The role of an ‘Office Mom’

Being the office mom is not easy.

It’s like knowing that you have children to take care of, but instead, they’re a bunch of grown-up’s and don’t always listen to you. It’s being able to explain that paper is still worth more than digital.

It’s worrying about the gifts that can’t simply be “a thing”, but that has to have a special meaning for those who receive them. It’s about worrying if there’s toilet paper or not because they’re not old enough to have to ask for it when they get to “P**p time”, but trust me, it will happen!

It’s taking treats that they like so much (but complain because then they have to keep fit). It’s listening to “the kids” complain when they feel like it is because something is late or because there isn’t any, it’s simply listening and responding and trying to improve what’s not right. It involves being aware of what’s around you, which often goes unseen, but if it fails, it’s a big failure.

A mother’s job is never finished. You have to make sure that everyone has what they need and that everyone is happy to perform their duties at 100%. It’s almost being a witch and predicting the future, anticipating problems even before they appear, although sometimes they don’t understand and think you’re just pessimistic, seeing only problems. Still, in the end, we know that mothers are always right.

It can also be said that you are an octopus; you have to have a hand in everything and reach everywhere because things happen when you least expect it. You must have a network of contacts constantly updated to solve the problems that appear in the shortest space of time, and these contacts are your support. You should always treat them as your “guardian angels”. It’s not always easy, it’s a job that demands a lot of flexibility, responsibility, and that requires a lot of improvisation because there are always new things coming up.

But for me, it is this challenge that always makes me want to go further, anticipate, innovate, and learn something to make this task more manageable, more straightforward, more organized, and where everything goes well. Mothers are happy when their children are happy!