Water Cooler Manners – Two Point Oh One Six

Water Cooler Manners – Two Point Oh One Six

by | Apr 8, 2016 | water cooler, Water Coolers

Many moons ago I blogged about water cooler etiquette – this year as we segue into spring (actually, spring was officially on 22 March) I was wondering if, four years on, there’s been any change about the ‘do discuss’ versus the ‘do not discuss’ topics especially with the rampant advancement of the enormous animal that social media has become.

Let’s see what changes have taken place since then:

MySpace faded away into obscurity. One of the reasons behind this is believed to be because Facebook ‘perfected’ the social networking concept, whereas MySpace just introduced people to it.

Instagram went bananas and gained popularity hand over photo. All of a sardine, people globally were taking and uploading artfully enhanced photos of everything from their breakfasts to every single view they saw that day.

Twitter also grew exponentially, but as of this year, is behind Instagram and other platforms such as WeChat, FB Messenger and Tumblr.

Bearing these types of platforms in mind, what with the sharing of information that most wouldn’t have dreamt of twelve or so years ago, are the more ‘old school’ workplace rules still in place?

At your water cooler:

Then: Telling your colleagues about your most recent holiday was a do. Just not too much graphic detail, please.

Now: Showing your colleagues every jaw breakingly boring second of your holiday captured on camera is a definite no.

Then: Sharing the news of your new baby is wonderful and most definitely a do.

Now: Again, showing photos of your newborn’s every gasp, yawn, micro facial expression for every minute from dawn ‘til dusk is a do not.

Then: Do talk about the fantastic meal that you had at the new Italian restaurant in town.

Now:  Same as then don’t talk about the four bottles of wine that you drank with your lasagne or show photos of every aspect of the meal, up to and including the aforementioned four bottles of wine.

Then: Sharing positive news about your family and friends is a do as it gives your colleagues insight into who you are.

Now:  The same as then. A don’t is still to not share your personal problems at work. There are plenty of problems to contend with in the workplace. Sharing your personal problems with your colleagues indicates a familiarity level that a majority of colleagues may be uncomfortable with.

However you choose to spend your time at the water cooler, remember the main reason that you’re there – to stretch your legs; disengage your brain (five minute ‘brain rests’ have proven to be very beneficial to one’s creativity) and to refill your water bottle or glass and then drink the water, because as we all know by now, maintaining a steady water intake is the surest way to keep yourself in tip-top form during the working day.

Think Tank at the Water Cooler – for the love of architecture

Think Tank at the Water Cooler – for the love of architecture

by | Apr 4, 2016 | Water Coolers

My particular love arrived when I started playing with my brother’s hand me down Lego. In this I must say, I’m a purist – the old Lego is what Lego is meant to be. I’ve never quite understood all the pink and purple brightly coloured weirdly shaped pieces Lego is available in now. The good old white bases and blue building blocks were all I needed to get cracking with spending hours and hours building designer houses. A Sunday in the breezeway on the rug was the usual location. I’d endlessly construct Bauhaus type houses and show them off gleefully to my father – who, after the 5th or 6th attempt (such attempts looking markedly similar in design), would nod and feign interest.

I still think of pursuing the field of architecture (that pesky Maths, though) but for now (and for all of my life so far), just to look architecture is like catnip to me. A few examples to muse over (and your opinion on great architecture is most welcome) are:

The Basilica of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, what I fondly call the ‘Dribble Castle’. A dribble castle for those of you that don’t know, are castles made using a particular density of wet beach sand;

The Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew Temple (also known as The Million Bottle Temple) in Thailand – now there’s recycling at its best;

The Guggenheim Building in Balboa. This amazing museum of modern and contemporary art is in Spain. It would seem that a lot of spectacular architecture originates or is built in Spain;

A particular favourite, the Flatiron Building, New York – named for its flat iron type shape – personally, I think the building looks a stretched out wedge of cheese – but each to their own – and, last, but by no means, least;

The St Pancras Station and Hotel in Camden. Of course, there’s more beautiful architecture in the UK than one can throw a stick at, but I thought I’d go for the not too obvious.

With these examples and all variations in-between, architecture can remind us (I do believe) of how to achieve greatness through buildings.

So if you’ve run out of topics to chat about with your colleagues on your water cooler runs, why not open a discussion about their favourite building and why? I guarantee you’ll have started something!