In the past 12 work days I have consumed over 60 caffeinated beverages. There’s really a perfect storm going on here that’s enabling my consumption and it’s that I started work in a customer service call center, I work until 8pm, and coffee and tea are FREE! I should have gone corporate when I was first looking for jobs out of college. Every night when I come home I’m happy, I’m upbeat for most of the day and if I ever get a little downtrodden there’s a free, ground-then-brewed by the cup coffee station right down the hall. Freshie fresh fresh.
My desk has become what one of my coworkers calls “Alexa’s Café”: I have soothing herbal teas to relax the throat, orange blossom honey for the same reason, a shoe box full of candy for friend making purposes, lemon slices that I bring in daily to add to tea, and a drawer full of snacks. Laugh all you want to, but that shoebox works. When people walk by my desk and reach over for a piece of candy and smile, sometimes that just puts my day back on the right track.
Another great aspect of the department I work in is how we’re like a little pod. At the end of the night at 8pm when the rest of the company has been gone for hours we all walk out of the building together, and at lunchtime we all move our cars closer to the building so nobody has to walk to the end of the parking lot alone. Lunch time for me is at 4pm, and during this season the sky is doing some pretty awesome things.
The new job is why my entries have been so sparse. When I was unemployed I had all the time in the world to cook and photograph and write, and now that I’m working a slightly wonky schedule the blog has been on the back burner. When I get home I usually eat whatever is left of my lunch for dinner and call it a night. I said I was enjoying my job, I didn’t say it was easy or not exhausting. I should probably take this time to apologize to the people who have tried to get in touch with me and have gotten either a one sentence email back or an unintelligible voicemail. Once I finish learning everything (ha!) I should be back to normal and in the meantime, for contact purposes, aim for Wednesdays and Sundays as those are my days off.
Work lunches have been pretty fun to make. I got a new lunchbox which always makes things exciting, there’s enough time in the morning to get creative, and I’ve been packing things that would make a health conscious mother proud. I also had a day where I ate things out of the vending machine because I didn’t want what I’d packed. We all have our days.
I guess this blog is mostly an announcement of “hey! I’m finally happy in my workplace!” and proof to my family that I’m eating healthy, taking an actual lunch time and not working while eating, and that I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth. I’m here! And I’m hungry so I’m off to make an egg sandwich and buy a ton of Mexican Coke from Costco before they start making it with high fructose corn syrup. That’s another story for another day.
Cooking While Caffeinated 
This was the funniest yet! I want to come work in your pod now!