It occurs to me that being a records manager is a lot like being a mom.
- People are always asking you to find their keys, their book reports, and their history textbooks, as though you were the one who last had those items.
- It sometimes feels like you're not wanted until the toilet is overflowing.
- "What are you doing?" "Nothing." "So, tell me about the records your department maintains." "Nah, we don't have any records."
- You're always telling people to clean up their rooms.
- You find yourself saying, "You're not leaving this house dressed like that, young lady. Now go upstairs and build records lifecycle management into that electronic system."
- When you tell someone that the nifty new technology he's using really does create records, and you say he needs to take litigation risks and FOIA into account, he rolls his eyes and sighs.
- Previously-unknown IT projects that have been in the works for months suddenly, at 11 p.m. on the night before the bake sale, need the blessing of the records manager and eight dozen chocolate chip cookies.
- When the kids bring home a brand-new, wet-nosed, tail-wagging Google app, they insist they'll love it forever and won't have any problem retaining the important information they're creating and storing in it. You wonder what happens when it stops being cute and starts leaving data puddles everywhere.
- You secretly fantasize about running off with Viggo Mortensen to start a new cloud computing enterprise, but you love your family, so you go back to updating file plans.
- You're always telling people to look before crossing the street, put on a sweater, and follow the retention schedule.
- You do what you do because it's important, because you want your corporate family to succeed, and because you want the next generation to have it better than you did.
Thanks, Mom.
Hilarious! I love it!
Posted by: Melody | July 22, 2009 at 08:45 AM