Tea please!

I just walked around the whole floor to avoid having to ask two guests who have just arrived if they want a drink. I actually hid around the corner until I knew that they had gone. This is because I remembered their faces - I asked them if they wanted one the last time they came and they both wanted coffee.

I very rarely make people drinks when they come in, it's not in my job description and I have far more important things to be getting on with. Do I?

We have a tea lady for tea-making, but she regularly takes herself off for a snooze in the store cupboard or one of the meeting rooms for a morning and afternoon break. She was caught in the small meeting room the other day, sitting in the dark, under the table, chatting on the conference phone. It was reported to me as it was considered 'out of order', slightly odd and a tad annoying. I was supposed to pass details of the 'incident' on to her boss, which I actually felt a bit bad about - so I didn't!

If I do ask people if they want a drink I do it in a way which makes them feel like they have no choice but to decline. It makes me laugh inside. I sort of screw my face up as if to say, you don't really want a drink do you?

Works nearly every time...