I am NOT your party planner

Here's the thing: I don't GO to parties. Generally. Occasionally, for those individuals of whom I am rather fond, I will attend small gatherings, bridal showers, baby showers, the very occasional wedding reception. I don't enjoy parties. I get all nervous and stressed out just thinking about all of those people and the random seating and the food--oh dear, food that we don't know where it's been prepared or by whom! Hence, I do not go to parties. I also do not throw parties.

This is the final post in protest of how everyone I work for FORGOT that it was Administrative Professionals WEEK.

Today is the informal Hooray-You're-Almost-Done-Graduates! party. Most of them have to present their final projects and they all talk about them and then they stand around and eat pizza and schmooze for an hour or more. I got roped in to this because today is also my supervisor's birthday--so she, wisely, took the day off.

I met several times with the Professional (and I use this term loosely) person in charge of the whole mess and he assured me that everything (EVERYTHING) was taken care of, except for the food. So, yesterday, I ordered the catering and (foolishly) trusted him that everything else was set up.

This morning arrives and I head down there and there is NOTHING. No easels for posters, no chairs, no tables, no table cloths, NOTHING. So I ask the aforementioned "Professional" person if he had submitted the request for facilities to set up all of this stuff. His reply, "Well, yeah, I think so, but can you just call them?"

Sure. It's the day OF, I'm nearly 8 months pregnant and I have no assistance to set up for this ridiculous party, but sure. I can call them. So I call them and the chairs, table cloths and easels are delivered--tables were scrounged, because I am an excellent scrounger. In a little more than an hour, the tables were clothed and set up with plates, napkins and plastic ware. The chairs were set out and the easels set up. Now we wait for the food.

In the meantime, will someone please explain to me HOW THIS CAME TO BE MY RESPONSIBILITY?!? First of all--this crap isn't even MY JOB! Second of all--I'm technically not supposed to have ANYTHING to do with ANY of THIS because the Husband is in this program and my boss's boss says that it LOOKS bad for me to be too heavily involved with some of these Professional Types. And finally, I am AWFUL at parties--the setting up, the planning, the BEING there--I'm AWFUL. Not my job!!! I work very hard in my cubical, please to leave me alone to do my WORK. But please also not to ask me to do PARTIES.