I hope that all who observed Administrative Assistants/ Secretaries Day this year enjoyed the festivities. If it's a day that holds special meaning for you, I'm glad for you.

I never much cared for it. In fact, I thought it was a card-company holiday-wannabe that held little meaning and was quite patronizing. But that's an opinion probably not widely held.

For the record, I see Bosses Day in the same vein, substituting "sucking up" for "patronizing."

My take on it was that if you weren't going to appreciate my work the rest of the year, taking me out to lunch that day was meaningless. So I encouraged all my employers to downplay it. And for the most part, they did appreciate my work over the years. There were days when I felt unappreciated at Non-Profit Agency #1, but that was more a problem with the clientele (who were not always well-mannered) than the administrative side of the agency. At Non-Profit Agency #2, I was very much appreciated.

And at the law firm, I felt appreciated and part of a team. I also knew the law firm people well enough to ask that Secretaries Day celebrations be skipped in my behalf entirely---they were glad to comply. We had office lunches pretty often, anyway, so not having to fight for space in overcrowded restaurants "that" day was not something any of us missed.

One of the last gifts my mother gave me was an excuse never to observe the day again. You see, in 1996, Secretaries Day was also the day she died.