A sign went up above our coffee maker at work a few weeks ago.  It read:

“Please use your own reusable cup before using the paper cups.  We have to pay for the paper cups and are spending about $100 per month on these cups.  The cups cost us $0.05 per cup – so use reusable before reaching for a paper one.”

As a self proclaimed Math Geek, I just couldn’t believe those numbers.

Neither could the Engineer from what I gathered a few days later:

“I am sorry, but I cannot accept your numbers.  There are, on average, 20 working days a month.  If we are, in fact, spending $100 a month on cups, that means we are using 2000 cups a month or 100 cups per day.  Since there are only maybe 200 people in the building, not all of them drink coffee, not all of them are working daily, and many of the coffee drinkers use reusable cups exclusively – it seems as though our coffee supplier is screwing us.”

The sign lasted about 48 hours before someone took it down.  The other sign remains.  But, it does beg the question – how are we going through 2000 paper cups a month?

I love signs people put up at work.  The most recent was clearly from our Facilities Manager – a man who looks like Grizzly Adams complete with bad tattoos.  You don’t mess with this guy.  His note:

“I am not your mother.  Wash your own dishes, or I will throw them away.”

I have never seen such a clean sink in my life.  Guess there are a lot of people afraid of the man.