Dear Friends,
Yesterday was “Administrative Professionals Day” (formerly known as “Secretary’s Day”). During my college teaching/administrator career, I had the good fortune of having either a department secretary, an assistant, or student workers that I shared with others but who were very adept at taking care of tasks for me so that I could attend to other things. I, for one, will never, ever take an administrative professional for granted. Without them, the whole enterprise would fall apart. Sadly, not everyone realizes that it is really the Della Streets of the world who run the whole shebang and they treat anyone who isn’t The Boss with a bit of disdain.
In 1947, Coronet Films put out an educational film that tells us all about the secretary’s day (and how it differs from a stenographers):
Click here if the player does not work for you
Thank you, administrative professionals, for all of your hard work (for too little pay and recognition)!
Sincerely,
Dr. Julie-Ann
LOVE this! My mother started as an Executive Secretary with Procter & Gamble just out of high school in 1950, so this film really struck a chord with me.
And you’re exactly right on the role of assistants. Back in my pre-children working days, I saw too many big shots who were completely full of themselves and blissfully unaware that without the assistants they’d be completely off the rails. Thanks for giving them a shout-out!
I still have a vase from 1987 that says “Happy Secretarys Day” that I received when I worked in a probate court office in Massachusetts. Now 24 years later I’m an office manager in a completely different line of business, but my current boss gave me a lovely floral arrangement, a $25 gift card and a greeting card for “Administrative Professionals Day”.
My how times have changed. Back in 1987 we didn’t even have computers in the office where I worked. We still used typewriters, we recorded in court ledgers by hand, and they even allowed staff to smoke in the office!!
Are things better now? Well, they are certainly faster, I am able to communicate with my associates in other states more efficiently, but in some ways I do miss the simplicity of a file cabinate with paperwork that was alway there (the file cabinates never froze up on us like computers do)and the systems were always working and online (the secretaries).
I’ve been a secretary/typist/receptionist/personal assistant in various jobs for over 20 years, love it!