The Morning without Coffee or… The Story of How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Teamwork.

27 Feb The Morning without Coffee or… The Story of How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Teamwork.

Mondays. We all have a love-hate relationship with them. Sure, some hate them more than others, but that depends more on your personal satisfaction with your job than the weekday itself.

Mondays in a Contact Center have higher traffic than most other days of the week. The reason for this is understandable as customers tend to hold off on business related calls until Monday morning, causing an increase in the number of interactions throughout the day. Managers and agents alike return to work on Monday mornings prepared for the storm fueled by determination and coffee.

Now imagine a world without coffee… I know it’s a terrible existence that none of us want to think about, but imagine walking into your office on Monday morning and there not being any coffee. It’s as if you have stepped into an alternate universe where the coffee pot is merely a decorative addition to the break room and nothing more.

I’m sure we’ve all had times where we’ve had to deal with inconsiderate co-workers who take the last cup and walk away without making another pot, or coffee just hadn’t been made yet so the duty falls on you, or some other easily remedied coffee mishap. But what happens when you come into work on Monday morning and there just isn’t any coffee that day? Well, here’s one company’s story of survival against those less caffeinated odds.

I had arrived at work around 9:15am and made my way through the maze of construction to my desk. While I greeted my co-workers with the standard “how was your weekend?” and “how’s the queue looking?” and so forth, I grabbed my coffee cup and made my way back through the changing landscape to the break room for my first cup of the day.

Despite my low caffeine levels, I was delighted to see the progress of our construction crew. When I left on Thursday the walls had been framed with the windows and doors clearly defined, now there was drywall and the beginning stages of insulation. It is exciting to see our once open floor plan evolve into a well designed modern office with every day bringing new developments and discoveries from room to room. But the discovery that our break room was beginning its transition was quickly met with a horrifying reality… in order to prepare for the highly anticipated expansion of the break room the power needed to be cut in the walls. Which meant that our coffee pot was powerless and would remain powerless until the new break room was ready.

My heart sank. My mind panicked. How can any of us face an entire work day without coffee or a plan for coffee?! The answer quickly became “we won’t.”

Our administrative assistant knew the managers needed help fast, so she heroically ran to the local Starbucks for an immediate fix for department heads. However when there are 60+ coffee-less people with different start times throughout the day, Starbucks orders are not only expensive but impractical. Another solution needed to be found.

Now it is important to remember that at this point in time EVERY possible location for a coffee station was currently occupied by storage, people, or construction. Relocating our coffee station is not a simple task and one that requires creative thinking that typically comes with the assistance of coffee.

I witnessed the departments come together to troubleshoot and conquer this dilemma within a few hours. Our IT team worked with our agents to find all of the alternative working outlets and determined the best location for a temporary coffee station. Our administrative assistant cleared the main entry way near her desk to allow for a large enough table to house the creamer, sugar, and other resources while one of our managers developed a plan to transport water to and from the break room with ease. Together, we built a shrine to our caffeine gods and by noon everyone was satisfied with fresh coffee whenever they required it.

It is safe to say that we have faced many challenges during this renovation process but none have been as terrifying as the possibility of days without in-house coffee. I’m sure there will be more surprises that present new challenges for us but I am confident that our team is one that can adapt with little notice. Together we can face the day with positive solutions and unwavering teamwork… As long as we have the unconditional support of a fresh pot of coffee.

About Superior Contact

Superior Contact is a full-service, contact management center based in Marquette, Michigan. Superior Contact offers results-driven 24/7 live answer and automated contact center solutions to businesses. Services include full or supplemental customer care support, third party verification, language translation, marketing campaign support, and integrated to fully automated contact solutions. For more about Superior Contact, please visit www.superiorcontact.net.

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