A CATASTROPHIC EVENT

So the coffee pot overflowed yesterday. Not just a little but a lot! I mean we’re talking gallons of coffee all over the counter and floor. And of course me being the indentured servant to everyone on the floor that I am, I cleaned it up.

Apparently someone made a full 16 cup pot when there was 15 cups in there already. Morons. So there I am sitting at my desk checking my usual websites like E! online and pinkisthenewblog.com when one guy comes over and goes, “The coffee pot overflowed…just thought I should tell someone.” I follow him around the corner to the kitchen thinking, it’s probably just a little spill. Boy was I wrong! I walked in there and felt like I was in the middle of one of the Great Lakes. I was just trying to figure out how it overflowed cause you can always trust the machines that do it automatically right?!

I started grabbing paper towels to clean but then the secretary in me got prideful and thought…”Wait a second…this was not in my job description, I’ll call someone.” So I did. I called sweet Rachel, our building’s receptionist, thinking I had everything under control and on its way to being fixed. Wrong again. “Sorry Amy, the guy who cleans stuff like that is gone today. Usually he’s always here and never misses a day of work, not even for Christmas, but for some reason he couldn’t come in today.” Typical.

So I cleaned it up. I must have gone through about 4 rolls of paper towels, wiping up the counter, pouring out the pot, cleaning the floor. And of course the most coffee gathered in a puddle around all the electrical wires for the fridge, coffee pot and water cooler. Suddenly my life was being threatened by 2 packs of Seattle’s Best Decaf! As I cleaned that part up I thought, “Oh great! Not only am I gonna die young, but I’m gonna die being electrocuted trying to clean up a freakin coffee spill!” What a way to go….

The funny thing about that is how everyone was so eager to hear if the coffee pot had been cleaned or fixed. The rest of yesterday people kept saying, “I saw that big spill in the kitchen…” “Hey did the coffee pot get fixed, I saw it overflowed this morning.” Ok people…I just want to take the time to say thank you to all those who saw the big catastrophe yesterday morning and didn’t do a thing about it. I really appreciate that because I really wanted to be the one to clean it up. There is nothing more exciting than crouching down to mop up a whole floor of brown liquid or smelling like the coffee the rest of the day! What the heck?!?! Come on people, what is your problem?!?!?!

I’m convinced everyone in the corporate world is a robot. Everyone does the same thing every single day and if one thing goes wrong or out of the norm, people freak out! “The coffee pot overflowed!” “The printer’s out of ink, what do we do?!?!” “There’s no more paper in the copier...quick! what’s the number to the Help Desk??!” “The microwave’s too hot, call the fire department!!!!” I can’t believe how much drama can be created over some of the simplest things in life…like coffee.

Today I called for a new coffee pot. I know I know, I gave in…but I really don’t want to be the only admin on a floor with a bunch of people that haven’t had their coffee. You gotta nip these things in the bud!