In a lot of offices,
everyone gathers around the water cooler. In
every office that I have ever worked, everyone
gathered around the office coffee maker. In
fact the office coffee maker was the source of
much controversy in one place that I
worked.
Lots of issues were discussed around the office
coffee maker, and while the “around the office
coffee maker gossip” caused its share of
problems, that was not the biggest controversy
I experienced. The worst problems caused by the
office coffee maker were
about the coffee itself.
There was the decaf group.
They firmly believed that the only grounds
allowed to touch the office coffee maker should
be decaffeinated. They were a slow moving
group, so even though they held to their
beliefs, they didn’t really work very hard to
push their arguments and therefore they were
overcome by the caffeinated crew. This group
believed that the whole office would be much
more productive if the office coffee maker
gushed coffee laced with caffeine. They were a
jittery group. Sometimes it hurt your neck to
watch them give a presentation. Of course, with
their energy, they won the first round of the
office coffee maker wars.