The guys across the hall live on Diet Coke and peanuts. Sometimes I wonder how Office Extrovert can get through the day with only a cup of yogurt for lunch, but then I recall the half pound of peanuts he consumes in addition thereto. Every week, they buy a couple five pound bags of roasted-in-the-shell peanuts which they make free for all. The bag o' peanuts leaning against their office wastebasket serves in place of a water cooler for this end of the building. All day long, the sounds of peanut shells snapping between fingers, the cracking of soda cans, and rumbling conversation float into my lab. The first day I was here, I cleaned up my workbench and found little red flakes of peanut paper drifting through equipment racks, into keyboards, and behind monitors.
This week they're out taking a telemetry class and their office is locked and quiet. When I hear a key clicking in their lock, I look out in the hall to see Chuck, acting administrative boss guy, disappearing into their office. He emerges a moment later with two fistfuls of peanuts.
"Gotta get some breakfast," he says. "Breakfast of champions."
195 words | June 28, 2004 08:24 PM | Rocket science