Thursday, May 29, 2008

Important Information

Email Subject: Wichtige Information: Unsere Kaffeemaschine ist wieder da!!!!!!! Schöne Grüsse Verena

English: Important Information: Our coffee machine is back in the office!!!!!! Kind Regards Verena

This was the subject of a recent email at work. Verena is the office manager. And when she says - coffee machine - she means a sweet top of the line machine that makes the entire range of coffee: espresso, latte, cappuccino etc. The company where I work as a consultant has machines from Jura, a Swiss company.



I'm not a coffee drinker (due to my religious beliefs), but I remember people organizing their own coffee pools at work in the states. Here it is much different. People have good coffee available at any time. The coffee is provided by the company. The cups are provided by the company and cleaned every night. This is very practical for guests who visit a company, including people interviewing for a position. Everyone is offered something to drink - water (with or without carbonation) and hot water for tea is also available on demand.

It is an interesting difference between the office life in the states and in Europe. I remember the typical coffee machine in the states being run down and filled with hard water deposits. This probably depends on where you work a bit, but I don't remember a sweet cappuccino, espresso machine like I have found here. Not all companies have the sweet full service machine, but the company I am working for right now has about 6 of them. My consulting firm has one main machine and I don't remember what is available on the other floors.

2 comments:

Maria said...

I didn't drink coffee until after I lived in Europe, and even more so after I had the baby and it became a way to get out of the house (Starbucks or the local cafe). Now I am still a casual drinker, but I have a cup each morning at work with the other members of our "coffee club." I'm officially a coffee convert, and I dig the idea of a nifty machine. We keep our pot well maintained and clean, but there is no chance for a latte or anything fancy.

Schnitzel_Republic said...

Germans are coffee-holics...and they put tremendous attention into the cleaning and maintenance of the machines...to the point that I'd label them as obsessive. Just try denying them that cup or two per day....and feel the wrath...lol.