Only Solutions

My only complaint about my new job (aside from the fact that I have to get out of bed every day, which is usual in jobs) has been that the coffee tastes like poo. I have mentioned the problem to the right people – wondering how they could have not noticed such a fact on their own, but no one else seems to think it necessary to invest in a restaurant quality espresso machine.

In Tomášek’s firm, making a proper cappuccino is a point of pride for the partners, while I find myself in a firm where they think the clients are only interested in good legal advice. But how can you trust lawyers who can’t even make a decent cup of coffee? (I know, I know – how can you trust lawyers? Shut up.)

My motto at some point in the past before I knew any better used to be “There are no problems, only solutions.” (Thanks to Kitty Killer for reminding me of that.) So, being that we are not getting a beautiful new espresso machine, I have to figure out why the coffee tastes like poo and what we can do about it. Why do I have to do it? Only because if I don’t, no one will and I’ll be drinking poo-flavoured coffee for the rest of my working life.

As the firm is buying perfectly decent coffee beans, I decided that the problem must be that the coffeemaker has probably not been cleaned properly in about, oh – ever. I mentioned this to the German lawyer (foreigners like to complain to each other first) and then to the Czech lawyer with whom I sit. But of course merely talking about it did not cause anything to happen.

Today when I got back from lunch I poured myself a cup of coffee. I put sugar in it, which I don’t normally do, and milk, but still it tasted like poo. And then finally the motivation hit me and I researched how to properly clean a coffeemaker. The key, as I had suspected, is white vinegar, but everyone else probably already knows that. I typed out simple directions and I have given them to my officemate who will have a word with the evening receptionist and perhaps one night this week, the coffeemaker will finally be cleaned. I’ll keep you posted.