Sleepers

Sleeping on the job was a minor epidemic at my last workplace, especially about an hour after lunch. I worked in a cubicle world just like the cartoon strip "Dilbert". Each section of the cubicle maze was a fiefdom under the control of a count or countess. Morning was safe, but after lunch, I could usually depend on catching somebody sleeping, if I happened to walk around without making too much noise. I never disturbed them, unless I needed something right that instant, in which case I'd knock on the cubicle wall or clear my throat to wake them up, without drawing attention to the fact that they were goldbricking. Usually, these little naps were of short duration, because folks were afraid of getting caught, just as I was.

I was guilty of dozing off several times each year. If I caught myself doing it, which was by no means certain, I would get up and walk around to fight off the drowsiness. I was loathe to get caught sleeping by a boss. That makes the worst impression possible. I learned to avoid heavy carbohydrate meals during lunch and to tank up on strong coffee throughout the day. Also, I found that exercise after work kept me in better overall condition and gave me greater resistance to daytime snoozing. But my golden secret was caffeine. If it were not for coffee and tea, I do not believe modern civilization could have evolved. Too many office workers would fall asleep on the job. It can happen to the best of us. I knew many hard working individuals that had little reservation about working overtime, but they too succumbed to the Sandman. It even became a running joke. If there were ever a loud noise in the office, some wiseacre would say, "That woke me up!" and then another would chime in, "Me too."

In the summer, the company cranked the air conditioning down low just to keep all of their folks awake. I am talking about 68 to 72 Farenheit. This is not a comfortable temperature for office workers that do nothing but sit in a chair for four to five hours at a stretch. However, it is logical and reasonable, because after all they are paying for conscious employees, not unconscious ones. I am not sure how else sleeping could be reduced, other than electrified seats that deliver a shock when the sitter dozes. Many wore sweaters to keep warm. As for me, I wore a tee shirt under my long-sleeved shirt and that sufficed. When the air conditioning broke, as sometimes happened, we were placed in the strange position of missing it, because the temperature could climb into the nineties, even with portable fans blowing out of the department and into the hallway. The result was that it was either too hot or too cold most of the time. However, if you wore your clothes in layers, you could adjust as needed, unless it got too hot.