Some advice...

I love coffee. It is truly odd when I don't have at least a cup in a day. It's unusual if I don't have a pot a day, honestly (thankfully, the days of late Spring Term '06 are a distant memory--there was a month or so that I was doing three pots a day. Yes, three by myself). Coffee's so important to me, I wrote one (and I think only) love poem to it. I've been tempted to write more. TLomL takes her coffee almost as seriously, and we're raising three coffee-holics (Frodo's a hold-out, for some inexplicable reason).*

I don't primarily drink the stuff for the caffeine (tho' I do avoid decaf--it doesn't taste right), but I do certainly appreciate the effects of C₈H₁₀N₄O₂ (as diminished as they are for me). I drink it for the taste first and foremost--then smell, then feel of it, then heat (esp at work, where it's nearly always cold). But it's primarily about the flavor.

Which brings me to my dilemma. I work with two different people during the week. One is in recovery, and drinks/makes what another colleague calls "AA coffee"--which, in a pinch, could probably be used in place of 10W-30. We knock off our first pot in the first 1.5 hrs of our shift, the second takes the rest of the shift because he really slows down so he can sleep after work. The other person I work with maybe drinks a cup every other week--and then she pours in enough milk/creamer that it's maybe 50-40% coffee--she doesn't like the taste. But there's enough in there to almost make her jumpy.

On the nights she needs coffee--she really needs it. The problem arises if she makes it back to the coffee pot first on those nights--typically she doesn't, but twice in the last three weeks she has. As someone who doesn't like Java, she cannot make a decent pot. It just tastes weak, watery and bland. (now I know a certain man who recently relocated from Idaho to South Carolina thinks I drink mine too strong [he's wrong, incidentally], but I know he'd have issues with this stuff). Incidentally, I've become convinced that Emily Post needs to codify the maxim that only those people who drink coffee should be allowed to make it in the workplace. At my last office job, we had a gentleman who rarely drank the stuff, and couldn't make a decent pot. He'd only make it if he was going out of his way to be a help, or as a gesture of gratitude--but he realized his shortcomings and generally just asked someone to do it for him. That I could respect.

I used to suck it up and drink the stuff my partner makes, but I just can't anymore.

The aforementioned last two times she beat me to the pot, I've just gone without for the shift. (just got home from one of those shifts as you can tell from the mildly rambling nature of this and the previous post, just am not that sharp). I don't want to put up with that garbage anymore, but I'm afraid I'm coming across as rude when I don't have any--and I know I'd come across as rude if I dumped hers out after she's had her 13 fluid ounces and made something palatable. What should I do, readers? Other than redoubling my efforts at being the first one to the staff room, that is. I really don't enjoy going an 8-hr shift without drinking anything--nor do I enjoy withdrawal headaches like the I'm almost done with now. She takes criticism (constructive or otherwise) as well as a bratty, catty and semi-talented American Idol finalist, so I really don't think I can say anything, but I'm open to suggestions.

Alright, whine's over. Hopefully back soon with something else.

* worry not, we don't let the other three, particularly, Arnold drink it that often--but they are learning how to appreciate it