For a long time, I was convinced that the office fridge at my former company was the grossest place on earth. There was, like, a permanent rotting sandwich wedged in the back that made the whole fridge smell like death, but no one could get over their squeamishness long enough to throw out said sandwich.
Well, I officially stand corrected, because the office fridge at AT&T in San Jose is officially the nastiest one ever. It was so disgusting that several workers fainted or vomited from the smell. Seven employees had to go to the hospital. It was so bad that a hazmat team had to be brought in.
Authorities said an enterprising office worker had decided to clean it out, placing the food in a conference room while using two cleaning chemicals to scrub down the mess. The mixture of old lunches and disinfectant caused 28 people to need treatment for vomiting and nausea.
Authorities said the worker who cleaned the fridge didn’t need treatment – she can’t smell because of allergies.
Merely reading this article made me want to barf. I have to go lie down now. Maybe the fake mold sandwich wasn’t such a brilliant invention after all.
It looks like the Lego People business “cards” have some competition for coolest business cards ever. A new company called Meatcards will now print you your very own business card on a piece of beef jerky. As a Southerner who once dated a boy who extolled the virtues of beef jerky as “steak – but portable!” I can see why people might find the concept interesting, but I have to admit they look a little too much like stretched-out human skin for my taste. Still… at least no one would forget you after a networking event.
Photos are here – don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Once again proving that my own unemployment is rich fodder for other people, the New York Times reports what the contents of my trash can could already tell you – when the going gets tough, the tough get sweet tooths.
In a rare case of someone doing well during this economy, stores like New York’s Dylan’s Candy Bar and Economy Candy are reporting upticks in sales as adults indulge their candy habits. Those who have been recently laid off or are earning less money are finding that candy is a quick – and cheap – high. In particular, they’ve been buying candy that they loved as kids, from Violet Gum to Mary Janes to Tootsie Rolls. [My own drug of choice is strawberry or cherry sour punch straws, and at my old job they were my favorite form of cubicle speed.] Just last week, I had an entire conversation with a friend about how awesome Bubble Tape was and how confounding it is that no one’s bringing it back. Maybe articles like this one will convince people that Bubble Tape is seriously due for a comeback. Til then, I’m just reading it and getting hungrier.
I’ve heard about workers allegedly being fired for being a vegetarian or wearing too much perfume, but a man in Queens, New York may have them all beat – he was allegedly fired because of a tuna sandwich. Ralph Reese, 57, was working in the deli section of the enormous Whole Foods outpost in Union Square. He was fired from his job after he allegedly grabbed an uneaten, still-wrapped tuna sandwich out of the trash at the store. Reese claims that he set the sandwich aside for himself, but that his supervisor threw it away. Whole Foods claims that their store policy is that employees do not get free food – they get a 20 percent store discount, and they’re allowed to try free samples as long as they check with their supervisor and the amount they eat is logged. (Seriously?) Now, the story is hitting the big time as Reese tries to sue his former employer for unemployment benefits.
Elizabeth A. Shollenberger, director of government benefits and consumer law for Queens Legal Services, said that in the last six months her office had seen an uptick of cases like Mr. Reese’s, in which unemployment claims were being challenged. It is a phenomenon happening not only in New York, but also across the country. “A lot more people are getting fired for very minor reasons,” said Ms. Shollenberger, who represented Mr. Reese.
“What we are seeing is that they are firing people for ‘misconduct’ when what they are really doing is downsizing and it’s an attempt to not pay benefits,” she said.
Last year, she said, her office was seeing three or four such cases a week. Now she estimated that they are seeing 15 to 20 cases a week, 80 percent of which she says have merit. (Nationwide, employees win in two-thirds of the cases.)
Jessica Simpson confuses tuna with chicken and becomes a TV star. This guy tries to set aside a tuna sandwich for himself and gets fired? Were they afraid of him getting “mercury poisoning” a la Jeremy Piven?
One good way to save money is by bringing your lunch. So why not make paper-bagging it a little more creative? The Livejournal community group Eat My Bento gives advice, recommendations, and recipes for making your very own custom bento box. You can also let everyone know how yours tasted or post a photo of the finished product.
Note: In order to post to the group, you need to have a livejournal account. But you can view anything you want in the group without having one.
One of the best or worst things (depending who you ask, and if they’re on a diet) about working in an office is the abundance of free food. The overwhelming majority of the time, said free food is of the “junk” persuasion: cupcakes for someone’s birthday, the chick in accounting’s latest cookie recipe, etc. What’s an assistant to do when the call of office snacks is irresistible, but their health (and possibly their waistband) is telling them no?
The Our Lady of Weight Loss blog offers some interesting suggestions for how to handle office junk food. While some of them are a little extreme (printing out a manifesto/flyer proclaiming a junk-free zone), some are very useful. Witness:
- Drink more water
- If you do want to partake in snacks, make an effort to be more active (go to the gym during lunch, take a walk around the office, etc)
- Bring your own healthier snack alternatives
- Make friends with a fellow health-conscious coworker
- Take more breaks–the more productive you are, the less tired you feel, and the less tired you feel the less likely you are to crave sugar
The Jewish holiday of Passover starts this weekend. There are two reasons I am mentioning this.
1. It means that all of next week I will not be eating anything leaven, which means bread, rice, pasta, beer (beer!), and the like. Because carbs make up an abnormally high percentage of my favorite foods, I am going to be a very grumpy Lilit. I can’t even have croutons in my salad. It’s killing me. Please excuse any posts that sound a little snippy. I really do love carbohydrates, y’all.
2. Passover is a holiday commemorating the Exodus–when the Jews, who were slaves, were freed from their bondage in Egypt. Maybe it’s a stretch, but the Exodus story is at the core of what Save the Assistants represents. There’s a line in the Passover prayers: “Because we were once slaves, and now we are free, may we help all who are slaves to become free.” I was once an office slave, and now I am free. My job is to run this site and help other office slaves who want to become free. That is the job of all of us who were in terrible situations and got out–we owe an obligation to help other assistants, to be nice to that new girl in the office even though she’s really annoying, to bail out the temp who can’t figure out how to use the copier, to help your brother write his first resume.
So happy Passover to all of you who are celebrating, and a great weekend to those of you who are not.
Your job might kill your soul. If it’s boring enough, it might rot your brain. But you do have the ability to keep your body in good shape. Eating Well has some really useful tips for creating a healthier workplace. It’s not just the usual “bring in your own paper-bag lunch” type advice, either–it’s about making the whole company healthier. A few of the suggestions:
- Ditch the vending machine and replace it with a refrigerator to save energy and get rid of a tempting junk-food showcase. Stock the fridge with water, 100% fruit juices and other healthy beverages.
- Recruit a “moving” crew: Each week, invite employees to gather at lunchtime for a brisk 30- to 60-minute walk. Spend the second half of lunch hour back at the office, enjoying a healthy meal together.
- “Turn off” together: Make it a company policy to power down the switchboard for an hour at lunchtime so that hard-working staffers can take a peaceful yoga class or enjoy a mindful meal.
Another cool thing about this article is that they understand how workers joining together can push a company to make changes. After all, it’s one thing if a single employee brings in water or juice. But it’s another thing when a big, wealthy company agrees to cancel its contract with a soda-vending-machine provider.
