Work is changing fast, but one sure way to hold on to the old ways is to offer round a slice of cake and a cup of tea, says Eva Wiseman
Work is changing fast, but one sure way to hold on to the old ways is to offer round a slice of cake and a cup of teaPhotograph: Nils Jorgensen/Rex/ShutterstockPhotograph: Nils Jorgensen/Rex/Shutterstockhen I was younger the phrases around work were largely of the “You Don’t Have To Be Mad To Work Here” variety. Office humour is a hell of a drug. “SARCASM is one of the free services I offer” propped on a desk alongside a family of gonks and three cooling coffees.
The latest is “quiet hiring” – when employers ask workers to shift their roles rather than employ new staff, which is the younger sibling of “quiet quitting” – doing the minimum your job requires. That’s another one, a phrase built to help us re-conceptualise the ways we’re forced to work, especially since the pandemic, which slowly wrung out the last possibilities of joy from work’s withered flannel.
A slice of cake around the printer is unlikely to have any health risks for the majority of us. Even two. Even two, eaten using a magazine as a plate and a ballpoint pen as a knife. Because a thousand things decide whether or not a person will become obese, quite aside from their willpower around dessert – it’s a confused and confusing combination of age, metabolism, mental health, medications, genetics, class and money that decides the state of a body.
That’s part of the reason I remain on the side of cake. The other became clear when curled with my daughter watching the new series of, where child bakers were tasked with making cakes that illustrated something they would prioritise if they were prime minister. One boy made a cake that called for neurodiversity to be better understood, another made a bed, symbolising his policy to end homelessness.
And in the same way, this debate about office cake misses the point. Four o’clock, the jangle of awkward song, the heaving oneself up to marvel at a traybake – it’s about taking a pause in the day for a tiny celebration, acknowledging a life outside work, one where we were once kids and birthdays were important, and forcing a moment of human connection across a Victoria sponge.
United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
People are ‘desperate for work’ in Australian media production landscapeArts Minister Tony Burke says people are “desperate for work” in the Australian media landscape and we should utilise them to produce more local content. “This is an industry where you’ve got people everywhere desperate for work, the capacity of Australian, particularly scripted drama, but the capacity of Australian content to grow is not difficult,” Mr Burke told Sky News Australia. “You’ve got a whole lot of people out there, anxious, talented people wanting to get more work in the industry, this can be done without driving those costs up.”
Read more »
Meet the Queensland couple juggling full-time work and dragon fruit farmingFrom hand pollinating flowers at night to avoiding cactus pricks, growing this unique fruit is a labour of love for Gary and Sue Lee.
Read more »
Three years after beating deportation, Indigenous Australians freed from visa limboExclusive: Group were unable to work, access Medicare or travel internationally since historic high court ruling
Read more »
Child protection advocate hopes new department chief will be found within SABelinda Valentine has fought for improvements to the state's child protection department since her granddaughter died 11 years ago, and hopes a new chief can bring change.
Read more »
My mentor John Hughes taught me how to write. Then he plagiarised my work | Joseph EarpIn 2022, the acclaimed Australian author was found to have plagiarised whole sentences from Leo Tolstoy and F Scott Fitzgerald. When a former student discovered he was among those greats, his reaction was complicated
Read more »
Disability sector losing recruits to screening check delaysWhile most jurisdictions allow recruits to work while supervised until their screening process is complete, under Victorian law employees cannot begin their jobs while their application is processed.
Read more »