Talk about being spoiled. Let me tell you, I am the Queen of it. I'm not rude, and I don't huff and puff like a little brat if things don't go my way. I'm actually more likely to just make a face, and curl up the side of my lip at the culprit; whatever is causing me to be inconvenienced. I will usually walk away, scratch whatever plan or scheme I was working on at the time, and regroup. My tantrum days are long gone. I will, however, let people know they inconvenienced me. I figure they need to be held responsible if that is at all possible. Today, the issue was not one where I could really lay any blame, so I just sighed....three times.
I work at an amazing office. Let's get that out of the way first. I mean, these people are way above and beyond excellent, and I am just all too happy to let each and every one of them know this when I see them throughout the day. Yes, we have some gosh-darn work warriors at the company I work for and with. That being said, not one of the men (and there are plenty) knows how to make a pot of coffee, fill up a coffee filter so it can be used to make coffee, nor do any of them know how to look for, find, or resupply any of the sweeteners, creamers, or flavors for said coffee. Nope. Not one. So, in order for this grave and immensely debilitating problem to actually remedy itself, I decided to hold an impromptu staff training session! At first, no one wanted to attend. When I asked the Human Resource Manager's assistance in the matter, I suddenly had 11 volunteers! Good job men!
The coffee issue may seem small, but it's not. We have over 50 people in the office, and we have two pots of coffee brewing at a time. We also have a Keurig, so that's the reason I only had 11 volunteers to attend my little Do-It-Yourself class this morning. Many of the employees, including myself, use Keurig. Trust me when I say that the clean up after yourself portion of my little speech was both animated and I had visuals. I even asked for a volunteer to assist me; I'm telling you, these people are awesome!! I had no trouble assuring the others who chose not to attend that the 12 knowledgeable people in the building who now know how to brew, will do so, but if we catch anyone of these others who did not attend the meeting, finishing off the last cup, there will be another session!
Another First World issue we addressed today because it actually came up during the first session of our coffee-making lesson, was the fact that both of our (HUGE) refrigerators and the independent water dispenser standing next to the refrigerators, were not dispensing water. The refrigerators weren't dispensing ice for that matter either. Our ice maker, (yes, we have a separate one) was on the mend from a power outage we experienced, so the backup plan was to use the two fridges and the very handy-dandy and always-accessible water cooler. Now what? We literally had no automated filtered water to make the coffee. We were going to have to resort to using TAP WATER!!! Are you serious?
It was decided that the Keurig, which is connected to the same mechanism that sends water to the two refrigerators, may not be dispensing water either? We were lucky, it was actually working, but it was incredibly slow and here we stood, all masters of our own personal crafts, but not one of us knew a dang thing about plumbing. You really don't want me messing with the plumbing. I can tell you that. We used props and talked in hypotheticals. We couldn't really make the coffee, and that was in fact a big big First World issue for a bunch of Market traders and their support staff. This is a company that will spend $$$ to house any of us in the three-star hotel next to our office if the weather is going to be too bad and there's a chance we won't make it back to the office. The Market does not care who you are, the Market does not stop or wait for anyone. We know this. We need our coffee.
Just about the time I was wrapping up the DIY demonstration on all things percolating, the boss stepped in to let us know that while we were being educated she was making calls to repair people, and within a few minutes, we had water! Money talks. That's the bottom line to this story folks, money talks. Some of us, myself included, took our Keuriged coffee mugs into the breakroom and watched as the plumber explained what our issues and problems were. I know I listened. If this happens again I want to at least explain it to the next plumber. I can't really say I learned a great deal, but I did take notes. I can read the notes back to the next plumber if I need to. I trade money for money, and I help others (support) when they sell bonds. I'm not into tubes, lines, faucets, panels, and drains. The plumber did ask me if we were having problems with our ballcocks, but hey, I don't have any of those either. I smiled.
So, apparently, I did learn something today. A ballcock is a device that helps the water flow evenly and stop when it needs to. They're usually on toilets, and that's where they found the plumber. He had been called up from another floor where he had been working on a lavatory issue. Our building is about 40 years old, so it does have its contentions. We made it through the entire morning thinking about our coffee, our water, our ice, and yes, our ballcocks. I couldn't resist asking the ladies in my office if any of them had any personal experience(s) with a ballcock. This sent the one man (a younger man) in our office, right through the roof with laughter. He was the only one of us who knew what it was, and he even told us that he had two! I guess now that I know what it is, I can admit to having two myself. Not lying when I tell you I have ballcocks made of brass!
Who knew?
Photo Credit: delta.com
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