Author Topic: The Anti Mustache water cooler  (Read 2599 times)

distanceman89

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The Anti Mustache water cooler
« on: December 19, 2016, 10:07:19 AM »
So throughout the university where I work, we recently got new water coolers that make a mockery of health and efficiency in one blow!

Our old water cooler/heaters were the standard, gravity-fed type. I actually enjoyed picking up the 40-lb bottle and replacing it, as any activity like this is good, right? some light lifting thrown into my day at work. But somehow this is construed as a bad thing, so NOBODY else would do it and it would often sit unused.

<rant>
Well instead of actually challenging themselves to get in better shape to be able to pick up the water bottles (seriously- its probably 1/3 of your body weight, or much less. get a friend if you need help! no shame there.) The powers that be decided to cater towards the lazy, and invested who-knows-how-much in these newfangled  bottom-loading things with a pump to suck electricity instead of burning a few calories. The best part is that thanks to the complex pumping system these have instead of good-ol-reliable gravity, they have a roughly 50% success rate of actually having water present and hot/cold/cool whatever to fill your cup with (ok I'm making that part up, but it's really pretty sad, maybe one in 4 I've got I'd have to wait for the pump to agonizingly slowly fill the reservoir and heat the water up).
</rant>

TLDR: New water cooler/heater tries to use pump to beat gravity, denies people health benefits of lifting something, fails miserably at reliably dispensing water.

Stachey

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Re: The Anti Mustache water cooler
« Reply #1 on: December 19, 2016, 10:24:12 AM »
Wow that is sad.
More catering to the lowest common denominator.

TheGrimSqueaker

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Re: The Anti Mustache water cooler
« Reply #2 on: December 19, 2016, 10:28:26 AM »
Wow that is sad.
More catering to the lowest common denominator.

... the lowest common denominator, which just keeps getting lower and lower...

mm1970

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Re: The Anti Mustache water cooler
« Reply #3 on: December 19, 2016, 10:36:46 AM »
Ha funny.  My old company had one of the water coolers with bottles.  I swear *most* of the time, I was the one to replace them.  I'm 5'2" and female.  I think everyone else was too lazy to wipe down the top of the bottle and move it over.

The *only* time that I stopped, and went to find a guy to do it for me, was when I was pregnant.

New company doesn't have a bottle in our water cooler, just a line attached to the reverse osmosis filter under the sink.

distanceman89

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Re: The Anti Mustache water cooler
« Reply #4 on: December 19, 2016, 10:41:17 AM »
My boss and I marvel at why they don't install hard-lines to a chiller/heater... apparently nobody minds the giant trucks that block off the (admittedly small and poorly designed) roads through campus to deliver water to a place that has perfectly good running water

I just use the sink now, it's much faster, and a longer walk anyway.

MgoSam

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Re: The Anti Mustache water cooler
« Reply #5 on: December 19, 2016, 10:44:14 AM »
The tap water in our building is fucking disgusting, so I'm glad that we have a water cooler. Now I know that most companies will get their water delivered but being that this is a small business (now 5 employees), we aren't going to sling for such fancies, instead we have 2 5 gallon bottles that I'll go to the grocery store to refill for a whopping 39 cents a gallon. As there are two grocery stores on my way to the office it doesn't really cost me much other than the time to refill it. I would be happy to buy a few more extra jugs if I ever find a good deal on them.

distanceman89

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Re: The Anti Mustache water cooler
« Reply #6 on: December 19, 2016, 10:49:34 AM »
The tap water in our building is fucking disgusting, so I'm glad that we have a water cooler.

I would completely be on board with you if ours was bad, (I've been places that are, sulfur water from a well is miserable!) but I honestly can't tell the difference here... though I could just be desensitized to it.

MgoSam

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Re: The Anti Mustache water cooler
« Reply #7 on: December 19, 2016, 10:58:29 AM »
The tap water in our building is fucking disgusting, so I'm glad that we have a water cooler.

I would completely be on board with you if ours was bad, (I've been places that are, sulfur water from a well is miserable!) but I honestly can't tell the difference here... though I could just be desensitized to it.

I hear ya. At home I use tap as the water is fine. For my parents they have a water cooler because it's well water and it tastes of iron. They also refill their jugs at the grocery store. I don't think our expense is unreasonable, I value having good clean water at the office and with how hard our warehouse works, I want their supply of water to never be in question.

I just think its crazy how often people pay to get their water jugs delivered. I have several family members that pay, I believe my aunt pays $8 for a 3 gallon bottle and she isn't the only one.

renata ricotta

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Re: The Anti Mustache water cooler
« Reply #8 on: December 19, 2016, 11:01:44 AM »
I don't think this is particularly anti-mustachian, at least with the lifting thing.  Lifting a 40-pound bottle (with the risk that you will spill several gallons of water on the floor if you don't swing it just right) is something a ton of adults can't do easily for a whole host of reasons that are not as simple as "not bothering to get in shape."*  If manual labor isn't in my  job description, I don't see why I should have to do that at work when there's a more convenient option.  As to the money, I'm guessing your employer made a pretty mustachian choice to reduce the likelihood of 1) potentially-expensive property damage due to small floods and 2) potential workplace injuries if someone who is less physically able than you throws their back out or something lifting the bottle.  If you like lifting 40 pound water bottles for the health benefits, grab one of the bottles that no longer needs to be lifted as high and pick it up for funsies. 

I'd argue that a water bottle method isn't very mustachian at all, and that a better option is to have a water cooler/heater that connects to the water line, because you don't need to perpetually buy the bottles, and don't waste fuel and manpower delivering them every few weeks.  (Tap water around me is fine, but it is pretty damn useful to have it automatically be hot or cold, and not waste time and energy on having an icemaker or some sort of kettle that needs to be cleaned by someone).

*among the possibilities: shorter than you, meaning the person has to raise the bottle higher on their body, a much more physically difficult task; pregnant; bad back; elderly; doesn't focus their "in shape" efforts toward upper body muscular strength (preferring instead to focus on cardio, lower body strength, flexibility/balance, whatever).

MayDay

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Re: The Anti Mustache water cooler
« Reply #9 on: December 19, 2016, 11:09:23 AM »
My H's work is super safety conscious to the point of ridicule.

They kept the regular water coolers, but switched to smaller 3 gallon water containers to reduce the chance of a recordable injury.

I guarantee they did this because someone in the company threw their back out loading the 5 gallon jug.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!