To change things up a bit, we thought it would be a good time to roll out a contest sponsored by a beverage company that isn't sending legal threats our way. (Yes, even we can laugh about the craziness of the past few weeks… we hope you can too!)
Win this Starbucks Prize Pack
The kind folks at Starbucks dropped me a line the other day and asked me to spread the word about a new website they just launched called EnergyPlusCoffee.com. What's it all about? Well, it's a website designed for you to be distracted and entertained, keeping you from doing work while you are actually at work. (Wait a minute… isn't that why you are visiting BevReview? Hmmm….)
It's actually a pretty clever idea in that it looks like a standard news site, but has embedded features that do cool things (besides doing this beverage review thing, my "day job" is working with Web development, so I appreciate this stuff… trust me!) Of interest is the "Boss Cam" that activates any internal webcams you might have on your computer, creating an electronic "mirror" that you can use to see if anyone is walking up behind you.
Visit EnergyPlusCoffee.com
There's also some humorous video situations presented via webisodes (if you remember Sierra Mist's Summer 2007 campaign for Lemon Squeeze, you'll get the idea). You'll also find some embedded Flash games such as a version of Tetris called "Meeting Blocks" and a Breakout-clone called "CellBreak".
So, I know what you are saying to yourself. "That's great, Steve. But what's in it for me? And how come Starbucks hasn't gone after you like the folks at Monster?" Well, I'll just answer that first question, thank you very much. (We'll leave the 2nd question for our crack legal folks!)
See, here's the idea… You are at work, yet who really wants to work? One way to stay awake during this whole process is by partaking of a Starbucks Doubleshot Energy+Coffee beverage (ah, see that product placement there… and we're not even as bad as The Jay Leno Show on NBC!) If you recall, we actually have reviewed all of the Doubleshot Energy+Coffee drinks before… and I actually found them to be pretty good. Of course, as I mentioned, I'm not a coffee drinker, so if they're pretty good to me, I'm assuming someone else just adores them! To recap the flavors:
- Starbucks Doubleshot Energy+Coffee Cinnamon Dulce
- Starbucks Doubleshot Energy+Coffee Cinnamon Mocha
- Starbucks Doubleshot Energy+Coffee Cinnamon Vanilla
- Starbucks Doubleshot Energy+Coffee Coffee
So, combine these drinks with EnergyPlusCoffee.com and you'll have a grand ole time!
But wait, what if you don't have any of these drinks? I'm glad you asked, because I'd like to hook you up.
Prizes
Starbucks has provided me with 5 Prize Packs to giveaway. And when you are in a recession, what's better than free stuff?
The Starbucks Prize Pack includes:
- Stealth Switch™
- $5 Starbucks® Card
- Starbucks Doubleshot® Energy+Coffee coupons
- Starbucks Doubleshot® Energy+Coffee-branded white board
The Prize Pack is valued at $30, which isn't too bad given that you pay nothing to read this website, right? Oh, and you may be wondering about that "Stealth Switch" thing. I was too. Officially, it's "the World's first desktop cloaking device. StealthSwitch™ uses patent pending technology to instantly and completely hide applications with a press of the footswitch. The applications are not just minimized, they are made invisible." Seriously, go check out their website. (Note that it only works on Windows machines. Mac folks like myself are kinda out of luck, but hey, think of the profits you could generate on eBay!)
So, I'd love to give you this stuff. But first you need to do something for me. Sounds fair, doesn't it? Let's get creative and go over the rules…
Contest Rules:
- Reply to this post
- Don't forget to include your e-mail address (which will be hidden) so you can be contacted should you win
- Share an idiot-story about someone you have worked with
- Obviously, you have, ahem, focused on work all the time, right? Others, not so much. So let the dirty laundry fly! Share the story of a coworker or boss that did something to just make your eyes roll. One story per post, please (which means you can share multiple stories, thus giving you multiple entries!)
- Entries are due by Tuesday, November 3 at midnight CST.
- Enter as many times as you'd like!
- 5 winners will be announced no later than November 5
- We'll be using a random selection model, however you can improve your chances by being creative in your storytelling!
- Contest limited to folks in the continental United States
Pretty easy, huh?
So, let's recap… new website to visit, opportunity to share funny work stories, and chance to win free Starbucks stuff. Sounds good!
Shameless Self Promotion
But wait, here's the plea from your humble little BevReview Editor. You see, the folks at Starbucks, they are kinda sneaky. Obviously, they want me to tell you about EnergyPlusCoffee.com and promote their energy drinks. But to sweeten the pot a bit, they've actually had the nerve to pit BevReview.com against other blogs in a blogger-vs-blogger contest to see who can get the most entries in our contests. (Those of you studying social media marketing, take note!)
So, for the 2 week period of the contest, the Contest Overlords at Starbucks will be watching the entries closely. Not only will they be providing you prizes for our contest, but they will also be awarding the Top 3 site owners with prizes as well based on contest volume. That probably doesn't mean as much to you, since you always have a chance to win. But as a person who runs these things, I always have to exempt myself from the prizes, so to get a chance to actually win something is rather cool. They're offering site owners the same Starbucks Prize Packs, along with a branded messenger bag and a pretty cool set of noise canceling headphones.
Care about the happiness and overall welfare of BevReview.com? Help us beat the pants off these other sites participating in the contest. Don't just do it for me. Do it for beverage-review-websites-that-always-feature-photos-of-trees everywhere! It's your duty (and thanks!)
The Fine Print
Believe it or not, sometimes review websites get into legal trouble. Thus, please pardon us while we rattle off this fine print that Starbucks asked us to post in regards to this contest:
- This promotion is solely sponsored by BevReview.com and has not been endorsed or approved by North American Coffee Partnership. By entering, you agree to look solely to Steve Tanner & BevReview.com for any claims in connection therewith, and not the North American Coffee Partnership.
- NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Subject to Contest guidelines. Open to U.S. residents only. Contest ends 11/3. Void where prohibited.
- Starbucks Doubleshot® Energy+Coffee sent me samples of the Doubleshot Energy+Coffee drinks and here's what I think. All the opinions expressed here are mine.
I had this friend at work and we had bought tickets to a concert a few weeks in advance. Well the day of the concert I saw her at work getting arrested for stealing from her register. Needless to say, we didn't make it to that concert. Maybe she needed money for snacks?
When I worked at a fabric store, this lady had brought a pizza for herself for lunch and a cake for the rest of us. This one guy went in the fridge and ate half of her pizza (which clearly had her name on it) and he at the top layer of the cake, not a piece of the cake, the top layer!
When I was working in video game development (a long time ago) we had a cow-orker that just seemed to be a little bit out of it. One day I asked him "Would you care for a donut?" He said yes and began to eat one and I turned around and said "What??!?! Is that how you care for things?!?!?!" He didn't understand. Just as I was to explain the 'joke' he got called to a meeting to show his game to the President and the company we licensed characters from. It was a popular 'cat' character and he was to do an educational game. After the meeting we never saw him again. I found out that he did a concentration game using the character and named it "Cats-tration"
I have this crazy coworker who sends out emails to the entire staff complaining about various things that happen in the office. They are always full of errors. Not minor errors–big errors that make you laugh and wonder how he can possibly think this is anything but garbage. How can you take an email like that seriously?
A former co-worker was asked to leave under dubious circumstances (essentially cheating on his partner with someone he supervised).
As well as finding filthy emails on his computer while clearing it, a few weeks after he left, he received mail. It had no return address on the envelope so we opened it to see if there was one inside. The contents? A catalogue of lingerie and sex toys that I'm assuming he wasn't planning on purchasing for his partner.
Who sends that to their work address?!
I had an assistant who dated one of our employees broke up&then took his cell phone during work hours&went through it….she was no longer my assistant
My husband and I are kidnapped over the weekend, at gunpoint, and forced to drive to another state with an ex-felon in our back seat.
Now, most of the staff I know, given the opportunity, would take a few 'sick day's after that. Not me. I return to work. I'm a real worker bee.
First thing out of my bosses' mouth when I tell her about my weekend?
"You aren't going to tell anyone about this, right?"
….
Argh.
i worked at a high call volume call center. we did emergency and non emergency calls. i had to train an older man to do the job. he just couldn't understand that we had to move fast!
Work stories. Where to start. Hospital stories usually involve hilarity of my days, gang patients trying to find each other on the unit, the patient that swallowed the key to his locked restraints, that patient that thought it was more convenient to pee in her garbage can than the bathroom….you know, the usual. I have some very funny stories, but most are only funny and socially/politically acceptable to those in the medical field.
Last week, however, something funny happened. We have dorm size refrigerators where we store "patient" food throughout my unit. Nurses and doctors scarf the occasional fruit punch or graham cracker. Days when we have peanutbutter are pretty special. However, there are also turkey sandwiches for our outpatients who come out of surgery starved and grumpy. I admit, I usually scarf half a sandwich on late nights when I am starved and grumpy.
My coworker who I will refer to as valleygirl, decided it would be a good idea to eat a stolen sandwich 1) in the middle of the unit, 2) at around 3pm, when at least one of our two managers are still roaming the unit. It's a generally bad idea. Not only because our hospital can get fined a large sum of money (somewhere in the $10,000 range) if someone is found eating in a patient care area, but also because she "stole" it. I mean, don't flaunt stolen food. Scarf it.
But the scenario played out and valleygirl got caught.
My manager hovered (truly, she is about 6'2) over my coworker at the main desk and said: "Valleygirl, where did you get that sandwich?"
Valleygirl: "Oh this sandwich? I brought it from home."
Manager: "Oh Valleygirl." (saddened expression of a disappointed mother, taps foot, shakes head).
Valleygirl: "Ok fine, I took it from the fridge."
Manager: "I'm disappointed in you, you shouldn't have lied to me"
For those lucky enough to be in the immediate audience, we replayed it in full action for those who weren't. Mainly because it was the most disciplinary action we had seen in months. And it involved a stolen sandwich. Not a false sick call, or inappropriate behavior, or poor skills, or "extra" long lunch breaks … no, it was all over a sandwich.
I was working at one of the big box stores, they were remolding the store so they sent to a warehouse were the craziest 2 months of my life. There was a guy there, who was not that smart. We were painting shelfs with spray paint, we were soposed to use 1 can per 10-12 shelfs. Well… he used 5 cans on 1 shelf. our "boss" did not not catch it and it went to the store. The store manager found it and wrote him up on the spot. That was only one of the idiotic things he did… more to come!
I once worked with this girl who after baking a batch of cupcakes couldn't figure out how to configure those newly baked cupcakes into the cupcake liners. She thought they were placed in them after baking!
There was this lady at the hospital who completely pissed off an old lady by talking down to her- it was kind of awesome tow itness.
So it was a couple of weeks later and the guy was "missing" lots of work. He was from a diffrent store, so he clocked into his store and came over to the warehouse. He had the vary "smart" idea to clock in at his store, and go home, and when he was soposed to clock out he goes back to his store and clocks out. It worked for the first couple of time, but all good things come to a end. The district manager came with both store managers and took him away. He was baned from the stores. In the end he left some of his stuff there(coat, box cutter) and he could not get it because he was not allowed back and no one knew were he lived.
I used to do field service work (to install, repair and modify) for a major company that makes electronic assembly equipment. I traveled all over North America doing this. Normally, a service call would start over the phone. I would try to fix it or get as far as I could troubleshooting on the phone before planning to travel to the customer site. Sometimes the most basic questions are misunderstood. A customers machine would not boot up the computer (PC) giving various unrelated errors. I asked if there was ANY device plugged in that is not an original part of the machine. He insured me nothing was. Off I fly to SD. I try to do a few things to no avail. My sin was I believed him. When I walked around the back of the machine I noticed a extra keyboard plugged into the rear controller. I said I thought you has no extra inputs plugged in. He said that had always been there and it worked. I unplugged it and the machine booted up just fine. 4 hour minimum @ $150 an hour. Not bad for 20 min of work.
Forgot one more story about him. we were eating lunch at this pizza party place, close to the job site, the food was ok, but they had gocarts, he wanted to race after eating, we had 1 hour to eat and get back. We started to head back, 10 min till we were soposed to be back. He runs over and gets into line for the carts. There was atleast 2 groups before him. I had no idea why there were so many people there in the middle of the day. He ended up racing, but he was over 30 min late. He got yelled at that day 2… i still wonder how he lasted that long.
Fantastic giveaway, thank you!
I used to work at a comedy club while going to college. That place attracted all kinds, lemme tell ya! Well, one day, I found out that one of my co-workers was coming to work…to color. She sat down with postcards we were using to invite people out to the club and she was being paid to color! She saw no problem with it, either.
I worked with someone that was very overweight. He thought it would be a good idea to keep his car trunk loaded with potato chips and diet soda to lose weight.
Big festival every year in town where we work. Everyone goes pretty much every night, small town big time you know?
Older guy actually has wis wife call in and say he is on his death bed, can't come in. So, yeah, whatever. He's sick, it happens.
That night, first night of the festival, who do we walk right into enjoying some awesome fair food? You guessed it, not so sicky.
You're 60 +, you didn't have to lie……….here's your sign.
I had a boss who was constantly sleeping and snoring loudly.
I still work wit this woman who has the worse stank about her. I have subletly asked her if she smells anything in the office but I guess she just doesn't get it. Sheesh!
Once at WalMart this young guy was caught masturbating in the stockroom. The person who walked and caght him had to be our prim and proper little ole lady who goes to Sunday School every Sunday. It was priceless to see the look on her face and how fast she moved. The guy got canned but he came back by to pick up jis last check.