Make Mine Tea

It's a Saturday on a public holiday weekend, and somehow I find myself at the office. I'm sure you will infer from the fact that I am talking to you, Blogland, that my presence here is in the "hardly working" camp, and more of the "holding down the fort" variety.

Pondering my quiet surrounds, I remembered that I have been meaning to share what I consider to be one of the more charming aspects of Australian work culture: the tea station.

I've yet to find myself in an office setting that did not have some variation on the tea station. You can count on a source of hot water and a supply of tea bags, probably instant coffee, sugar, and milk. (It seems that most people won't touch the instant coffee, and will go out to the coffee shop if it's not going to be a tea sort of day. I understand that. I won't touch it, either).

Taking a break for tea, either in the morning or afternoon or both, is perfectly normal, which I think is great. In the States, I found that often the only people who often got a little respite outside of regular breaks were smokers. It's nice to have a reason to step away from your desk for a couple of minutes and go through the ritual of preparing your tea.

I've quite gotten into the spirit, and take my tea break almost every day at 3pm, which is the perfect time between lunch and the end of the day. White with one sugar, thanks for asking.

 

While I'm here in the office alone with no one to look at me strangely for doing so, I snapped this shot of our tea station. This set up is on top of a mini-fridge where the milk lives. It's pretty typical of what I've seen in small offices.

I happen to sit right next to the tea station, which places me in prime talking-to position, sort of like the "makin' copies" guy. Only I don't have to fix any jams.