TSUNAMI!
- Posted by Melissa on January 25th, 2008 filed in daily life, soapbox, work
We have been having a lot of coffee-related issues at work recently. I’m sure this is a problem at many workplaces, but people here are just better at drinking coffee than they are at making new coffee to replace it. Meaning: sometimes I go in, find a nearly empty pot with a couple ounces in the bottom of it, make new, and return ten minutes later for my coffee, only to find the thing empty again. Ridiculous. Earlier this week I had to go back and make new coffee three times before I managed to get my morning cup.
This kind of pisses me off, because I make a point of always practicing optimum coffee courtesy. If the pot is less than half full when I come in, and it’s not lunchtime yet, I move it over to another burner and start a new pot. Because, dammit, people want to drink coffee. Do they think the magical coffee sprites are going to make up for their deficiency and lack of moral turpitude when they walk away without replenishing the brew? Seriously. What is the problem?
When they do make new coffee, these unidentified offenders move the old pot over to a new burner without turning the heating element on. So good coffee sits there and turns lukewarm before anybody gets a chance to enjoy it.
Today the greatest coffee faux pas of them all was committed. When I came in to put my lunch in the fridge, another lady from our department was frantically trying to coax paper towels out of the motion sensing machine (those things suck). Why? Because someone started a new pot of coffee this morning. Only, without the pot part. And it appeared that they had also poured water inside the machine before starting it, which is not helpful because it has a dedicated water source of its own.
So this poor lady had come in near the end of the brewing cycle and was desperately trying to stem the scalding hot wave of spilled coffee. I rushed to help her. In a moment, my gamer coworker’s boss arrived on the scene to help. We got the huge mess cleaned up and started a new round of coffee brewing.
What’s next? Is someone going to fill the brewing basket with condiment packets instead of coffee? Maybe they’ll decide to cream all the coffee right there in the pot!
January 26th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Obviously you need to place a nanny cam in the break room, so that offenders can be identified and then later disposed of.
January 26th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
If I didn’t become a generic office worker, I always thought it would be nice to be in law enforcement. So, this would be like combining my two dreams!
January 27th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Oh, lordy! What rudeness. This makes me extra-glad that we have one of those automatic coffee machines at work! :)
January 27th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
I know! Still, our machine is not that hard. It has a basket, into which you pour premeasured packets of coffee, and replace. Then you push a button. Some people can’t handle the strain of trying to pour themselves a cup, go through this routine, and then turn the other burner on.
Automatic would be great, though. Like a giant dispenser. Lukewarm coffee is so gross.
January 28th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
I’m sorry, but if someone messes with my coffee routine, I would have to declare a jihad. Blood would flow freely.