarkably compatible for a group so large and diverse. From the boss to the programmers to the secretary, there wasn’t a dope in the bunch.
Usually someone would be managing the last-minute greeting cards under the table – “no, you don’t sign that one, you sign this one and this one.” And perhaps there would be some little wrapped packages circulating too. The party would last for something less than two hours, for we did have to return to the office and attend to business. But the time together was always full of fun and good humor.
Maybe no one else appreciated that group as much as I did. As the oldest, I had already learned to be grateful for what I had. Had I known how soon we would break up, I might have held on for dear life. But as I said to the owner of the company when we were downsized, I probably miss not what we had as much as what might have been.
