No need for lunch money
I just started a new job, as director of marketing for Qik. I am incredibly excited to be working for one of Silicon Valley’s most deservedly hot start-ups, even though it means you just never quit. Even when you’re not in the office, you’re working. But they sure do make it comfy to be in the office, so much so that it’s difficult to leave.
The food situation there is just insane. Imagine everything you’ve heard about the cushy dot-com world and multiply it by ten. The fridge is fully stocked with a wide variety of cold drinks, including but not limited to several kinds of pop, sparkling water, milk, juice, iced tea, and energy drinks. There are also several tubs of Philadelphia cream cheese in there (to go with the dozen or so different kinds of bagels and breads on offer), plus salad, every condiment you can imagine, and other veggies.
Don’t even get me started on what’s in the deep freeze.
The cupboards are also bursting, with a dozen different breakfast cereals, pasta, Pot Noodle-type products, biscuits, crackers, nuts, cereal bars, crisps, dried fruit…You name it. There is even an entire cupboard stocked with bottles of spirits.
In the morning, freshly boiled eggs are placed in a bowl. (As a low-carb devotee, this was one of the few foods I could help myself to.) Another bowl contains fresh fruit.
At around 11.30AM, a catered lunch is brought in. On Friday, it consisted of chicken breasts in a delicious mushroom sauce with asparagus, buttered spinach, mushroom risotto (for the vegetarians, I guess), Caesar salad, and a selection of warm breads and rolls with butter. I had the chicken and vegetables, and all was extremely good – as was the fresh fruit salad for dessert.
All of my friends are betting that I have the company re-thinking the free soft drinks within a week or so, knowing as they do my addiction to diet pop. I say that by abstaining from the high-carb goodies on offer – which is, let me tell you, no easy feat – I am doing well. We’ll see how it goes.
Wow! With all that food around, how does anyone find time to do any work?
Good question! Today we had Mexican food from a local restaurant as our catered lunch. I know I popped into the kitchen at least six times just for drinks (Diet Coke and Diet Snapple, the latter in pomegranate tea and raspberry tea flavours). Good thing our bosses measure output, not input!