# Office Help



## Ariel (Apr 1, 2015)

I'm an administrative assistant.  I've faced a lot of derision and I've been dismissed quite often by people looking for a job or wanting to start business with my boss(es).  It doesn't really bother me because I get to see how people really are because of my position.  I'm _inferior_ in a lot of people's eyes because my title is a fancy phrase for "secretary."

The problem with that sort of thinking is that I actually get a say in a lot of decisions.  My boss(es) respect my opinion.  I might not decide whether or not to hire a person but I do get an opinion and, often, my opinion can be a deciding factor.  Not to mention, if I'm the sole person you've contacted at this agency looking for a job I can (and will) decide not to pass your information along depending on how you've treated me.

So, just a warning to all of you, treat the "office help" with some kindness and we'll do the same for you.


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## bazz cargo (Apr 1, 2015)

From personal experience the 'office help,' is generally smarter than the boss. In fact the boss is usually too busy playing office politics to be of any help and the 'office help' is my only hope.


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## aj47 (Apr 1, 2015)

Being nice is, in general, a Good Idea.  Not _acting_ nice, _being_ nice.  

One of the things they said in the ham radio gear insurance workshop was "be nice to your adjuster" when you file a claim. My thought on that was, _no freakin' DUH!_

It amazes me how many people are jerks because they think it makes them fun to be around.


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## InstituteMan (Apr 1, 2015)

I don't have an assistant at the moment, but back when I did how you treated that assistant told me a lot about you. 

For a long stretch, I had a super smart woman working with me. She could really play a part. However a job applicant/salesman/client treated her, she just rolled with it. Then she told me about it later, and I gained a major insight into someone's charactor. I never, ever hired someone who failed to treat her with respect. 

The day she got promoted was one of the proudest and worst days of my professional life. I gave her a recommendation and encouraged her to apply for the position, but it was like cutting off an arm.


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## Ariel (Apr 1, 2015)

Being an assistant is both satisfying and frustrating.

I only brought this up because we had a lady call looking for the hiring manager.  I filter all calls so I offered to take a message.  She said she'd just call back.  I told her that she'd only reach me again and that it'd save her some time to leave a message.

Turned out that she was looking for a job with our firm.  I played along to get more information and asked her if she'd email her resume to me.  She told me that she didn't want to send it until she could speak with a hiring manager.

The whole conversation she just had a snooty attitude.  

If she doesn't want her resume seen until she can speak to a hiring manager means that there's something in her work history or her background that she wants to try to explain.  Knowing the recruiting business I would guess job-hopping.


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## TJ1985 (Apr 2, 2015)

I've often believed a simple concept: would I rather speak to the boss, or the "lowly" secretary, who also happens to be the only person in the place who knows what's going on? True, the office help may sometimes get a cup of coffee for the boss who sprained her ankle, but if you really think about it, the secretarial staff often see every bit of business in an office and have a good grip on what's going on. Many bosses tend to be rather disinterested in what's going on, save for those items which could get them busted or fired. 

Plus, it's good to have rapport with the office help. I worked in a dealership which required all part orders over $750 to be cleared with the manager. His secretary was the filter for him, and she and I got along well. When I walked toward her desk, if she was smiling I went in. If she was shaking her head, I'd go to a different manager. One guy had a problem with women and disliked her because she was (NOT my words or opinion) "hired for her measurements" and he didn't like that she got the job instead of his sister. She'd let that moron go right in and come face to face with a guy whose mood was somewhere between "crocodile with a toothache" and "constipated grizzly" with a smile when he did it.


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## popsprocket (Apr 2, 2015)

I quite literally always judge people by how they treat secretaries and receptionists. Where I work I've seen interviewees get dismissed for the open spot before they even sat down because they were rude to someone that they decided was beneath them.


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## Bloggsworth (Apr 2, 2015)

A couple of thousand years ago, someone said "_Do as you would be done by_..."


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## Deafmute (Apr 2, 2015)

I can totally relate to this. I was in medical school for three years before I withdrew. I found out I had ADHD and personal stressors not to mention that my passion was for psychology more then the medical side, but needless to say that has been quite a blow to my ego. I work in the emergency psychiatric ward at the biggest hospital in our area as a technical aide, which is basically a nurses assistant. I am the lowest person on the totem pole, but I have more education than most of the nurses and have more psych experience than most of the doctors. 

I love working there because they all know me and respect my opinion. As a tech the doctors will come to me and ask me my opinion about what I think the patients have and what we should to for their treatment. Its great to have such respect, but I still have to tell everyone that I am a nurses aide. I am currently working to get my doctorate in Nurses practitioning for advanced practice psychiatric care, but it still seems far off.


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## Mistique (Apr 2, 2015)

I used to work as a child protection social worker and 'the office help' were the most valuable employees in the office in my eyes. I was severly overworked and 'the office help' were the ones who did the work that I simply didn't get around to doing. They saved my ass all the time


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## Loveabull (Apr 2, 2015)

Absolutely, if you're lost in the world of voice mail with anything from welfare, veteran affairs, mental health anything at all...if you find a human voice speak kindly, make conversation. This person can accidently disconnect you or go out of their way to get you to the right person. They are human, know they are having a day as hard if not harder than you, act accordingly.


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## Ariel (Apr 3, 2015)

It's great to see such support from everyone.

Now, the other thing that tends to bug me as "office help" is the condescending tone IT guys take.  I know how to reset a router and how to check connections.  If I'm calling you it's because those common "fixes" didn't help.  We moved office two weeks ago and we've had IT trouble ever since.  The router and D-link needs to be reset every morning now and I'm the one who gets to do it.  Our printer can't be found by most of the office computers so I've had to reinstall the printer on at least two machines (going to do the third this morning when the boss gets in--it's password protected).  I might not be coding in C++ (I just learned basic html) but I can solve basic IT problems.


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## Loveabull (Apr 3, 2015)

Problem one is being female, problem two can be if you have a female voice. Obviously things you can't change but you can work on tone and modulation. My natural voice is low and quiet. When I'm at work I can exaggerate until I sound like one of The Soprano's and it does make a definite difference even on the phone. Of course I've gotten called "Sir" from time to time but I play along.


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## bazz cargo (Apr 3, 2015)

IT wallahs have problems communicating with everyone, try not to take their hopelessness personally.


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## JustRob (Apr 3, 2015)

bazz cargo said:


> IT wallahs have problems communicating with everyone, try not to take their hopelessness personally.



We don't debate in these forums, so I'll take that as an opinion, not a fact. Every profession has its failures and successes. No more need be said.

Signed: A competent considerate IT wallah.


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## InstituteMan (Apr 3, 2015)

Loveabull said:


> Problem one is being female, problem two can be if you have a female voice. Obviously things you can't change but you can work on tone and modulation. My natural voice is low and quiet. When I'm at work I can exaggerate until I sound like one of The Soprano's and it does make a definite difference even on the phone. Of course I've gotten called "Sir" from time to time but I play along.



I think this is largely true, alas, but I also do think that a lot of IT issues are truly caused by user stupidity. I've helped a few attorney friends of mine with their office IT needs, and I've found a staggering level of incompetence. 

The most jaw dropping to me was a guy who was complaining about all the printing and scanning he had to do and how much paper/toner it required. It never even occurred to him that you might be able to convert one digital file (a word processing document) to another type of digital file (a PDF) without an intervening physical document. Then there was all the storage space this guy needed to save those scans. Print to PDF: it's a thing.

Anyhow, since then I've given IT support people a bit of leeway to assume that I'm an idiot, having learned that the world is certainly full of idiots. So long as they don't continue treating me like an idiot, I am okay.


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## Kevin (Apr 3, 2015)

> When I'm at work I can exaggerate until I sound like one of The Soprano's and it does make a definite difference even on the phone.


Exaggerate...yes, though I like to call it 'accentuate', and I don't get the feedback/gratification over the phone like in person... screechy, whipping up and down in tempo and building to a climax/crescendo at the end of each sentence is the technique I employ. I fine tune based on reaction. I've become adept at picking up on acute changes in facial tension, a sudden clenching of the jaw muscles, a wrinkling of the brow and tendency to squint. If any of these coincide with a certain note I know immediately that I've got it right. Some call it 'punishing' but I just say 'teaching'.


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## Ariel (Apr 3, 2015)

Loveabull said:


> Problem one is being female, problem two can be if you have a female voice. Obviously things you can't change but you can work on tone and modulation. My natural voice is low and quiet. When I'm at work I can exaggerate until I sound like one of The Soprano's and it does make a definite difference even on the phone. Of course I've gotten called "Sir" from time to time but I play along.


In my opinion I shouldn't need to change my voice to suit someone's gender-biases.  I can be perfectly sweet, kind, and feminine without sounding like a ditz or being someone I'm not.


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## bazz cargo (Apr 3, 2015)

> *OP JustRob *We don't debate in these forums, so I'll take that as an opinion, not a  fact. Every profession has its failures and successes. No more need be  said.
> 
> Signed: A competent considerate IT wallah.


My oppologies.  

I have made a big mistake in taking a few specific experiences and generalising the whole group. Sorry.


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## JustRob (Apr 3, 2015)

Being an IT support person isn't about getting computers working; it's about getting people working. That was the first thing that I taught a young lady who became my assistant. People need to get their work done. The computer is supposed to help them do it, but if it doesn't then fix their problem, not the computer's; maybe that can wait. Seeing the other person's point of view is essential to IT support. It's also handy as a writer to understand the reader's point of view, so maybe one role is good training for the other. I've noticed a lot of parallels between the skills needed in IT and writing. If an IT person causes the wrong feelings in his clients then he'll cause the wrong feelings in his readers if he ever takes up writing. That's how I figure it anyway. That young lady went on to get a full time job as an IT technician herself by the way, so maybe some of my advice was helpful. I knew that she had the ability and all she needed was for someone to trust her and encourage her. A system is a system, whether it works inside a computer or a person's mind and both people and computers need empathy. My angel thinks the same way about plants, so she's a good gardener and can explain gardening to others, even me sometimes. Life's all about sharing one's experience. I think I wrote that somewhere here already.


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## aj47 (Apr 3, 2015)

amsawtell said:


> It's great to see such support from everyone.
> 
> Now, the other thing that tends to bug me as "office help" is the condescending tone IT guys take.  I know how to reset a router and how to check connections.  If I'm calling you it's because those common "fixes" didn't help.  We moved office two weeks ago and we've had IT trouble ever since.  The router and D-link needs to be reset every morning now and I'm the one who gets to do it.  Our printer can't be found by most of the office computers so I've had to reinstall the printer on at least two machines (going to do the third this morning when the boss gets in--it's password protected).  I might not be coding in C++ (I just learned basic html) but I can solve basic IT problems.



I've been on both sides of this.  I used to co-own a dial-up ISP.  When someone calls, you don't know if they're an idiot or a rocket scientist. Most people tend toward the low-end.  Remember, it's not a reflection on you--it's a reflection on the support person's experience.

My approach, when dealing with tech support as a client, is to make a list of what I've done.  I begin the call with "Hello, <name> (which they usually tell you). I'm having a little trouble with my <foo>--here's what I've tried..."  Sometimes that jumps me up a tier because I've just said everything Tier 1 knows how to deal with.


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## Kevin (Apr 3, 2015)

> In my opinion I shouldn't need to change my voice to suit someone's gender-biases.


In a better world that would be a given.


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## JustRob (Apr 4, 2015)

My angel used to be a shop assistant in a branch of Boots the Chemist. She ran the Homes and Gardens section where she sold gardening chemicals and pet food, being both a keen gardener and animal lover. Therefore she had a good understanding of the products that she sold. One customer wasn't content to take her advice though and asked to speak to the manager. The manager duly arrived and listened to the customer's question and then asked my angel to tell him what to answer. Whether this satisfied the customer or annoyed them was entirely their problem. I believe the expression is that you don't keep a dog and bark yourself.

Another customer wanted an entire box of cans of pet food, so my lithe blue-eyed blonde angel went into the stock room and brought one out for him. When she gave it to him he almost collapsed on the floor because he hadn't realised just how heavy it was. Seeing this young girl handling it so easily he'd assumed that he'd have no trouble with it himself but angels are incredibly strong.

A local steeplejack did some work on our chimney but hadn't quite finished the job. We'd paid him though as almost all of it was done but he kept stalling over the last bit. He had of course used all his manly charm on my angel but eventually her patience ended and she phoned his "office" to issue an ultimatum. She spoke to his son who'd manned the office ever since he'd fallen off a roof and ended up in a wheelchair, but that was immaterial to the matter in hand and he got my angel's full venom to pass on to his father. She can be fair but forceful when needed, a true angel in every respect. The steeplejack finished the job in no time, realising that she wanted action not charm from him.

An old experienced bricklayer built an extension to our house along with a team of other workers. He kept making jokes to the others about my angel being a clandestine dominatrix and she was aware of this but always got the better of him. When a tiler came to put the roof on he'd obviously heard the stories as when my angel offered him a cup of tea he nervously grabbed it and retreated back up the scaffolding with it. When they installed a big wooden beam across our bedroom ceiling to hold it up they asked whether we'd like it left bare with big hooks screwed into it or panelled in with plasterboard in the more conventional manner. One day the brickie said something to his mates about my angel wanting to hang her leathers out in the garden after washing them and she simply corrected him saying that one just treated leather with saddle soap. The final blow came on the day that he left when her parting remark to him was "Just because you joked about it, that doesn't mean that it isn't true." That was when he realised that ultimately the joke was on him as he went away wondering what the truth really was. Of course now you may be wondering as well.

Some women may want sexual equality but my angel would never sink that low and I love her for that. I have no qualms about calling women the fairer sex because they are often fairer than men; they have to be to tolerate some of them.


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## Mistique (Apr 4, 2015)

amsawtell said:


> It's great to see such support from everyone.
> 
> Now, the other thing that tends to bug me as "office help" is the condescending tone IT guys take.  I know how to reset a router and how to check connections.  If I'm calling you it's because those common "fixes" didn't help.  We moved office two weeks ago and we've had IT trouble ever since.  The router and D-link needs to be reset every morning now and I'm the one who gets to do it.  Our printer can't be found by most of the office computers so I've had to reinstall the printer on at least two machines (going to do the third this morning when the boss gets in--it's password protected).  I might not be coding in C++ (I just learned basic html) but I can solve basic IT problems.



Oh, that is not specific for the office help. They took that tone with me to, as child protection social worker, and I've heard them do the same with the lawyers  Obviously this doesn't apply to all IT personal as some have helped me wonderfully.


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## Mistique (Apr 4, 2015)

deleted


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## Sonata (Apr 4, 2015)

Gender bias?

Try attempting to be independent and then have an ignorant person look over your shoulder and ask "where is your pusher?"

It does not matter what gender you are then.


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## Ariel (Apr 4, 2015)

I don't mean it as a gender-bias so much.  Mostly it's because I'm soft-spoken and quiet that people tend to try to talk over me when speaking.  If I get offended by that then I say something.  An ex boyfriend (who was an IT guy) did that all the time--of course, now I realize he tried to do that to everyone because he had to have his way on every thing.

I think after dating him and dealing with him literally trying to answer questions directed towards me, talking over me to give his opinion about something in a conversation he had previously not been a part of, and him trying to drown me out in general by talking over me led me to being more firm with people when I speak.  I would often shout over him to tell him that I was speaking and that he was interrupting.  It's no surprise now that we broke up.

I have met the gamut of IT professionals.  I've been treated the same way by female professionals as I have male--sometimes after telling them what I have already tried.  

I think, at this point, it's simply the nature of the type of people who go into IT work.  There's an air of mystery to the workings of a computer to the average person and so long as the thing works there's no issue for them.  This air of mystery leads IT professionals to believe that they are somehow smarter than the lay person calling them for help.


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## Sonata (Apr 4, 2015)

I never learned about computers, the most I learned was how to use a word processor at work and that was by trial an error because there was nobody to teach me.

So after having had to give up work and saying I do not want a computer I do not need a computer...  I eventually had my first one built for me.  Not an off-the-shelf computer but built for me by someone - a Microsoft registered and certified trainer and engineer.  So, he said, what do you want a computer for.  How should I know?  I had no idea more than emails and a vague knowledge of the internet but did not know what it could do.  He built it, installed everything, and gave me basic instructions which I did not understand - I even had to ask him how to switch the thing on.  And it took me two weeks to pluck up courage to send an email.

That was years ago and I am still self taught by trial and error, but thanks to him I am able to explain what is wrong if something goes wrong that I cannot fix.

And he has never treated me as an ignorant female because he knows I have learned as much as I could over the years.

But I am still treated by people outside my village as somehow different.  Not gender biased but because I am a wheelie.  And children stare.  And adults stare.  And I am treated as less than normal.  Not because of my gender though but is still hurts.  Oh does it hurt.


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## JustRob (Apr 4, 2015)

Sonata said:


> But I am still treated by people outside my village as somehow different.  Not gender biased but because I am a wheelie.  And children stare.  And adults stare.  And I am treated as less than normal.  Not because of my gender though but is still hurts.  Oh does it hurt.



My angel and I are both still able-bodied but we are in our later tweeny years, grateful to find somewhere to sit down in public places but often unable to find one. We were changing trains at a station in Paris and had to wait well over an hour. We didn't want to be in France, let alone Paris, didn't have much of a grasp of the language (My German is better than my French) and didn't want to stray far from the station anyway, but we couldn't even find anywhere to sit for a while. I went off to reconnoitre while my angel stood and waited. Looking back from the other side of the concourse I saw her standing in her smart cream outfit with her blonde hair and realised that all the locals around her looked dowdy in comparison. We think of the French as having good fashion sense but I wouldn't have swapped any of them for my angel at that moment. Eventually I found some seating and we were able to take the weight off our tired feet but we now plan our holidays in Europe to avoid Paris at all costs. Of course we've been to public events and locations in Britain where seating has been a rarity as well. One day we'll be old and decrepit enough to get to sit down in public.



amsawtell said:


> I think, at this point, it's simply the nature of the type of people who go into IT work.  There's an air of mystery to the workings of a computer to the average person and so long as the thing works there's no issue for them.  This air of mystery leads IT professionals to believe that they are somehow smarter than the lay person calling them for help.



I've never considered myself to have been an IT professional as such, just someone who needed to learn about computers and did it rather well. I started out as an actuarial student working in an office that bought a computer and needed someone to programme it, so I volunteered and eventually they built an entire IT division around me and my desk. About thirty-seven years later I retired and the foundation stone of the IT division had gone. Not long after the company had gone as well. 

All that time I'd sat on the same chair, refusing to use any more modern swivel variety. As the office decor changed it was re-upholstered to match, my managers having created a rumour that I had a back problem and needed that particular chair, but in fact it was just my idiosyncracy. On the day that I retired my chair had disappeared and been replaced with a swivel chair. Plainly they were keen to see the last of me, I thought, but then they presented it to me gift-wrapped. We have re-upholstered it ourselves since then and I am sitting on it now typing this. For some people sitting on the same chair for forty years is like a prison sentence, but for me it has been a faithful companion. If only it had been with us in that Paris station. Perhaps if I fitted some wheels on it ...

We all have our prisons, created for us or by us, and have to find our own ways of escaping from them or adapting to them. How can we overcome the challenges in life if we find nothing challenging? Who'd really want to be condemned to always being Superman and never finding anywhere to sit for a moment's contemplation?


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## JustRob (Apr 4, 2015)

This arrived via a long string of email forwards and I've been wondering where to post it but here's as good as anywhere given that we're discussing the problems surrounding IT support.
*
Caller : Hi, our printer is not  working. *
*Customer Service: What is wrong with it? 
**Caller: Mouse is jammed. *
*Customer Service: Mouse? ... Printers don't have a mouse!!! *
*Caller: Mmmmm??.. Oh really? ... I will send a picture. *


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## Sonata (Apr 4, 2015)

And that, my dear friend, has gone a long way to help me feeling semi-normal again.

Thank you.

I cannot in all honesty say that it made me laugh but it helped mop up the tears a bit.


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## RhythmOvPain (Apr 4, 2015)

JustRob said:


> This arrived via a long string of email forwards and I've been wondering where to post it but here's as good as anywhere given that we're discussing the problems surrounding IT support.
> *
> Caller : Hi, our printer is not  working. *
> *Customer Service: What is wrong with it?
> ...



I lol'd.


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## JustRob (Apr 4, 2015)

Sonata said:


> And that, my dear friend, has gone a long way to help me feeling semi-normal again.
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> I cannot in all honesty say that it made me laugh but it helped mop up the tears a bit.



I was just worried about the mouse. 
Would it help if you had this adaption to your keyboard? 
Sometimes we all feel that way and need something to hit.


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## JustRob (Apr 4, 2015)

RhythmOvPain said:


> I lol'd.



I did briefly but then felt torn, much like the mouse probably. I do hope it wasn't set for double-sided printing. You think you're on your way out and then you get dragged back in again to do it all over again. I mean, turning the other cheek is all very well but ...


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## Sonata (Apr 4, 2015)

Oh Rob, oh heck - my keyboards are dual language ones with each key having two letters and I do not think "Oh Sh!t" will fit anywhere!  I mean how do you fit in - umm actually, translating it does not somehow fit the bill let alone fit on a key.

But thank you for cheering me up a bit.


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## JustRob (Apr 4, 2015)

Sonata said:


> But thank you for cheering me up a bit.



You're welcome. Just charge it to IT support. I used to tell people "You have to be desperate to need my help." It's a beautifully ambiguous remark and how people took it determined whether they really needed my help.


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## Ariel (Apr 4, 2015)

Sonata, I think you're a beautiful and unique soul.  Being able-bodied is a blessing many don't deserve but being yourself is the best blessing possible.  Keep being you.  We love you the way you are around here.


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