The Admin Life Podcast

Justin Lawrence

The Admin Life Podcast Because every admin has a story. From 4:55pm “urgent” emails to printers that always break at the worst possible time, this podcast captures the funny, frustrating, and painfully relatable moments of office life. I share short stories from behind the desk, finding humour in the chaos and reminding you that you’re not alone in the madness. If you’ve ever survived meeting madness, fixed problems you didn’t cause, or quietly held things together at work — this podcast is for you. New episodes every Tuesday. 🎙️

  1. EPISODE 22

    E22 - TOP 10 Things Only Admins Understand

    Send a text Phones ring the second you take a bite. Printers wait until a deadline to die. Someone says “Can you just” and suddenly you’re running a project you never agreed to. We go straight into the messy, funny, and painfully familiar realities of admin life with Jannelle—former GP surgery admin, business centre manager, operations lead, and now therapist—who has navigated office chaos on legendary difficulty. Together we unpack ten truths only admins truly recognise: why lunch breaks vanish, how “the system” isn’t magic but does log every mistake, and what to do when colleagues treat you like tech support, HR, and facilities rolled into one. We talk scripts that protect your time, SOPs that kill waffle, and ticketing that keeps work visible and fair. You’ll hear candid stories about queue-jumpers, email novels with hidden asks, and the art of pushing back without burning bridges. Janelle shares a manager’s perspective on defending admin teams, refusing fake urgency, and teaching others to own their tasks instead of offloading them. If you’ve ever been the invisible glue that holds a service together, this one will feel like a deep exhale. Expect practical boundary lines, templates you can steal, and a reminder that sustainable operations depend on process, not heroics. We celebrate stationery, laugh at printer wars, and give you the language to say no with confidence—and yes to the work that actually matters. Enjoyed the conversation? Follow the Admin Life Podcast, share this episode with a fellow admin warrior, and drop your funniest “Can you just” story in a review. Your boundaries—and your lunch—deserve protection. Email: talpodcast2025@gmail.com Instagram: @theadminlifepodcast TikTok: @theadminlifepodcast

    1h 18m
  2. EPISODE 23

    E23 - The Real Office Hierarchy That Actually Decides Things

    Send a text The org chart makes promises that reality refuses to keep. We pull back the curtain on the invisible hierarchy that decides what actually gets approved, who truly ends a debate, and why the quietest person in the room often carries the most weight. If you’ve ever watched your request bounce from Sandra to Dave while someone else gets instant sign-off, you’ll recognise the patterns we unpack and the practical ways to work with them. We start by naming the signals of real power: deference, the silence that follows certain opinions, and the subtle routes that move a decision from maybe to yes. Then we share five field-tested rules for surviving and thriving inside informal networks: watch who people defer to, note whose opinion closes the conversation, don’t challenge invisible power head on, build relationships rather than just processes, and always respect the gatekeeper. These aren’t tricks; they’re habits that reduce risk for others and earn you the trust that approvals ride on. To ground it, we tell a story from a GP surgery where composure under pressure and unspoken norms collide in a reception area that’s equal parts calm, chaos, and unforgettable. It’s funny, but it also shows how culture lives in the people who hold the line when things get weird. You’ll come away with a clearer map of your workplace: who to brief, when to ask, and how to turn “we don’t usually do it like that” into “let’s make this easy.” If you found this useful or it made you laugh in recognition, follow the show, share it with a colleague who gets it, and leave a quick review. Your stories fuel future episodes—send us the office moments you can’t forget. Email: talpodcast2025@gmail.com Instagram: @theadminlifepodcast TikTok: @theadminlifepodcast

    11 min
  3. EPISODE 24

    E24 - After-Hours Boundaries

    Send a text Your evening is quiet until the phone buzzes and your brain flips back into work mode. We unpack that subtle pressure to stay available after hours and show how a single late reply can turn into an expectation you never agreed to. With a mix of practical advice and painfully funny service desk stories, we explore how admins and support pros can protect their time without guilt—and deliver better work because of it. We start by naming the pattern: the glance at the screen, the mental maths about tomorrow’s workload, the half-rest that never quite lets your mind switch off. Then we get tactical. From using delay send by default to silencing notifications, we set out five simple habits that help you honour a 9–5 in a culture that nudges you past it. We also break down urgency literacy—what actually counts as urgent, how escalation should work, and why clear labels and on-call rotas are kinder to everyone. Humour keeps it real. We share unforgettable moments from the service desk, including a ten-minute voicemail that ends with a toilet flush and a colleague who accidentally confessed “I miss you” to a manager’s inbox. These snapshots expose the human side of the modern workplace and why boundaries matter: not to be difficult, but to protect judgement, patience, and accuracy. By resetting expectations and sticking to consistent response windows, you train your team to respect time and you improve your daytime performance. If the late-night ping feels familiar, you’re not alone. Follow the Admin Life Podcast, share this episode with a teammate who needs a boundary boost, and leave a review to help more admins find practical, guilt-free ways to take their evenings back. Email: talpodcast2025@gmail.com Instagram: @theadminlifepodcast TikTok: @theadminlifepodcast

    12 min
  4. EPISODE 25

    E25 - You Helped Once And Now It’s Your Job Forever

    Send a text Ever had your name volunteered before you even looked up from your screen? We’ve been there—praised once, assigned forever. This episode digs into how a single favour becomes a label that sticks, why helpful people get trapped as the default fixer, and how to reset expectations without feeling guilty. We walk through five practical tactics that protect your time and still keep you generous: spotting patterns, saying a conditional yes, sharing knowledge without absorbing the responsibility, routing requests to proper channels, and slowly reshaping what people expect from you. You’ll hear a memorable story from the smart card desk at a large hospital, where a simple card collection escalated into a photo dispute and a queue on the brink. The card worked, the promise never existed, and emotions ran hot—complete with a “devil” accusation. It’s a real-world crash course in holding boundaries under pressure, keeping the process fair for everyone, and staying calm when the room turns up the heat. The takeaways aren’t theoretical; they’re scripts and steps you can use this week. By the end, you’ll know how to protect capacity without losing your reputation for reliability, how to teach once instead of fixing forever, and how to steer colleagues toward guides, channels, and specialists. We keep the tone honest, practical, and grounded in everyday admin life—where printers jam, spreadsheets wobble, and people need clear paths more than heroic rescues. If you’ve ever felt your workload double without anyone noticing, this one’s for you. Follow the show, share it with a teammate who says yes too often, and leave a quick review to help other admins find us. Got a wild, funny, or painful office story living rent free in your head? Send it in and we might feature it next. Email: talpodcast2025@gmail.com Instagram: @theadminlifepodcast TikTok: @theadminlifepodcast

    13 min

About

The Admin Life Podcast Because every admin has a story. From 4:55pm “urgent” emails to printers that always break at the worst possible time, this podcast captures the funny, frustrating, and painfully relatable moments of office life. I share short stories from behind the desk, finding humour in the chaos and reminding you that you’re not alone in the madness. If you’ve ever survived meeting madness, fixed problems you didn’t cause, or quietly held things together at work — this podcast is for you. New episodes every Tuesday. 🎙️