Because if I don't do it, it doesn't get done

Today is Administrative Professionals Day. I wasn't aware of it because I didn't pick up flowers for my own desk this week. It's the signage at the florist shop that has given me a heads-up in the past.

The head of HR sent an email to everyone in the agency saying that since all of our admins had enjoyed mimosas for breakfast, courtesy of the company, we should cut them some slack if they seem a bit loopy. So everyone who works here got a subtle reminder that today's the day we're supposed to say "thank you."

Today in our status meeting, I announced that I was going to Macy's (which is attached to our office by a pedway) to pick up a box of Frango Mints and a giftcard and I'd put everyone in the room's name on it and everyone owed me $5. That would give our secretary 4 pieces of chocolate and a $30 Macy's gift card. THAT I was very willing to do because there are only 7 people in our immediate group. That seemed imminently manageable to me.

No, my boss said, there are other people on our account who would contribute if only they knew about it. Um, they DO know about. Everyone got the email from HR this morning. For me, it was the principle of the thing. I'm not going to run around to *23* people, begging for money and getting signatures on a card. I'm just not. Who died and left me Mommy?

My boss realized he was pushing it and he did the incremental collection and he got the card signed. All I did was buy a bigger box of chocolates (I traded up to Godivas) and a more expensive gift card ($100).

I dunno ... maybe I'm still mad because I didn't get flowers from my teammates last fall when I was in the hospital. Because, since I was busy having internal organs removed, I couldn't run around collecting cash and signatures for the card.