We tried to come up with a funny caption for this photo. The winner was ‘Area Dad Worries About Grocery Bill.’
A big part of my role as Office Manager is to make sure that Rustici Software employees are happy and to do whatever I can to make their lives easier while they’re working. I achieve this through a variety of ways, but perhaps the most notable way is by keeping our office stocked with all sorts of snacks, treats and beverages. No stomach here shall go unfilled!
Keeping a kitchen stocked for around 30 people is no simple feat. Thankfully our office is located less than two miles from both Costco and Target, where there is a pretty high chance you will have a run in with me on any given day of the week!
What does a typical Costco + Target shopping trip look like?? Here’s an example, using a trip I made a couple of weeks ago to give you an idea of what it takes to stock a kitchen and keep our folks fed for a week.
A typical shopping day for Hannah, by the numbers:
- 5 bags of Chips (tortilla chips, Sun Chips, multigrain chips, pretzel chips, Chex Mix)
- 1 tub of pretzel rods
- 2 boxes granola
- 2 boxes Cheerios
- 4 boxes of protein bars (Lara bars, Clif bars, Nature Valley bars)
- 1 bag of oranges
- 2 bunches of bananas
- 2 dozen apples
- 4 quarts strawberries
- 4 bags grapes
- 1 bag of pitted dates
- 1 bag baby carrots
- 2 bags turkey jerky
- 2 cases of Martinelli’s apple juice
- 4 dozen individual Noosa yogurts
- 12-pack Izze sparkling juice
- 36-pack bottled water
- 12-pack coconut water
- 15-pack sparkling water
- 35-pack Dr. Pepper
- 35-pack Diet Dr. Pepper
- 35-pack Coke
- 35-pack Diet Coke
- 35-pack Cherry Coke Zero
- 24-pack root beer
- 14 pounds of coffee beans
- 160 cans of LaCroix (we keep lime, lemon, pamplemousse, orange, peach-pear and cranraspberry stocked!)
- 48 bottles Vitamin Water
- 4 bottles of coffee creamer
- 3 gallons milk (regular, almond and soy)
- 5 bags of Babybel cheese
That is just ONE shopping trip I made for ONE week for our office! And that’s not counting the office supplies I buy on a regular basis (toilet paper, paper towels, hand soap, shampoo, body wash, dish detergent, dish soap… the list goes on.)
As you might imagine, when I roll back to the office after a shopping trip like the one above, my car is loaded to the BRIM. Here comes the best part of shopping days (and it also happens to be one of my favorite things about this place!)
You see, here at Rustici Software, one of the tenants that we hold closely is that of ‘being excellent’. Being excellent means that if you use the last paper towel on the roll, you get out a new roll instead of leaving the empty roll out. Or if you put trash in a bin that is full, you take out the bag, bring it to the dumpster and put a new bag in the bin. Or if you take the last can of cold Coke out of the refrigerator, you put a few more from the cabinet in so the next person to grab one doesn’t get stuck with a warm drink. Being excellent is carried out in a variety of ways in our office, and we tend to hold each other accountable to it. It allows our office to remain functional, tidy and pleasant and it’s one of many ways that we go above and beyond to be respectful of one another and this amazing place we get to work.
On a shopping day, being excellent means that when I pull up to the curb with a car full of food and drink, I simply send out a message on Slack (our office messaging program) to alert those in the office that I’m back and whomever has a couple of minutes to spare comes out and helps get it all unloaded…within minutes! It is the BEST part of shopping days and makes my life so much easier.
Fun Rustici fact: We have an entire refrigerator dedicated to beverages, and keep it stocked with 30 different drink options. (We also have a refrigerator dedicated to food that is brought in and belongs to someone, i.e. lunches and personal snacks, as well as one dedicated to community snacks and food items. Yes–that’s three full sized refrigerators that you’ll find in the RS kitchen.)
