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21 September 2010

#265 Have coffee with someone you do not know

It could be the person who does a completely different job to yours that has the most interesting stories during the coffee brea

It could be the person who does a completely different job to yours that has the most interesting stories during the coffee brea

We work eight hours a day, five days a week. It is important that our job feels okay and not just something you do to get cash. To get you psyched no matter what job you’re doing, 365 presents "Seven things you can do at your workplace".

Most workplaces are like schools. Nerds sit with nerds, the cool kids with the cool kids and the sports fans play football outside. You stick to your group, or department.

Make the decision as soon as you leave the house:

- Today I'm having a coffee with someone I don’t know.

One of the most interesting people from my former workplace was one of the cleaners. A tall man with dark hair and twisted teeth. The world's biggest smile and a wave that greeted me every time I passed him in the corridor. The first time I got a coffee with him was on the patio and he told anecdote after anecdote of old television and radio heroes. I sat with him for so long that my colleagues started calling after me. I put my phone on silent, I filled my cup and continued to listen to his stories. How he talked about his children. About a party where he was dressed as a cross dresser. About everything under the sun.

It’s not that we humans are stupid, evil or lazy. We are creatures of habit and fascists of convenience. A coffee with someone we do not know or whose behavior or humor we can’t predict is like jumping from a cliff without a parachute. But once you're sitting there with a coffee in your hand, laughing, you think of your fears and remember them as unwarranted and silly.

Text: Navid Modiri

Required time: 
1 hour or less
Cost: 
Less than €10
Cons: 
The people in your department might wonder why you’re not sitting with them like you normally do. Invite them to coffee and to meet the new person.
Pros: 
You get to know new people, you learn that it isn’t dangerous to venture and that people have more things in common than you’d think.
Taggar: tough gang, new friends, football, coffee with someone you do not know, coffee, cleaners, 365 things you can do
19 July 2010

#201 Invite yourself to a neighbor

Sweden is a country with a hell of a lot of single households. We live by ourselves and it is neither good nor economical. It’d be a big change to force all Swedes to move in together, but at least it is a step in the right direction to start inviting yourself over to your neighbors and offering refreshments. This means that you can, for instance, bake enough for four people or buy a six-pack of chocolate balls and go and knock on the nearest neighbor’s door. Please select a neighbor who has children, who is perhaps single, because then you can offer to babysit.

Either they’re really boring and don’t want you to come in and then you can just leave coffee and cake, but don’t forget to take a bun for yourself first. Or they’ll think that it’s a fun idea and invite you over too. The worst that can happen is that you get a no. And that has never killed anybody.

Bonus1: Watch Amelie from Montmartre as inspiration and to give you the pep you need to make contact with new people.

Bonus2: Read #191 again.

Required time: 
1 day or less
Cost: 
Less than €10
Cons: 
Your neighbors might start to see you as that annoying character who thinks they can come over with a cup of coffee and invite themself over whenever they feel like it and then they’ll sigh and call you "the maniac" when you leave.
Pros: 
You’ll get better contact with your neighbors. You will receive a caffeine high from the coffee. You realize that talking to people you do not know isn’t so bad.
Taggar: violence banquet, single households, new friends, neighbors, coffee, amelie from montmartre, 365 things