Over the years I've had my share of working and conducting (as a consultant) business in dozens of architectural offices. Quality of working space and the overall environment varied greatly from office to office.
There was the old-men-in-suits office. The hipster-poser-designer office. The murderous-sociopaths office. The Asian-sweatshop office. The place where anything over a whisper could get you fired. The place where if you didn't contribute trendy music to the jukebox could get you fired. Place that valued renegades. Place that valued asslickers. Dim lit cubicle farms to showroom worthy pinup spaces...
People varied wildly as well. There were nine to fivers. There were the eighty hour workoholics. The awkward autocad script dorks. The weekend jocks. Miserable parents. The perpetual hangover types. The flaming gay-yet somehow married types. The no talent smooth-talkers. Communication-skills deprived design geniuses. Givers and takers. Victims and opportunists.
Yet, witin all that variety of design gene pool there were a few common unifiers. One was the sense of contributing to something much greater than an individual effort. The other one was the love of a free sammich.
Product vendors would do the architectural office circuit. Thinly disguised as providers of continuing education, they came in armed with promise of free food in exchange for an hour of your time. And it always worked like a charm.
There is something about architecture that makes you value a free sammich over a number of tangibly better perks. Depending on the type of the office, arrival of the sammich platter would either create a wild stampede or a polite stampede.
Selection of beverages was limited, so if you wanted your favorite corn syrup infused bubble soup, you had to get there early. Vegetarian/vegan options would be provided in limited quantities and would always get scooped up first by meat eaters, inevitably leaving a disgruntled, hungry minority.
The promise of saving $5-6 bucks was so overwhelmingly attractive that it didn't matter what the subject at hand was. Hitler's zombie corpse could be propped up with puppet strings demanding better gas chamber detailing, and the presentation would be well received provided there were enough free sammiches for everyone.
You (the only free thinker in the office) were also guilted into attending, as the lunch-and-learn office organizer reminded you of the event three times this morning alone. It was a complete waste of time, but hey! You got a free sammich out of the whole deal.
My only explanation of this phenomenon is that architects are NOTORIOUS cheapskates. Regardless of what you make, you are perpetually broke.
Anyways, onto my question. What's your favorite sammich? I'll go with a simple mortadella and sharp cheddar cheese combo, provided the bread is good. It has to be a rye or sourdough, or a good multigrain. None of that wonderbread sponge shit. If it doesn't turn hard 24 hours after purchase, it's not bread.
How about you my dear architect reader? What gets your mouth watering?
Aug 17, 10 5:43 am
The great unspoken motto of life:
Eat when you're hungry, and when you get the chance.
[And there's no stopping you when both happen at the same time.]
My favorite were the companies that would try to really branch out. Moes, Chipotle, or Qdoba make your own burrito or taco bars laid out and ready to go. Sadly, the presentations that would correspond to this feast normally entailed something unbelievably boring like vinyl roof detailing or some bull leed crap.
I'm currently working in a Chinese firm and although I don't speak a word of chinese, I go to all the presentations. I tell my bosses its "cause of the pictures" but really its cause of the free Subway sammich.
my favorite SANDwich is a cobb salad sandwich from Claim Jumper,
BUT my favorite sammich would be the spicy italian from subway.
of course that was when that certain one was only 5 bucks, now that the price is raised i aint payin 650 for it!
A fistful of pungent mushrooms... lightly sauteed... (porcini or chantrelle, yes please!), a heap of stilton (or other soft, moldy cheese... possibly goat (Gorgonzola!), capers, olives and some alfalfa sprouts.
"Anyways, onto my question. What's your favorite sammich? I'll go with a simple mortadella and sharp cheddar cheese combo, provided the bread is good. It has to be a rye or sourdough, or a good multigrain. None of that wonderbread sponge shit."
It reminds me of kid school time when, in the mornings once on a blue moon, my mom stopped by the deli couple blocks from our house to get this mortadella and cheese in a French bread sammich.
The mortadella had some awesome spices and crushed black peppers smell filling the entire classroom.
The kids started to look at me with this naughty smile trying to trade some of their lunch for a piece of it.
But I never had a mortadella & cheese sammich from an architectural office... so are they hiring right now?
Funny and so true - HSW credits hold us hostage. Like Appleseed, I would sign my name on the LSU sheet, then discretely excuse myself to go to the lavatory, and out the door.
The last office was a place that was so overly macho, 'dude' was an acceptable way to start a conversation.
Another office (big, corporate) really valued playing softball against other offices. Interns with great batting/fielding could light the place on fire - twice - and be okay.
An office in Asia where you MUST drink with the boss, no exception. They take their drinking to a new level of formality.
An office in Europe where you can't look at the boss - not even in their general direction.
@spadeking: "She told me I was the best CAD monkey she ever fed". You should send this story to Architectural Digest! I only buy architectural magazines for the letters. Pretty pictures are just a bonus.
@jobbyjob: your list of office types is comedy gold! I would add to it the office type in which everyone appears to be scared of something. For no good reason, all the time. Even senior management. Perhaps it's because they share the building with murderous sociopaths office...
i hate lunch'n'learns. nothing like eating too quickly, crowded too close together, and listening to uninteresting sales pitches. it's not even worth a free lunch to me. on the rare occasion that i get to actually have lunch these days, it's MY time.
Speaking of office types, I worked at a firm where the lead spec writer would arrange lunch-n-learns and then walk around the office and personally invite those "worthy" of attending.
At the same firm I think Steelcase was in and the rep was trying to be different and had some lasagna catered in. The pan fell off the conference table all over the floor. At that moment 90% of the people there just got up and left. Classic.
Aug 18, 10 8:59 am ·
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Free Sammich!
Over the years I've had my share of working and conducting (as a consultant) business in dozens of architectural offices. Quality of working space and the overall environment varied greatly from office to office.
There was the old-men-in-suits office. The hipster-poser-designer office. The murderous-sociopaths office. The Asian-sweatshop office. The place where anything over a whisper could get you fired. The place where if you didn't contribute trendy music to the jukebox could get you fired. Place that valued renegades. Place that valued asslickers. Dim lit cubicle farms to showroom worthy pinup spaces...
People varied wildly as well. There were nine to fivers. There were the eighty hour workoholics. The awkward autocad script dorks. The weekend jocks. Miserable parents. The perpetual hangover types. The flaming gay-yet somehow married types. The no talent smooth-talkers. Communication-skills deprived design geniuses. Givers and takers. Victims and opportunists.
Yet, witin all that variety of design gene pool there were a few common unifiers. One was the sense of contributing to something much greater than an individual effort. The other one was the love of a free sammich.
Product vendors would do the architectural office circuit. Thinly disguised as providers of continuing education, they came in armed with promise of free food in exchange for an hour of your time. And it always worked like a charm.
There is something about architecture that makes you value a free sammich over a number of tangibly better perks. Depending on the type of the office, arrival of the sammich platter would either create a wild stampede or a polite stampede.
Selection of beverages was limited, so if you wanted your favorite corn syrup infused bubble soup, you had to get there early. Vegetarian/vegan options would be provided in limited quantities and would always get scooped up first by meat eaters, inevitably leaving a disgruntled, hungry minority.
The promise of saving $5-6 bucks was so overwhelmingly attractive that it didn't matter what the subject at hand was. Hitler's zombie corpse could be propped up with puppet strings demanding better gas chamber detailing, and the presentation would be well received provided there were enough free sammiches for everyone.
You (the only free thinker in the office) were also guilted into attending, as the lunch-and-learn office organizer reminded you of the event three times this morning alone. It was a complete waste of time, but hey! You got a free sammich out of the whole deal.
My only explanation of this phenomenon is that architects are NOTORIOUS cheapskates. Regardless of what you make, you are perpetually broke.
Anyways, onto my question. What's your favorite sammich? I'll go with a simple mortadella and sharp cheddar cheese combo, provided the bread is good. It has to be a rye or sourdough, or a good multigrain. None of that wonderbread sponge shit. If it doesn't turn hard 24 hours after purchase, it's not bread.
How about you my dear architect reader? What gets your mouth watering?
The great unspoken motto of life:
Eat when you're hungry, and when you get the chance.
[And there's no stopping you when both happen at the same time.]
Cucumber Slices, Cavier and 'Sociables' Crackers
My favorite were the companies that would try to really branch out. Moes, Chipotle, or Qdoba make your own burrito or taco bars laid out and ready to go. Sadly, the presentations that would correspond to this feast normally entailed something unbelievably boring like vinyl roof detailing or some bull leed crap.
I'm currently working in a Chinese firm and although I don't speak a word of chinese, I go to all the presentations. I tell my bosses its "cause of the pictures" but really its cause of the free Subway sammich.
Don't forget the all important HSW LU credit.
Love how the AIA requires these guys to talk in generic terms yet it always somehow evolves into a sales pitch.
To this day I've never bought a Panera Bread sammich, but I'm quite familiar with their selection thanks to these lunch-n-learn sessions.
my favorite SANDwich is a cobb salad sandwich from Claim Jumper,
BUT my favorite sammich would be the spicy italian from subway.
of course that was when that certain one was only 5 bucks, now that the price is raised i aint payin 650 for it!
A fistful of pungent mushrooms... lightly sauteed... (porcini or chantrelle, yes please!), a heap of stilton (or other soft, moldy cheese... possibly goat (Gorgonzola!), capers, olives and some alfalfa sprouts.
It reminds me of kid school time when, in the mornings once on a blue moon, my mom stopped by the deli couple blocks from our house to get this mortadella and cheese in a French bread sammich.
The mortadella had some awesome spices and crushed black peppers smell filling the entire classroom.
The kids started to look at me with this naughty smile trying to trade some of their lunch for a piece of it.
But I never had a mortadella & cheese sammich from an architectural office... so are they hiring right now?
I have so many favorites it's hard to decide, but my fallback is le pan-bagnat.
mmm....
90% of the time I'd take the food and then just surf the web at my desk. They fuck are they gonna do?
'The' not 'they'.....
Funny and so true - HSW credits hold us hostage. Like Appleseed, I would sign my name on the LSU sheet, then discretely excuse myself to go to the lavatory, and out the door.
The last office was a place that was so overly macho, 'dude' was an acceptable way to start a conversation.
Another office (big, corporate) really valued playing softball against other offices. Interns with great batting/fielding could light the place on fire - twice - and be okay.
An office in Asia where you MUST drink with the boss, no exception. They take their drinking to a new level of formality.
An office in Europe where you can't look at the boss - not even in their general direction.
sammich - klondike bar. mmm good.
by the way, 'murderous sociopaths' and 'zombie corpse' for the win
@spadeking: "She told me I was the best CAD monkey she ever fed". You should send this story to Architectural Digest! I only buy architectural magazines for the letters. Pretty pictures are just a bonus.
@jobbyjob: your list of office types is comedy gold! I would add to it the office type in which everyone appears to be scared of something. For no good reason, all the time. Even senior management. Perhaps it's because they share the building with murderous sociopaths office...
"The place where if you didn't contribute trendy music to the jukebox could get you fired."
Geez, I know that architects like to listen to music, but come on.....
i hate lunch'n'learns. nothing like eating too quickly, crowded too close together, and listening to uninteresting sales pitches. it's not even worth a free lunch to me. on the rare occasion that i get to actually have lunch these days, it's MY time.
Speaking of office types, I worked at a firm where the lead spec writer would arrange lunch-n-learns and then walk around the office and personally invite those "worthy" of attending.
At the same firm I think Steelcase was in and the rep was trying to be different and had some lasagna catered in. The pan fell off the conference table all over the floor. At that moment 90% of the people there just got up and left. Classic.
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