Water Cooler Factor
All right, I have to ask the question - Does anyone actually stand around a water cooler and have conversations with their coworkers?
I must have heard this tired old saw used three or four times this last week. We supposedly have water cooler conversations about sports, about television, about politics, and today I was told we are having water cooler conversations about OJ Simpson's new book.
Well, in my place of work we don't even have a water cooler. And, while I'm not typically a literalist about these sorts of things, I have to wonder - Do these conversations really exist around said water coolers?
Comments
A follow up:
Luke Burbank of NPR reported the OJ Simpson story that prompted me to write this blog entry. He wrote me this morning:
"Funny you should mention the water cooler thing...
because in my original script, after I mention people standing around
the water cooler... I said 'not that anyone actually does that'. Alas,
my editor took it out."
Posted by: ironic1 | November 17, 2006 9:14 AM
You're probably right. But we do have a water cooler at my office. And since I work in the basement, the only time I see my non-basement-dwelling co-workers is when I'm upstairs in the kitchen filling up my Nalgene at the water cooler. So that's a good time to catch up with whoever else happens to be in the kitchen. So . . . we stand around the water cooler chatting.
(But we could just as easily say we're standing around the coffeemaker, which is right next to it.)
Posted by: Liz in Buffalo | November 20, 2006 9:32 PM
At my last job, we did have a water cooler, and gossip did take place around it. But most of the time we were by the water cooler because the coffee maker was next to it.
Posted by: Purple | November 22, 2006 10:25 AM
All right, my friend, Russ, upon reading this said that he also has water cooler conversations where he works at a local community college, located near the copier. So, I guess these conversations really do exist.
Posted by: ironic1 | November 26, 2006 6:06 PM