Morning coffee routine at work

Paul says:
Every morning at around 9:15 a ringleader-type guy comes around to the offices and says, "cafe?" and thats the signal for everyone to gather at the top of the stairs. When the last person in the group arrives they go get their cafe. They go to a room with a coffee machine and everyone takes turns buying for everyone else in the group. You have to be prepared with a pocketfull of change because the machine only takes coins.

The 'cadres', as they are called (exempt employees) have their special place at the stand-up coffee bar using 3 small round tables and the others (hourly employees) generally sit in chairs around a big table (and arrive about 15 minutes later). All cadres have already greeted each other for the day, but the hourly people have to do the French greeting ritual with the cadres. The women kiss the other women and the other men. The men kiss the other women but shake hands with the men.

The topic of discussion on Friday is everyone's plans for the upcoming weekend. The topic on Monday is what everyone did on the weekend. During the rest of the week, topics of discussion are the weather, news, and sports of the day.

After about 15 minutes into the coffee break as the conversation reaches a lull, one particular man with a deep voice says, "bon". Without fail, that is the signal to return to work.

That's morning coffee!