The post-it reads “Killing the coworkers with carbs/kindness.”
This made me laugh when I re-read it.
This is another Cookie Thursday is a Thing story.
I did not start the behemoth that is Cookie Thursday is a Thing to kill my coworkers. We started it because a coworker had told us in the lounge that they’d never had a homemade cookie. Many pearls were clutched as we all inhaled in indignation.
However, not everyone is privileged enough to have someone who can bake or money to buy ingredients. This is a fact that was not lost on us. However, righting this wrong absolutely could happen. And did, every week for 10 years.
I had this brand new pretty kitchen that I was itching to use. Why not make homemade cookies, weekly for 10 years.
The new kitchen was put in during the entire year of 2014 and the countertops, which were back ordered for a month were installed in November. But that is a story all on its own.
I am not sure that my coworkers know the hows of CTIAT, yes that is the acronym I use. It has to fit in with all the other acronyms in the OR and there are many.
The entire thing is done on my and my husband’s dime. We earn the money to buy the ingredients that I use. We earn the money to buy the utilities that I use. That’s it.
Well, that isn’t entirely accurate. I have had a couple of pinch hitters when I was away or sick. I also have received $55 and a bag of flour over the course of those 10 years.
My sister would ask why I don’t charge a fee. She made me charge a drive-the-detachment fee for gas when I was in university and the only person in the detachment with access to a big enough car. We had to go between 2 universities for Air Force training. Funnily enough, they stopped asking me for rides when she did that. And the relationships cooled mightily.
I don’t want to charge a fee for people to eat the CTIAT cookies. It is not in the spirit of the thing. I have seen surgeons ask for repeats of certain cookies. I have also had people ask for specific cookies for their birthdays or last days. I happily made them all.
Kindness begets kindness, no matter how or why or who.
Being self-funded makes me feel better about experimenting on my coworkers with new cookies. I have had some real success. And a couple of duds. If I asked for money, I fear that I would lose some of the control. I set the schedule and decide on the monthly themes.
Imagine what it would be like if that had to happen by committee?
Dispatches from the Evening Shift 