I noticed an unfamiliar job title in an e-mail signature the other day: Administrative Antimacassar. I couldn’t help myself, so I had to ask, “What in the world does antimacassar mean?” Seriously, I was clueless. I thought about looking it up first, but figured it might make more sense coming straight from the horse’s mouth.
The reply made me laugh out loud:
It’s that doily thing you put on the back of an arm chair. I keep things from getting messy. I thought “administrative assistant” was so sloppily boring. I decided to find another A word with a similar number of syllables and wait for someone to call me out on it. I live on the edge.
How awesome is that? Evidently I am one of only two people who’ve noticed so far.
It got me thinking about how there are so many little things in our lives that drive us nuts, and we put up with them because we don’t really think there’s anything we can do about it. But this chick decided to go ahead and do something anyway, and she’s happier for it.
What small changes can you make in this brand new year to improve your freelance life to feel better every day?
I’m going to work on cleaning up my desk every evening before I “clock out” to avoid the stress I feel each morning when I go to work at a messy desk.
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www.kristenkingfreelancing.com
Finalist in 2006 Writer’s Digest Best Writer’s Website ContestContents © Copyright 2007 Kristen King. All rights reserved.
www.kristenkingfreelancing.com
Finalist in 2006 Writer’s Digest Best Writer’s Website ContestContents © Copyright 2007 Kristen King. All rights reserved.
Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King
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I’m not shocked that, at your tender age, you don’t know what an antimacassar is. It was a vocabulary word when I was in elementary school, but there’s no reason it should be now.
Macassar oil was used to slick back men’s hair in the Victorian era (cf. pomade). That doily kept seatbacks and sofa backs from being stained by the gunk. Hence antimacassar. Now you know.
Too funny! I had no idea either. Now I want to come up with a unique job title. I never know what to call myself anyway. Owner, Proprietor, Creative Director–they all seem so blah. I guess it’s time to get out my thinking cap…and my Thesaurus.
don’t think her age has anything to do with it.
cleaning my desk at the end of the day works wonders for me. but i’m a neat freak and never let it get that messy!!
Good luck with the desk thing, Kristen. For me, that’s not a small change, it’s a gigantic leap onto foreign soil :)