Non-Technical Rant #1: Inconsiderate Co-workers and the Coffee Pot

How hard is it to make a pot of coffee in the office?  Not very hard at all.

It seems as though some people believe that the Java Fairy comes around every couple of hours and fills the coffee machine up for everyone. Free coffee in the office isn’t a right, it’s a privilege.  My company doesn’t have to pay for it, but they do.  There’s a coffee shop well within walking distance to our office.

You may as well leave half an inch of motor oil in the pot too.  The Java Fairy will take what little “coffee” you left in the pot and empty it down the sink.

It’s a simple, free perk that we get.  The last I checked there’s not many of those left.  I’m assuming this perk would disappear after some guy inadvertently burns the building down by leaving an empty pot on the burner over the weekend.

The blatant lack of consideration for other co-workers is appalling.  It’s a smack in the face to the people that take it upon themselves to actually clean the coffee pot after the motor oil has morphed into pure tar and effectively becomes part of the pot itself.

It’s not my place to regulate who gets to drink coffee from the coffee machine.  If it was I’d be like Jerry Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi. You don’t clean the pot, you don’t use it.  You take the last cup and leave a shot glass full burning away in the pot, no more cups for you!

I’m done prancing around the subject with people.  Next time I see someone leave a dab of coffee at the bottom of the pot and put it back on the burner, I’m taking a picture of it and emailing it to everyone in the office and singling out the bugger that left it there.  Hints don’t work with these people.  Coaching doesn’t work.  Promoting a sense of responsibility and community doesn’t work.

Maybe some old school chastising would?

Last chance.

Don’t mess with the coffee.