I am proud to tell you that I am an XTREME secretary. For years, I was just a regular run-of-the-mill secretary, but then one day, when I was banging my knuckles on a filing cabinet handle to discharge the electric shock, I realized that I have taken secretarialism to a whole other level: the XTREME level.
One of my XTREME responsibilities at my office is to order supplies. Boring? Mundane? Ha. I happen to love shopping for office supplies. Various sizes of binder clips, a new type of view binder, the smell of the new electric stapler…
I admit I might have a problem.
I placed an order through a certain bulk office supply company (Reliable, there I said it) about four years ago. I had just started my job, and we were in dire need of supplies. When the package of supplies arrived at the office, I tore into it like a hyena tears into a movie-theater-sized box of Junior Mints.
Highlighters, manila folders, sticky notes, ballpoint pens! And paper clips.
Sweet, sweet clips
My, oh my, a lot of paperclips.
I looked at the packing slip. Indeed, I had ordered an abundance of paper clips.
Boxes and boxes and boxes of paperclips.
Apparently, when I thought I had ordered 5 or 6 tiny boxes of paper clips (jumbo and regular, each), what I had actually ordered was 5 or 6 bulk packages of paper clips. They were like a quarter apiece.
We, the office budget coordinator and myself, decided not to return the paper clips, more of a hassle than the buck it had cost for the gross lot. One might think that this is a minor disaster by a halfway incompetent administrative support person. I tend to think it was major foresight by an XTREME secretary who knew that there would be papers in the future that needed to be kept together, not in a permanent way, but in the carefree way that only a paper clip can provide.
Four years later, what is left of the office paper clip supply.
And I have not had to order more paper clips for the office in the entire four-and-a-half years I have been employed there. How XTREME is that?
Haha, i did this once with glasses for a meeting. I really thought it must be a bad joke when the deliver of 10 packages with 16 glasses each came in; had to send it back 😉
Did you check to see if all those glasses arrived intact? I would not trust myself with that many glasses. I can’t even trust myself with a carafe of water, but that is another XTREME story for another time.
No, i opened only one package and saw the delivery note. Luckily my package was intact. Otherwise i would have smashed my head on my desk, literally. Oh, you gotta need to write mor XTREME storys. By the way, i never knew we are basicly doing the same job, i’m a team assistant/secretary too 😀
Like mother, like daughter! Who else could write a whole long post about a block of concrete or paper clips but you and I? Well done, my dear! 🙂
The block of concrete? It’s here, in case you forgot (or your gentle readers missed the opportunity):
http://oregana.wordpress.com/2011/01/29/nobodys-dyeing/
Wow!
And I *could* use some paper clips …
At my previous job I really loved the supply cabinet but the one at my new place leaves much to be desired. I once ordered coloured paperclips which was a good idea until we had to compile papers for the board and i inly had ciloured ones left…
You know, I could probably find a pretty good use for all those paper clips. Think of all the necklaces that could be made!
“but then one day, when I was banging my knuckles on a filing cabinet handle to discharge the electric shock”… I do the same thing, only I use the top of my hand. Great minds…
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