Monday, May 19, 2008

I HATE! Going on Coffee Runs

Can I take a vote on this? Being asked to get on a coffee run for (someone in) your office is one of the most demeaning and degrading requests. If you've ever been an intern (or in my case, a lowly assistant), you know what I'm talking about. Being asked to go on a coffee run for someone is equivalent to someone saying to you: 'You're beneath me and I don't feel like getting up and doing this myself.' When I'm asked to get coffee for someone else, whether it be down the hall from the office coffee machine or across the street from Starbucks, I want to scream - even if you ask me in the sweetest, most polite way.

Frankly, it's insulting. Getting coffee for someone is comparable to cleaning up someone else's mess. Unless, I am already out of the office (and near one of Starbucks' 2,390,478,239,048 locations) or making a trip down the hall to the pantry and offer to get you coffee, asking me to go and get you a cup of coffee is like a slap in the face. I'm already running around catering to everyone else's needs - asking me to get you coffee is basically forcing me into indentured servitude. I can't say no - because you're my boss - but it pains me to have to do it. Every time I'm asked to do this, I can feel my face muscles tighten up into an angry snarl, and no matter how much I attempt to hide my disdain, it is displayed across my face. If I ever am in the position where asking someone else to get my coffee for me is an option, I never, ever will. Swear.

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