The coffee machine.
This post really has nothing to do with the UK. It's just a minor workplace rant.
My company is located in temporary offices in a large office block shared by a number of other startups. On the first floor is a public kitchen with a coffee machine. It's a really nice one - gives you an espresso in about 5 seconds. Until thursday, I had been making frequent use of this machine, as the only alternatives were tea and instant "coffee." But no more. We have been informed that the coffee machine is for MEETINGS ONLY. There was (and is) no sign on the machine to inform us of this fact, which is strange because the management of the office block has plastered nearly every object in the building with some kind of sign explaining its intended purpose, restrictions on its use, etc.
My boss, sensing what was about to happen to my productvity, contacted the management to inform them that:
a) No reasonable human could be expected to know that the coffee machine is for meetings only, and that for-meetings-only is not, in fact, an inherent characteristic of coffee machines.
b) We will happily pay a reasonable sum for limited daily use of the coffee machine.
The quote that came back was only marginally lower than my salary, and the boss decided that my idea (renting a meeting room for 1 hour a day - at £30/hour) was not a reasonable solution. On the other hand, he did promise that our permanent offices would have coffee making facilities suitable for an engineering organization.
My company is located in temporary offices in a large office block shared by a number of other startups. On the first floor is a public kitchen with a coffee machine. It's a really nice one - gives you an espresso in about 5 seconds. Until thursday, I had been making frequent use of this machine, as the only alternatives were tea and instant "coffee." But no more. We have been informed that the coffee machine is for MEETINGS ONLY. There was (and is) no sign on the machine to inform us of this fact, which is strange because the management of the office block has plastered nearly every object in the building with some kind of sign explaining its intended purpose, restrictions on its use, etc.
My boss, sensing what was about to happen to my productvity, contacted the management to inform them that:
a) No reasonable human could be expected to know that the coffee machine is for meetings only, and that for-meetings-only is not, in fact, an inherent characteristic of coffee machines.
b) We will happily pay a reasonable sum for limited daily use of the coffee machine.
The quote that came back was only marginally lower than my salary, and the boss decided that my idea (renting a meeting room for 1 hour a day - at £30/hour) was not a reasonable solution. On the other hand, he did promise that our permanent offices would have coffee making facilities suitable for an engineering organization.
posted by Logan J. Kunz at 11:51 AM
4 Comments:
I'd ask your boss if s/he has any problem with you bringing your own coffeemaker and keeping it at your desk. If no problem, I'd go and buy a good coffeemaker, like a Senseo. It's not espresso, but it's perhaps the next best thing.
Go get yourself a french press and use all their freakin' hot tea water to make your own coffee. You look very pretentious too. Always a bonus when you are a stranger in a strange land.
- Gary
Nothing's more pretentious than a french press... except actually being french.
It appears Daryl works for the Senseo coffee making company. How shamelessly convenient.
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