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Previously called Secretary’s Day, Administrative Professionals Day has had many incarnations, and that is cause for conversation. This special day for that very special clerical worker gave the boss the opportunity to appreciate the many tasks required. Since at the time Secretary’s Day was created virtually all secretaries in the United States were women, it was traditional to also give flowers, or candy, or both. And many times the boss would treat his secretary out to lunch on that day.
Ask administrative assistants all over the country what they think about this day, and they will all have different opinions of how Administrative Professionals Day should be celebrated. During the late 1970’s, women became a bit irritated at the fact that they did so much and only got flowers once a year. So they rebelled with the slogan “Raises, not roses,” putting a strain on their special day and causing it to be re-named.
Today Administrative Professionals Day is still celebrated by the boss taking the professional out to lunch, and many administrative workers are now men. This is a great topic of conversation, especially since the administrative assistant now is expected to do so much more than they used to do. Typing, filing, and answering the phones were the tasks of most secretaries previously. Now they are expected to do all of the bookkeeping, graphic design, and photo enhancement for flyers and such. These all used to be separate skills handled by other professionals. Conversation might also include the antique piece of machinery called the typewriter, a once essential piece of equipment in the office workplace. Typing using all of the fingers is still a handy skill to know, because the keyboard pattern has not changed much, except to become smaller, and smaller, and smaller.
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