[Closed] Tea Ladies

Last one I saw was in Jakarta

I worked as a contractor in the office of a well known financial institution a few years back and was surprised to discover they still had a tea lady. It was good. Biscuits and everything.

Mrs Dubs school has a tea lady.

Ethel. Deaf as a post apparently, and not too keen on giving you a cup that doesn't taste of Fairy Liquid.

Sexist.

Spooky. We've just had a tea and snacks trolley come round for the first time ever. They'll be here every Friday.

Almost everyone works from home on Fridays.

Almost everyone works from home on Fridays.

Worked for a company a while ago that had one. Proper old girl, liked a chat; hell, that's why she was there. She was great but not everybody gave her a couple of minutes.

She used to bring her homemade stuff round on the bottom shelf of the trolley for people who did - she could make stodgy puddings just like ... well, like everyone else's gran could. lovely !

Almost everyone works from home on Fridays.

Yeah right!

OK, almost everyone logs in from home on Friday.

Last time I saw one was about 25 years ago, working in an advertising agency in York. She was also a trained hairdresser and cut people's hair at their desks too*

*Additional fees apply.

We used to have someone come round every day when I worked at Aviva in York.
This was about 9 years ago though.

I went on a work trip to the middle east for a few days, in the offices there was a man who came round now and then to offer you drinks.

I missed the breaks to get up and go make a brew. Never mind the madness of having to dress warm for a cold air con office and drink hot tea in the middle of a desert.

Are they not called "Interdepartmental Fluids Intake Liaison Officers" nowadays?

I was at the global head offices of a very well known food and drink manufacturer in Switzerland and they had one.

It felt very old school - the pastries were lovely though.

my wife's nan (gawd bless her soul) was a little old irish lady who lived with my wife's parents.

Slightly off her trolley (pun intended) she wore a permanent pinny over her clothing and whenever we went round to her parents house she would say 'you look starving, do you want a cooked breakfast?'

Well yes of course i did. After a few years of knowing her I asked her what she did for a living before she retired. Oh I used to work for the Ministry of Defence she said.

Really? I asked as I sat up; perhaps I had misjudged this little old lady and she was a Stella Rimington-a-like in disguise.

what did you do there?

I used to operate the tea trolley she said.

Stand down chaps...

I haven't seen one of those in a long time, worked at a couple of places that had them when I first started work.
They were the font of all knowledge when it came to knowing what was going on as they visited all departments?

Saw one in am engineering firm recently. Whole shop floor of around 100 people stopped for 15 mins and it was brilliant.

In an era when leading employers like Google promote the value of taking time away from desks (think nap pods, ping pong tables etc) and how it helps productivity it's funny to think how "right" tea breaks were...

Still quite common in the Middle East but I can't recall working anywhere in the UK in recent years where they still had one.

Consultancy I used to work for had one, in one office in the UK and none of the other offices had it, think it was just a legacy thing and she came with the office/ company they bought and they didn't want to sack her but when she retires won't be replaced.

Last time I saw one was about 25 years ago, working in an advertising agency in York. She was also a trained hairdresser and cut people's hair at their desks too*

*Additional fees apply.

Most disappointing extras ever.

In an era when leading employers like Google promote the value of taking time away from desks (think nap pods, ping pong tables etc) and how it helps productivity it's funny to think how "right" tea breaks were...

Mmm yes, but personally I'd rathe take a brake when I'm ready to (Google style) than whenever the tea lady arrives. I might be on a roll with something.

The Wigan office has one. Amazing homemade chocolate flapjacks too

I'd say it's like stepping back in time, but it's Wigan.

when I worked at Aviva in York.

My office has one (Hong Kong). It's a rather nice feature of a generally rather relaxed and non-efficiency-focussed operation.

My last place (Bristol) had a canteen with excellent cakes. The staff took the cakes for walks around the office on Friday afternoon, which saved me the walk.

🙂

not seen one for years - remember first real job we had a tea lady and trolley and we'd all sit around and do a photocopied crossword - to keep everyone happy was from a different paper on a rota and for cryptics teams were allowed

also recall another job were we paid for toast to come to our desks mid morning but no tea break as such but at 5pm the local paper got delivered to each desk (by a paperboy/girl) as an employee benefit and feet up to discuss the news followed by either time to go home or time to go to the pub depending

My first job I started doing a cryptic crossword in the kitchen at lunch, then other people joined in so about half the office spent all lunchtime working on it. The day we completed our first one was jubilant.

I hated that work but realised when I came to leave how much I liked the people.