56025--several species of small furry animas drinking coffee in the break room

[zyzyly]

When I first started coming to the office, after years in the hospital, I experienced a bit of culture shock. I had never worked in an office environment before, and never claimed cubicle space as my own. Unlike the freewheeling ICU, where almost anything goes, the office has a fairly rigid structure, and an interesting set of social rules--no yelling, no running in the halls, etc.

To relieve the monotony, I hung some decorative colored balls above my cubicle. They disappeared. Taken down, I suspect, by the person who cleans out the refrigerator every Friday and throws away the banana I didn't eat on Tuesday.

I chafed.

The department secretary, who keeps us in line, comes in at about 7 am every day. My boss follows shortly thereafter, and the rigidity settles over us like a cloud. I started coming in at 6:30, so I could have at least a few minutes of running in the halls, etc. Sometimes I crank up the music. Because I am now the first to arrive, I make the coffee.

We have this coffee maker that dispenses directly into a push button thermos-style coffee pot. It keeps the coffee warm and fairly fresh for hours. They provide us with single-pot bags of Starbucks coffee. You cut the bag, pour the contents into the filter, put the pot underneath, and push "start". Five minutes later, you have coffee.

When I worked in the ICU, they gave us crappy Farmers Brothers coffee, and an ancient coffee pot that sputtered. We had heard that the "offices" got Starbucks coffee, and we complained about it, but they invoked "the budget" to shut us up.

And now, here I am.



When I first started making coffee, I followed office culture and put a little sticky note on it with the date and time-- Tue 06:45.
This is what they did. Occasionally, someone would write the type of coffee as well-- wed 07:15 Sumatra.

One day, instead of writing Sumatra, I wrote tue 0630--Bobby Blue Blend. And so it began.



I started thinking about what I would name the coffee as I drove in to work every tuesday. Sometimes it would be something in the news--blue state blend, eclipse blend. Sometimes it might be something I heard on the radio--cat power blend. Often, it would just be some obscure bit of information floating around in my head.

A person from administration asked, "Why is someone naming the coffee?"

One day, the semi-reclusive (but friendly) IT guy came in early and made the coffee. He left a note:


I had won.

So on friday of last week, I was driving in and thinking about an old Pink Floyd song. Not old like Dark Side of the Moon--real old. A particular song title came to mind, and I knew what I had to do.



And so it goes.

Comments

[cobaltika.livejournal.com]

i like you so much.

[basefinder.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed this post. :-)

Office work can be as much about moving through the cultural wickets as it is about actually producing anything.

YAY!

[disgruntledgrrl.livejournal.com]

That is really cool.

[shutterbug.livejournal.com]

Love it! I smiled the whole way through this post. And good on the IT guy!

[liminal-space.livejournal.com]

this makes me so very, very happy. ;))

[duccio.livejournal.com]

"Why is someone naming the coffee?"

signed: someone, from administration

Bwahaha. That's funny. You know, these notes could signal the end of civilization as we know it. Keep up the good work.

[missprune.livejournal.com]

Love it!

[djaza.livejournal.com]

The dept is soooo lucky to have you!

[jadeejf.livejournal.com]

This is so delightful that the next time I'm working in an office environment, I am totally going to do it! What a good way to bring some joy to the mundane cubicle world. You're awesome!

[anita-margarita.livejournal.com]

It is very important to use guerrilla-style tactics in an office to keep it bearable. Also be grateful you aren't spending the holidays with anyone who doesn't think this is funny.

[brendamom.livejournal.com]

Great one!

[annie-r.livejournal.com]

I didn't think you were a 'yelling and running in the halls' kind of person, but I'm glad you are. I love the coffee naming. I had that Pink Floyd album on vinyl. Ummagumma.

[niyabinghi.livejournal.com]

Ahaahaaa ! Wonderful, thanks for sharing :)
When I worked my first office job, at our county Red Cross, having nothing to compare it to elsewhere, didn't realize that
all offices weren't full of goofyness, and later jobs were so drear in comparison.

It should probably be a requirement for all offices everywhere , little bursts of quirky spontanaeity, to help break up the monotony of office work.

[laciann.livejournal.com]

You'd love our office then. I am one of the lowly front office staff, even though I sleep with the boss;) We've taken breaks to practise shooting elastic bands across the office. Every once in awhile someone declares a "cake break". We've translated songs into a dialect the majority of us speak, then laughed until we nearly wet ourselves as we tried to sing it.

For all that, we are an amazingly productive office. I honestly think it's the relaxed atmosphere that brings out the best in everybody.

[mizkatie.livejournal.com]

You had me giggling through the entire post. :)

[chaptal.livejournal.com]

I am eagerly awaiting a Piper at the Gates of Dawn blend!

[i.livejournal.com]

...and the wind cried "Marian"!

[throbinson.livejournal.com]

Just to add, even though we don't name coffee at our office (mainly because we don't have common coffeepots), we do occasionally take breaks and turn into girl-groups while singing into our staplers. The Supremes come to mind, also Gloria Gaynor is a popular choice with I Will Survive.

[fivecats.livejournal.com]

i love mildly subversive outlets for creativity like this. that you spend the time on the drive in thinking up names is even better.

(btw, there's a photo for you on my lj)

...

[elainetyger.livejournal.com]

I did things in reverse, worked in an office through my 20s & 30s, then half-office when I sold real estate for a few years, and now almost entirely in the field. I take the supervisor exam when it comes up, just in case I become physically unable to climb and bend on a daily basis, but I dread the day when I would return to office work.

This post reminds me why. I'm sorry for the loss of your colored balls and glad you didn't let'em take the real ones.

The *shortest* Pink Floyd title is "If." Probably some people would get it if you followed up the furry-animal-etc-blend with the If Blend. Even if they would be too timid to say so.

[therealocelot.livejournal.com]

You reminded me I had a banana stuck up on a shelf where I hid it away from the kids, then forgot about it all weekend when I was working. It had brown spots by now, so I made it into fudge instead. It worked out well.

[zeppo-marx.livejournal.com]

Starbuck's needs you in their product naming division. I need to hear someone ordering a Venti Small Furry Animal just once in my life....