I work in a help desk nestled on the second floor of the IT department of a large company. They are rebuilding our break room and some building contractor, in his infinite wisdom, turned off the water supply to the break room upstairs and downstairs. Not a big deal except for one thing. No Coffee! I have never seen such a panic as I saw in the organizer of the rebuild. She sent out multiple Emails attempting to quiet the brood as they were plotting a mutiny. Sadly I was one of the group about to jump ship and ransack a nearby building looking for some coffee when the water came back on.
Why does the IT department require an abundant supply of this dark and foul tasting liquid? Because it is the giver of life for our kind. Just like the sun heats the earth and provides energy for it. Let’s face facts, people like a warm spot in a cold place. Bums sleep on steaming sewer covers in the winter time. Adults gather around hot tubs and Jacuzzis in the cold but never during the summer. And everyone likes warm socks fresh out of the drier.
What does all that nonsense have to do with Coffee? Everything! If you have never been in an IT labyrinth let me give you a few details. Usually there are countless hallways and doors, tiny offices, and a few cube farms, all housed in short, perfectly square windowless buildings, which contain more than enough climate control units to turn the entire building into a meat locker. Without coffee we would all freeze to death!
