Refilling the Water Cooler
Refilling the water cooler is no easy task. That might be the reason why I always find co-workers leaving an empty tank and walking away. Usually any type of manual labor will send cubicle slaves heading for the hills. Simple things such as removing left-overs from the refrigerator never happens, so it only makes sense that they would abandon the task of refilling the water cooler.
Can you blame them? Placing those 5-gallon jugs at the top of the water cooler can be a bit tricky. The jugs aren’t the heaviest thing in the world, but if you’ve ever come across the delivery guys, they aren’t exactly skinny.
F*ck.
Refilling is awkward, uncomfortable, and you usually end up covered in water (depending on how poorly your water cooler is designed). However with dehydration, most people are pushed to their limits and make the refill happen.
There are two types of water coolers. One where you remove the cap on the 5-gallon jug and flip it as fast as you can (splashing water all over yourself) and the other where the cap is punctured as you place the bottle inside the cooler.
Unfortunately, I attempted to refill the water cooler as an intern several years ago. The bottle happened to be the puncture type and what I thought was a successful refill turned out to be a tragic series of events. Let’s just say that the bottle wasn’t exactly level when I left for the night.
The next morning, I returned to the office to find the 5 gallons of water now all over floor. There was a 15 foot radius of soaked carpet around the water cooler—not exactly an interns best friend. To say the least, I suffered for the rest of summer.
I can’t stand placing the cup under the nozzle only to find a drip or two left of water. That said, I do understand why my co-workers choose not to refill the water cooler.
Always remember: It’s better to be known as the person who neglects to refill the cooler rather than the person who created the flood.
Related Posts
-
Water Cooler Talk: Kasey Kahl on “The Bachelorette” gets a Tattoo
-
Water Cooler Talk: The Oscars
-
Water Cooler Talk: Lindsay Lohan Suing E-Trade for Baby Commercial
Office workers are the cows of the work world. I’ve replaced many coolers with no problem, but I wouldn’t trust other workers to properly wash the coffee mugs, much less do this.
I never change it…I always picture myself trying to lift one up and flip it over and instead dropping it and somehow the plastic cracks and aforementioned flood occurs. Best to just scurry back to the cube.