Water coolers are the place where office gossip abounds and views on how well the business is doing are swapped. As part of the drive to cut costs we jettisoned ours a month ago – after staff consultations of course.The tap water up here is healthier and tastier than the bottled stuff and I rink it at home as well (got rid of that water cooler nearly 2 years ago).

Nobody batted an eyelid and the new meeting place is the kitchenette.It’s a bit of a squash and harder to scuttle back to your desk when the boss walks in because there’s only one way in and one way out! The most telling part of it was that the supplier immediately offered us the machine free for 12 months. Now that’s a REAL worry!