On Google and free food

Fortune magazine has published an interesting article about Google called Chaos by Design . I'm  not going to bore you with mumbling about how Google is still going up while Microsoft is definitely goes down. I'll talk about important stuff: Google employees enjoy  free food. Even the journalist  of a solid financial publication, could not stop himself from literally starting the article from talking about  free and festive cafeterias. 

 That's remains a fact of life: the most important thing for any human being is food. And free food is a pinnacle of  human life. Multi-billion deals are being signed just because someone took someone for a free lunch or dinner. Free is the magic word. It does not really matter that a person who was treated with a free lunch is a millionaire...

Have you ever thought of what's the main difference between human beings and animals when it comes to eating habits? I did. Animals eat when they are hungry, while  people eat when they see food available. Especially a free food. Please answer this question, but be honest: how many times do you re-fill your  plate in all-you-can-eat buffets? I know, at least three. You'd never do this if you had to pay even $5. 

Yesterday I was flying over  from New Jersey to Seattle. The free food sucks on the planes these days. The beer or wine costs $5. I did not purchase the beer giving myself a lame excuse that I had to work on the book and drinking beer would lower my productivity. What a BS. Most likely, subconsciously, I was saving five bucks. What a shame! On the way back I'm buying two beers. The hell with the book. 

Many years  ago I was working with one  of the former Pan Am managers. He told me that they were allowed to fly for free, and the food on the plane was great. So he'd check the Pan Am menus on various destinations, picked what he liked and spent a weekend flying, say to Italy and back just for food.

Ten years ago I was working for an oil company that had subsidized lunches: pay three bucks and eat anything you want, and the food was of a restaurant quality. One brave guy decided to ban himself from going to this cafeteria, because otherwise he would not stop eating and gained weight.

If you are running a company and want to attract top talents, offer free lunches to your employees. I'll check your menu, and if it's good, I'll quit my current job and will work for you. Will work for food!

tags: google  food  free food  

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