A truly visionary statement from Kermit the Frog, and one that I agree wholeheartedly with. Especially considering the week I’ve had…
MONDAY 4/14: Was asked by Senior Manager to arrange a block of conference rooms that an out-of-town account team could use to prep for an upcoming client pitch. Meeting dates—April 24th-28th. Firm revenue should said pitch go well–$22M. Spent the whole day coordinating logistics.
My Stress Level (on a scale of 1-10): 4
TUESDAY 4/15: Informed by account team Director that the date for the pitch is 4/21 (not 4/28)…will need meeting rooms beginning on the 17th and going through the weekend. Uh, Houston? We have a problem. Of course, all the meeting rooms in our entire office were already booked by Other Admin to accommodate quarterly review meetings for another function. Asked Other Admin if we could juggle some things around to make some space. Her response: “No, book a conference room outside the office.” (Ok, not quite so blunt but still not too helpful…it was more like “I would suggest booking a conference room at an off-site venue.”) Informed Senior of the problem and spent the remainder of the day coming up with an alternative solution to the meeting room fiasco.
My Stress Level: 7
WEDNESDAY 4/16: Alternative solution not going to work. Account team Director and Head Honcho are panicking. Senior Manager goes above Other Admin’s head to free up some space, dropping the “This is a $22M pitch…” line in order to get our way leverage our position. It worked, but not without pissing off Other Admin. I did feel badly, considering Other Admin had probably spent a considerable amount of time arranging the logistics of the quarterly review meetings, only to have her efforts dashed at the last minute by our group. But hey…it is a $22M pitch, after all. Arranged after-hours building access for all guests, booked a dinner reservation in a private room at an Italian restaurant close to the office, and called it a day.
My Stress Level: 15
THURSDAY 4/17: The out-of-towners begin to arrive. I make final preparations for their catering for the following day, including tracking down a restaurant that will deliver dinner for 15 people downtown on a Friday night at the last minute. Am asked by the account team Head Honcho if the restaurant they are going to that night could serve a special drink right at the beginning of the meal that they could toast with. The hitch? It has to be green (don’t ask). Knowing that adding 15 apple martinis to the bill might not be a great idea considering they’ve already got a $500 food/beverage minimum in place, I make a run to Bartell Drugs to see what I can drum up. 20 minutes, $2.00, and a bottle of green food coloring later, I’m at the restaurant having a pow-wow with the bartender. We’re testing how many drops of food coloring to add to some sparkling cider to get the color green we’re going for (the answer: one). Problem solved, I head back to the office to see what other fires have popped up in the last hour. Spent the rest of the day compiling a list of downtown restaurants that are open on Saturdays for breakfast and lunch (you’d be surprised how few there really are).
My Stress Level: still 15 (come on…green drinks?)
FRIDAY 4/18: Stop by grocery store on my way to the office for fresh fruit for the group to munch on throughout the weekend. Meetings begin, all catering in place. Small emergency first thing regarding some much needed binders that were supposed to ship overnight but may not arrive in time. Spent the AM making additional hotel reservations for last minute attendees and staying in constant contact w/ catering for coffee refills and such. Discover there will not be enough box lunches to go around due to extra people attending the meeting; outside vendor cannot accommodate at short notice, so I’m picking up extras myself from another place. Receive word that dinner the previous night went off without a hitch, green drinks and all. Fabulous.
My Stress Level: 8
SATURDAY 4/19: Blissful, blissful weekend! You couldn’t have arrived a moment too soon! I had the evening to myself as the Roomies are off at a wedding, so I settled into the couch w/ my popcorn to catch up on some DVD recommendations from friends: The Mist (classic King) and the first part of Battlestar Galactica (an urgent request from my Scomerican friend). I am pleasantly surprised in my enjoyment of both. I hit the sack around 2am.
My Stress Level: 0
SUNDAY 4/20: Disaster strikes. 12:30pm, received call from account team Director, who is panicking. They had requested the hotel provide them with a projector to use in their PowerPoint presentation to the client on Monday, and the hotel was happy to oblige the request. One small problem though. They provided them with an overhead projector. (Excuse me, what century are we living in again?) The backup projector they brought with them isn’t working, so they need another one. Plus, they need a courier arranged to pick up a print job from the office and bring it to them IN OLYMPIA (note: Olympia is about 2 hours south of Seattle). Now this is all on my plate.
My Stress Level: off the charts
SUNDAY 4/20 (continued): I called our IT department to get the skinny on the current backup projector, to try and determine possible troubleshooting measures that can be taken. Relayed this to the account team; troubleshooting not working, Director wants to rent a projector. Rent? On a Sunday? Being the stellar and connected gal that I am, I make a phone call to a local AV company that I used to contract work with at a previous job many moons ago. Lo and behold! Their Production Manager just so happened to be in the office, and sure, he would rent me exactly what they needed.
SUNDAY 4/20 (still continuing): By the time I returned home six and a half hours later, I had procured one state-of-the-art video projector (at a deeply discounted rate), and a free projector stand, had picked up the print job from our office, and had driven 160 miles to Olympia and back to drop everything off.
My Stress Level: don’t ask
Now here it is, Monday, and I’m a bundle of nerves and knots, already counting down the minutes until 5pm on Friday. But I took much satisfaction when someone from the account team remarked yesterday “Do you know there is not one place in Seattle, Tacoma or Olympia that will rent a projector on a Sunday?”, to which I was able to reply “Well, there’s at least ONE place, because I was able to get it done!”, which drew laughter and applause from those gathered close by. And when Roomie IMd me this morning to ask “Have they promoted you to Supreme Admin Being yet?”, I laughed and replied “No, not yet!”
YET.
*wink*
