Tea, dammit!

[wellinghall]

[Poll #1745215]

Comments

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I don't drink tea or coffee, so I don't really care if they are offered (though I'd usually expect water to be available). What I do care about is that if there is tea or coffee, there should be biscuits. I don't drink said drinks, but I do have a Pavlovian reaction to them, as I expect is not uncommon given their association with food/drink I do have, and sitting in a meeting for hours with my stomach grinding away is not conducive to concentration.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

This was a meeting between three companies, but no drinks of any sort were offered. A colleague says that this is par for the course at that office. I shall learn my lesson for next time.

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

We need multiguess ticky boxes so we can also press ticky box.
But yes, Tea and Coffee. I know you are in England, but in America we usually get Coffee Only. Not even Hot water. And I'm allergic to coffee, so I always have to bring in my tea from outside. Then they get annoyed when you have the dreaded Outside Drink. Well, if you had served Tea...
And of course half the time, they have hot water and Lipton's *grumble*. Gourmet Coffee and then Lipton's for tea. Bleh.
I'll get off my box now.

[didiusjulianus.livejournal.com]

I'd soon sort them out with my outside food as well ;)

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Maybe I should take a leaf out of pellegrina's book, and take along a flask, milk, and tea.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

This was a meeting between three companies, but no drinks of any sort were offered. A colleague says that this is par for the course at that office. I shall learn my lesson for next time.

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

How Dreadful. Definitely bring in your own goodies!
Perhaps you should embarrass them by bringing in a picnic basket? Suppose not if you want to stay on good terms with them. *sigh*
But I would definitely bring in something I like to drink in appropriate container. I'm an American heathen, it would probably be Iced Tea in a flip top water bottle. ;D

[gramarye1971]

For a two-hour meeting, I would be happy if either was offered but wouldn't be upset if they weren't forthcoming. If the meeting edged up on lunchtime or was very early in the morning, however, I'd at least like some efforts in that direction, especially if it's the sort where you're expected to sit and listen to someone without a break.

Anything over 2.5 hours, and I'd want some sort of refreshment. Water at the least.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

This was a meeting between three companies, but no drinks of any sort were offered. A colleague says that this is par for the course at that office. I shall learn my lesson for next time.

[enismirdal.livejournal.com]

I go to a fair few meetings that are scheduled to take an hour and a half but overran. If it was scheduled for 2 hours, I'd hope for coffee but not hold out too much hope. We got it at a whole-afternoon meeting, though. That was gooooood. (Especially the biscuits.)

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

This was a meeting between three companies, but no drinks of any sort were offered. A colleague says that this is par for the course at that office. I shall learn my lesson for next time.

[muuranker.livejournal.com]

"Something else ..."

I would expect refreshments to be offered at any meeting of more than 20 minutes (except at meetings between colleagues in the same building, where I would expect to make my own refreshments and bring them along, should I want to.

I wouldn't, necessarily, expect tea and/or coffee. Or biscuits. It depends on the culture. Some cultures (including mine*) think that alcohol is inappropriate. Others have cultures which think that caffine is inappropriate. Fair enough, a glass of water is fine**

* my employer made me say that
** No-stimulant cultures often do the best drinks - wonderful fruit juices, herbal teas and the like. However, the Mormons don't offer _anything_. That is Not On. And shows it is not a Real Culture.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

This was a meeting between three companies, but no drinks (or biscuits) of any sort were offered. A colleague says that this is par for the course at that office. I shall learn my lesson for next time.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

This was a meeting between three companies, but no drinks of any sort were offered. A colleague says that this is par for the course at that office. I shall learn my lesson for next time.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I can't remember the last time I went to a meeting where I wasn't offered at least a drink. Some people even provide home-made cake.

Mind you, most of my meetings are with the kind of people where there is at least one Office Dog.

I think the most sumptuous repast I have provided for a meeting included pasties, followed by strawberries and cream.

In the Westcountry we tend to have tea at meetings, but in Warrington, cider or beer was not unusual, which frankly is the kind of thing you could do with if you are cursed to work in Warrington. Brightens things up no end.

[didiusjulianus.livejournal.com]

I've been to Warrington. Can't beg to disagree.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

This was a meeting between three companies, but no drinks of any sort were offered. A colleague says that this is par for the course at that office. I shall learn my lesson for next time.

[gurthaew.livejournal.com]

I would like to put in the proviso that it's got to be decent tea and coffee, not the corporate standard brown piss that seems to be everywhere.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I'd much rather have decent tea than standard office stuff; but I'd much rather have standard office stuff than nothing.

[didiusjulianus.livejournal.com]

I do go to 2 hour meetings and it isn't (not to the bigwigs either) and that's fine as budgets stack up quickly - but we can bring our own in and often excuse ourselves to go and get some in the middle.

In the commercial word, I think that it'd be good form to offer something basic in the eats and drinks department though. Ditto when people are invited from outside (the department or the workplace).

[didiusjulianus.livejournal.com]

By basic I mean not some fancy rare beans from Machu Pichu or 87 varieties of black, white green and herbal teas. I agree that it would be best if it were of the PG tips & Kenco standard or similar if that fits in with the financial position of the place concerned.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

This was a meeting between three companies, but no drinks of any sort were offered. A colleague says that this is par for the course at that office. I shall learn my lesson for next time.

[didiusjulianus.livejournal.com]

You could always be bold and ask ;) (Even if it's just a glass of water - to be honest if I asked for a glass of water after 2 hours and got told "no" I'd strongly consider refusing to carry on. But I'm like that.)

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

I voted "yes," but what I really mean is that I would expect some sort of liquid to be on offer. If there was no tea or coffee, but there were jugs of water on the table, I wouldn't feel outraged. If there were no drinks at all, I'd feel pretty disgruntled, especially if it was a meeting I'd had to spend a while travelling to. I normally consume at least 6 drinks during the course of a working day - considerably more in the summer - so going for two hours without a drink would be bothersome, and potentially give me a headache.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

This was a meeting between three companies, but no drinks of any sort were offered. A colleague says that this is par for the course at that office. I shall learn my lesson for next time.

[chainmailmaiden]

In both my public sector jobs no refreshments (including water) have ever been served at a meeting unless it was one that external people were attending. If you want a drink, you bring your own.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

This was a meeting between three companies, but no drinks of any sort were offered. A colleague says that this is par for the course at that office. I shall learn my lesson for next time.