WorkLife April 2017 | Page 11

TEA ROUND TIPS 3:46:OO Kitchen catwalk round two. Realise that you have indeed forgotten to do the finances. Bring up your office’s custom tea spreadsheet on your smartphone and lay it on the unit. 3:3O:OO 3:O7:OO Looks like Sandra updated it this morning; she doesn’t usually ask for two and a half of soft demerara. Oh, look, Julie’s on the agave syrup and gunpowder again and Dave’s upped his steeping time by 15%. That’s going to skew the brews no end. 2:58:OO O:5O:OO Steeping over. Put down Longfellow’s Greatest Poetry and prepare the bin for your patent-pending teabag flip. Miss. Divide the tea bags. Prepare Sarah’s single- origin loose leaf. 1:15:OO 2:49.OO With 35 seconds left you make the executive decision: Julie can forgo her recreational soya use. You saw her eat a cream puff yesterday. Busted, Julia. Milk. You pour a perfect round and then realise Julie has soya. O:35:OO AFTER- THOUGHT O:O3:33 Tea spilt on hand. Tea burning hand. Act cool. Kitchen catwalk number three. Eyes ahead, soldier. O:O5:54 O:2O:OO Gasp. You forgot to make Dave’s. Desks in sight. O:O2:15 Where is everyone? Everyone’s gone to that finance meeting. Oh, wait. Dave is here. O:O1:O1 -O:1O:OO -O:12:OO We have a nagging suspicion, based on the botched attempts above by a brave volunteer, that there really isn’t any such thing as a perfect five- minute round. You can give it your best shot, just know that trouble is brewing if you do. The perfect storm in a teacup! 11