I Love My Job – Really, I Do…But somedays…

You are an efficient and amazing administrative assistant; however, some days start off pretty good and then slowly sink into a death spiral over the hours, leaving you wishing you could just go back to bed and hide under the covers, or even just shoot yourself. I had many of those days during my 30-year career as an Executive Assistant, but one stands out in my mind.

My CEO invited a well-known guest speaker to our staff meeting to give a session to the company's executives. There were probably at least 20 executives in the room and around 30 more attending virtually. I knew this was important to John, so I did everything I could to ensure it was flawless. I reconfirmed the catering, did a tech check with our IT team, and double-checked the link for the virtual attendees. I had dotted the i’s and crossed the Ts.

As everyone arrived, I noticed that the catering team had not yet arrived. I had requested them to provide coffee and pastries at least 30 minutes before the meeting was supposed to start. Then John walked in with our guest speaker, and everyone began taking their seats, but no catering had arrived yet.

John even asked, “Will there be coffee or Diet Cokes for our guests?" I replied that there would be, and once again, I frantically tried to reach the catering team. Just as John began to introduce our guest, the catering team rolled in with carts full of coffee, pastries, and sodas, completely oblivious to the fact that John was at the front managing introductions. Naturally, he had to pause, and as if on cue, once the catering staff left, everyone started getting up to grab their beverages and snacks. This was certainly a moment of humiliation for me.

Once again, John finished the introduction and sat down next to me. As the speaker began sharing their story, I started receiving messages from over 30 executives who were trying to join virtually, letting me know that the link I had provided was not working. John was focused on the speaker, but I could feel his side-eye glances—yikes! I quietly exited the meeting and began texting and calling my IT team for help, my blood pressure rising rapidly. Thankfully, they resolved the issue, so I returned to my seat in the conference room feeling a bit more at ease.

However, as the speaker continued, the executives who had just joined virtually started announcing their presence, interrupting our guest speaker. Eventually, I figured out how to silence the notifications from those who had joined.

All I could think of at that moment was what my resignation letter would say.We finally got through the rest of the meeting without any further issues. As everyone was filing out of the room, our Vice President of Strategy approached me with a tissue and said, “Looks like you might need this.”

Part of me wanted to just quit that day – I had tried to cover every base, yet things still went wrong. But… I realized that in the administrative world, there will never be perfect days, and even the best plans can fall apart. When that happens, you just do your best to roll with it and live another day, and so I did.

So, yes, I loved my job, even on the worst of days.