đŸ”— This article is an exact copy of the original text first published on Brunch. View original text on Brunch
What I Learned Making 3,000 Cups of Coffee at Work
The importance of chatting with colleagues
The importance of chatting with colleagues
đŸ”— This article is an exact copy of the original text first published on Brunch. View original text on Brunch
Hello, this is designer Lee Sang-hyo. Half of 2023 has already passed and it is July. July is the month I joined my current company, and it has already been two years since I joined the company.
I make coffee almost every day at work. I did a quick calculation and it turns out that I brewed about 3,000 cups of coffee over the past two years. As a designer, why do I drink so much coffee at work? I would like to keep a record of the reason and process.
The company I work for adopts a mixed work from home and face-to-face approach. My home and work are close to each other, and I tend to get a better job at work, so I go to work all five days unless something goes wrong. But it wasn't like that from the beginning. In July 2021, when I joined the company, the coronavirus pandemic was in full swing, so most members were working from home. The office was comfortable, but as a new employee, there were relatively few opportunities to meet and talk with other members.
At my previous job, coffee beans and drip equipment were provided in the bathroom as a welfare benefit. On the other hand, the current company was providing capsule coffee instead. Capsule coffee is great because you can get coffee conveniently and quickly, but it was difficult to create opportunities to talk with other members because the time required to brew the coffee was small. I needed a space and opportunity to chat with various people! :D
So, I decided to take advantage of my previous work experience and try brewing coffee beans.
Preliminary explanation for those who are not familiar with hand drip coffee: To make hand drip coffee, you need the ten ingredients below.
For numbers 16, I bought something that wasn't too expensive or brought something I had at home, and fortunately, I was able to use numbers 710 because I already had them at work. Other than the coffee beans and drip filter, once they were prepared, they could be used continuously, so maintenance costs were not large.
It’s not just about having the ingredients. What actually makes this coffee gathering complete is the people. You will need the following elements:
I can always meet number 1 because I can do it myself, but the combination of 2 and 3 was difficult. This is because a company is a place to work, and if employees are busy working, they cannot join in drinking coffee. Therefore, I thought there was a set time to find a member with free time.
Looking back on the past two years, I ended up making coffee during the three times listed above. The only time it rains almost every day is in the morning. Since the work time is flexible between 8 and 10 o'clock, it is a time when meetings are relatively rare, so I thought that more people would participate if I recruited in the morning. As soon as I get to work, I like to work with coffee.
I think it was difficult for even me to make coffee during times 2 and 3 due to pre-meeting preparations, meetings, lunch appointments, etc. If I got off in the morning, I didn't think about getting off again.
To commemorate the second anniversary of making coffee, we estimated coffee-related numbers.
Adding this up, we get the number 3,042 drinks over two years. (This is an estimate, so it may differ from the actual drink.)
Just for fun, I also converted it into virtual sales. Assuming 5,000 won per cup of drip coffee = 3,042 cups → 15,210,000 won came out.
It may be random, but I love working. I hope that all the joys and sorrows that occur from the time I go to work to the time I leave work become part of some meaningful process in my life. So, I think that saying [You just have to do your job** well] is unbalanced in some sense. If our life only had to be sweet**, I think our teeth would get damaged from eating only candy. For such a balanced work environment, I think it is important to enjoy a moment of leisure.
I don't think you can be productive just by sitting in front of a monitor. I think that if we can (paradoxically) be more productive in the long run and get closer to success for all of us, if we can relax and enjoy all the moments that are pointless, light and funny, to seriously think about our team or company, and all the moments of failure and success together.
Let’s come back to the coffee story. I think I can start my day at work a little more leisurely because I can share the moment of making coffee with my colleagues every morning. Even though it may not be the number of 3,000 cups, I hope that you enjoyed your time with me by feeling at least a little bit of leisure while having coffee time together. When I get to work, I look forward to the next coffee time!
