At work, they’re refurbishing the office one floor at a time. I used to work on level 5. They moved me up to level 6 to refurbish level 5. Now I’ve moved back to level 5 while they do up level 6. When level 6 is finished, I’ll move back up.
The company’s done its best to minimise disruption. For each move, we pack our things into boxes, then over a weekend they move the boxes and our computers to our new desks.
However, a rumble of discontent has been growing louder. An unexpected trade-off has revealed itself. With refurbishment, we gain shiny new desks and decor — but we lose the microwave.
After a few days in our new digs, it became clear that no one would be reinstalling the absent microwave in the kitchen. People became very upset. I was upset too. I love cooking and bringing my food in. I look forward to my tasty hot lunches.
‘Why?’ we cried. ‘Why no microwave?’
Estate management emailed a company wide reply, saying that some people ‘misused’ the microwave. With further probing, we found out that two of the board directors had decided that the smell of hot food in the office was ‘unprofessional’.
Cue widespread fury. My team mate, Juhi, is spearheading the campaign. She opened up a survey and within the first day, half of the group has responded with comments like:
- ‘It’s them versus us now. Unlike board directors, some of us can’t afford to buy hot lunches.’
- ‘So, I guess they’ll be giving us lunch vouchers for shops around the office, right?”
- ‘If they don’t sort it out by winter, there will be riots.’
- ‘I don’t come from a culture that eats sandwiches and salads. If you provide prayer rooms for some people, then why don’t you give us a microwave?’
- ‘I don’t want to work for a fascist company!’
There is still a microwave on level 3, which is next to be refurbished. At lunch time, microwave refugees from level 4 and 5, as well as our office across the road (which had microwaves taken away last year) line up in front of the level 3 microwave.
‘Your microwave will be taken away too,’ I warned the level 3 natives.
They seemed bemused, not realising the seriousness of the situation. ‘Maybe we can charge a pound for people to use the microwave,’ they joke.
Now, you might be wondering what happens if people buy hot food from outside and bring it in. Wouldn’t that cause smells anyway? Well (and this is rather shocking), they’ve banned this exact practice in the new office across the road. I once bought a pie and sat in the company cafe in the new office. One of the serving staff immediately came over and told me to take the food outside.
‘No hot food in this building,’ she said.
Juhi reports that she has met with estate management, who seem genuinely surprised at the depth outrage. Supposedly, something will be ‘sorted’ by September.
In the mean time, I’m experimenting with sandwiches. This week, I’m making pumpkin and sunflower seed batch slices with hommous, caramelised onion, roast aubergine (eggplant), red pepper (capsicum) and courgette (zucchini). It’s very yummy, but I’m looking forward to going back to hot lunches.
