Interdepartmental house of waffles.

Hello again! It's amazing how quickly time flies when one is planning a wedding (46 days to go!). I suppose my one-post-per-week pact has been less than successful....

One of the things I love about my job is that I'm constantly meeting different types of people. Product managers work with everyone from engineers to creative designers, from marketing to operations. One of our engineers has fully embraced the concept with a series he calls "Random Acts of Waffles," in which different associates are invited to meet and eat, chosen randomly by a program which chooses names off the company phone list. One day, it was my turn -- I received a mysterious e-mail invite describing the event (excerpts here):

Waffle FAQ:

• Huh? What is this? Just a nice treat in the middle of the week -- it is also a great way to meet other associates. It's great when people from different departments meet.
• Are these real waffles? Yep, I bring in the mix, fresh eggs and make the batter about 5 minutes before the scheduled waffle time. I have a waffle baker which makes two at a time.
• How did this get started? I had a meeting with some people in January at 9:30AM. I jokingly asked if breakfast would be served. I was told "Sure, if you make it, Dave." So I brought in the waffle equipment and a coworker brought in real maple syrup that she and her father made, from a tree!! Some people asked how THEY could get a waffle so I made some the following week. And Random Acts of Waffles was born.

My first RAoW was perfect...hot, sweet, crisp waffles with heavenly maple syrup (you can tell it's authentic because of the bottle shaped like a maple leaf, right?) I met someone from marketing and another person from our production/operations department. We had a lovely half hour breakfast in the company cafeteria and then went back to our days.