While many us love coffee for what it is, at times we also use it as a proxy for a few things.
I noticed many of us “hide” behind it – by holding the cup all day. Taller the cup the better. It is not necessarily the coffee that we want all day, but it is some sense of insecurity that makes us hide behind the cup.
It is our pause button. It helps us buy time. Take a quick sip or pretend to, when we need time to dodge a question or need time to come up with a (politically correct) response.
Coffee is also the default drink. Similar to how a plaster (adhesive bandage) is often thought of and referred to as Band-Aid (a trademarked name of the commercial product.), a mid-day drink is often the coffee. Need to drink something (hot), but don’t know what or don’t have much options, so we settle for coffee.
Coffee keeps us busy -not. As we keep sipping coffee, it gives the feeling of busyness. You know, the awesome feeling of doing something without actually doing anything of significance. Like a rocking chair – it keeps moving without actually taking us anywhere. It gives us the feeling of busy and others the impression of us being busy- at least we like to think so.
I’m sure we have all experienced productivity boost after downing some coffee. There is also another way to boost productivity with coffee -by putting it down. Productivity will also increase if we put down the coffee cup and give our undivided attention to the task at hand. Get the work done faster and then take your time to enjoy your coffee in leisure -perfect to drag busy coworkers into a trivial conversation.
Tea lovers, fear not. Much of what’s discussed here applies to tea holders too. I love coffee too much to single it out. 🙂