Advantage, Admin

I caved.

It might be too late for me to escape with my dignity. I gave in to the last bastion of occupational indifference.

It doesn’t matter how much I resent my job “responsibilities,” or how many times I remind myself that this is just temporary until I get into grad school (fingers crossed!), there’s simply no denying anymore that I’m a full-fledged Admin.

You see, I got one of those under-desk portable heaters.

In reality, I grudgingly accepted the traditional tenets of Admin World ages ago. I walk to work in sneakers and carry my heels in my oversized purse. Before the days of free lunch, I’d pack my daily PBJ in Tupperware. I keep a nail file in my pen cup, lip gloss in my desk drawer, and extra panty hose in my filing cabinet. But the heater thing struck me as so Slow-Moving-Gray-Haired-Knee-Sock-Wearing-Receptionist and I’d like desperately to think I’m anything but, so I resisted. All of the Lifers have them, and I suspect the decision to become a career assistant requires a certain level of warmth and comfort at one's desk. When C left she bestowed upon me her heater and until today it sat under my desk unused. Well it snowed over night and I was freezing my nips off at my desk, so I cranked that baby up to see what I've been missing. Oh, it’s glorious. Now, I know I'll never be a career assistant because I'm never truly comfortable sitting still at my desk all day, but at least now I'll be warm for these last few weeks of winter. I'm still holding out from keeping an extra cardigan draped over my chair. Admins, it seems, are defined by their methods to cope with frigid office temperatures set by men wearing wool suits.

Easier just had a conversation near my desk with one of Nice Hedge Fund's Big Shots. They were comparing footwear for the snowy/rainy/icy weather outside and I tuned in just in time to hear Easier say with the perfect mix of incredulous and accusatory, "Do they actually make Ugg boots for men?!" I nearly fell out of my uncomfortable chair laughing. TGIF.