Wow America: Part 1 Office

WOW America: part 1 Office

This is part 1 of a series on life in the United States of America, from my eyes. This first part focuses on unwanted wastages in the US offices based on my 7 years in the US (living in New Jersey and California and visiting few other states for short trips). Since I work in IT, my experiences reflect offices where IT people work, which are companies of all sizes and fields (finance, pharmaceuticals, insurance, engineering, computer software-hardware products, management-consulting, etc.). When I came to the, the amount of wastage was shocking though the efficacy of the system was, no doubt, enchanting. If this is how a modern society works, then I don’t think we will ever have enough resources to modernize Indian society.
I agree that there are many good things I have learnt after coming to the US and I will write on them later.

Mr. Al Gore, Ex – vice-president of the US, has said in his latest movie ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ that we are running this planet like a bankrupt company. I believe he is very true.
People live with an attitude of “we do all this because we can afford” and every expense is legitimate if the company can pay for it. The worse part: wastage is increasing every year.

1. Water: Almost all companies have water bottle dispensers. Everybody takes a new plastic/paper cup each time they drink. Hence 4-5 cups everyday per person.

2. Coffee: You are not American unless you drink coffee. Everybody (95% of the employees in all the places I have worked/seen) drink 2-3 cups (some even more) of coffee everyday. The in-office coffee cups are made of paper and some outside stores make it of thermocol/plastic. People also use an extra pad (like a ring around the cup) made of card-board so that fingers don’t feel hot, but people in office just take an extra cup (hence double cup to save fingers from hot coffee-tea). Some people tell me that they used to drink coffee in personal glass mugs till few years ago. But coffee leaves strong stains on glasses and cleaning is a real exercise (read time-waste). Coffee normally costs $1-4. Most offices have coffee machines and keep 3-4 variety of coffee (normal, caffeine free, vanilla, etc.).

3. Cold-drinks (soda) fountains: many medium to big companies have cold-drink fountains inside the office so that employees don’t go outside and waste company time to buy one. Normally people drink 3-4 cups of soda in a day. Everybody takes a new plastic cup with each drink.

4. Paper-towel: It is a piece of paper used to dry hands used in restrooms (bathrooms), kitchens, etc. If you go to restaurants, they keep electric dryers but it takes some time (1-2 minutes) to dry hands with these. Hence, offices keep paper towels and I see people normally use two towels, for faster drying of hands/face. Consumption: 20 paper towels per person per day.

5. Tissues: many people keep tissue papers on desks to wipe hands, face etc. Consumption: 10-20 tissues a day per person.

6. News papers: You can find 4-5 types of free newspapers (10-20 pages) near commuting train stations in New York area. Besides this, people buy newspapers which they trash out while leaving the train. Some people even leave them in the train, though train crews regularly announce requesting passengers to trash news-papers outside the train.

7. Lunch: Most of the people eat-out in lunch in US. Very few (mostly Indian, Chinese, Europeans, Russians) bring lunch from home. Outside lunch is packed in paper bags, card-boards, paper wraps, plastic bags, etc. Most lunch costs around $5-10.

a. Cans/bottles: Everybody takes a drink with lunch; hence cold-drink (coke, juice, water, etc.) bottles/cans are used in millions.
b. Chips: everybody takes chips (wafers, tortilla etc.) while eating and these come in plastic pouches.
c. Each lunch you buy out, comes with other disposables like sauce pouch (tomato, mustard, mayo, soy sauce, etc.), paper pouches of salt-pepper, plastic spoon-fork-knife, 2-4 tissues to wipe mouth when eating, etc.

8. Paper: Taking printouts from your computer, no problem. Most offices have multiple printers (1-2 color too) and no limit on how many paper one uses.

9. Utility:
a. Computer: Everybody has a computer. Well it is more common in IT jobs as compared to non-IT jobs. Most of the computers are replaced every 4-5 years. In IT, everybody has two monitors (some have 3 too) and in last 2-3 years I have seen flat-screen monitors everywhere. Most computers run 24 hours a day though they go into power-safe mode when idle.
b. Light: I think every 100 sq-feet has 80-100 watt of light and only tube-lights are used (which is good). Even at night, 20-40% of the lights are on. Some offices leave all lights on, whole night. Parking lot lights are on whole night for security purposes.
c. Telephone: Everybody has a phone. Medium or midsize companies give independent external number.
d. Garbage can: everybody has it with a plastic pouch which janitor replaces every evening.
e. Carpet: most companies have carpeted floor. Cleaner vacuum cleans it every evening.
e. Gifts: Most companies keep coming with publicity gifts (likes some toy, ball, cap, etc.) with the companies logo.


I do:

1. Try to remember to carry a hand-kerchief so that I don’t have to use paper-towels. I had this habit in India but got over it in the US. I need to develop it again.
2. I drink water in my own glass mug and I wash it regularly.
3. I don’t drink soda, coffee, tea etc. I find water as the best liquid to energize and refresh me.
4. Walk over to colleague rather than calling them on phone. It’s a recommended exercise too.
5. Don’t buy New-papers. Read News on the internet in the lunch hour.
6. Always carry lunch from home. And why shouldn’t I when my wife gets up everyday at 6am to cook fresh meal for me and my family.


What do you think?.