If I had a water cooler....

After graduating college, running around the world, and ending up financially broke it occurred to me I needed a job. So I found one, at your average company, chock full of average American workers doing an average American job in average size grey cubicles with standard multi-line call center phones. (Actually some of the people were quite amazing, but that doenst fit the tone here so let's pretend). Employees behaved in an average employee fashion, with substantial discussion of very important work and non-work related events occuring in the most important place an office has....the water cooler. The water cooler is the great equalizer. Every person in every office will drink at least a sip of water at some point during the day. And to quench that need, each person will need to visit the water cooler. For whatever the reason, in front of that oasis people let their professional facade down. They discuss news, argue sports, scheme and plot, laugh, cry, gossip, comiserate, whisper, glare, smirk, and tell stories giving each other little glimpses into the person that exists outside of the office. It is in front of the water cooler that alliances are formed and dissolved, friendships made, and rumors perpetuated. It is in front of the water cooler that every person who had a triumph or tragedy before their morning coffee has an audience with whom to share.

I gave up my office life to return to the world of graduate school which has led to opportunities for that seemingly most coveted of employment arrangements: work at home. While I do enjoy conducting business from my couch, and writing reports and newsletters in my pjs, with music or tv filling up the background, I have to fill my glass with the pitcher in the fridge. If I want to laugh, bitch, or just chat about nothing to kill a few minutes I have to send an email or pick up the phone. There is no water cooler, and no five minute break time support group in my kitchen. If I had a water cooler, these are the stories I would tell.