Monday {Amanda...A week in the life of an Office Manager}

Monday starts the same as every day. I log on to Samantha’s personal work email and the business email accounts and check what’s arrived overnight. Etsy orders, 1 Etsy conversation and a couple of third-party blogs in Samantha's personal work account. Order emails and an email from a tester in the business account. I log on to Etsy to view the conversation:

“Hi. I ordered this bag on the 1st December. Can you tell me when it will ship?”. 

I check the order information. The customer has ordered the £5 ex. VAT Companion Carpet Bag Pattern, but is expecting to receive a fully-made carpet bag. I respond, of course apologising profusely for the mix-up, clarify that it is a PDF pattern as it says in the name and description of the product, and offer to issue a refund. Another problem sorted!

My regular Monday task is Check a Page – I randomly select a page on mrs-h.com and read through looking for problems and errors. Today I choose the Nappy Bag pattern page. I don’t get far before I have to stop and re-read:

Dimensions 

W 181" x H 10" x D 5" 

W 45.75cm x H 25.5cm x D 12cm

Hmm...something doesn’t look right. Uh oh. Looks like I made a typo when I added the dimensions – pretty sure the Nappy bag isn’t 181” wide. I know parents have to tote around a lot, and I know Samantha does like big bags but this doesn’t sound quite right. I open the pattern and check…it should be 18”. Oh well, only out by a factor of 10! 

After my regular tasks I open my calendar and to-do list and look at what I need to do. Nothing on the calendar, 24 one-off items currently on my to-do list. This is what my work calendar actually looks like (blurred due to secret surprise information) – it doesn’t include most personal events and reminders:

Today I think I’ll do some work on mrs-h.com. I’ve been spending time over the past few weeks compiling some frequently asked questions and answers for Samantha’s patterns. We’re often asked about size, materials, what bags look like inside and which interfacings and stabilisers should be used. Sometimes I can answer the questions but other times I can’t, and I want to reduce the time Samantha spends answering those questions. Today I’m going to add in details of people who make bags from Samantha’s pattern to sell, and upload the questions to the website. It’s taken a long time but I’m glad to finally finish the project. 

I’ve finished that task so next up it’s planning. I decide to spend some very valuable minutes thinking up new ways to enhance the experience of Bag of the Month Club members. I’ve already got notes on sneak peeks – the patterns are secret until the 1st of the month so sneak peeks are all the members know about a pattern in advance. Sneak peeks should be highly zoomed in or pixelated for the greatest enjoyment. Now I’m thinking about what piece of random kit Samantha can include in the materials list for her next BOMC pattern. I’ve been totally inspired by ChrisW Design’s usage of metal measuring tape in the November BOMC materials list; everyone was so enthusiastic about trying to work out how the measuring tape would be used in the pattern. 

The day is drawing to a close so I start to wind up what I’m doing. At 4:30pm, whether I’m finished or not, I write and send an email to Samantha with questions and notifications concerning what I’ve been doing each day – my version of the Bulletin from the novel “The Devil Wears Prada”! I notify her that I’ve uploaded the FAQs, refunded the Etsy customer, and suggest a crochet hook be used in her next BOMC pattern. As soon as it arrives in her personal work account I move the email to an Action Needed folder, ready for her to deal with. The day is done and I’ve shortened my to-do list by 2 items. I end my time sheet, log off work sites and log onto FB to see what delights have been created and uploaded throughout the day.   

**As you may have already guessed, I have used artistic licence for these blogs but EVERYTHING is based on something that has actually happened within my last few months as Samantha’s Office Manager, and some of it's more true than you could ever imagine.**