Monday, December 1st, 2008

First They Came For My Solitaire And I Said Nothing Because, Frankly, It’s Kind Of A Boring Thing To Do . . .

. . . then they blocked MySpace on the computer systems, and I said nothing because I’m not like 14. But then they decided to take away the water cooler, in another back-door measure masquerading as an environmental initiative, and suddenly I discovered that my coworkers and I had no more safe space in which to discuss television programs like 30 Rock, Grey’s Anatomy or the Real Housewives of Atlanta:

City Councilmen Eric Gioia (D-Queens) and Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn) will introduce a bill next week that would stop city agencies from buying bottled water and water coolers for workers at city agencies.

The city spends $2.1 million annually on bottled water, according to the Department of Citywide Administrative Services.

“New York City has some of the cleanest water in the country, and we should use it,” said Gioia.

He noted that the move would also save on storage and disposal costs and help the environment by reducing waste and truck traffic for water-delivery services.