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I work in a really great place. I think I mentioned that I work for a Fair Trade coffee importer, but I never really gave many details about what that means. Fair Trade, in a nutshell (and I really don't want to start a debate about capitalism and Free trade versus Fair Trade) means that coffee farmers are guaranteed a fair price for the coffee they sell us. With the Fair Trade premium they've built schools, clinics, and improved plumbing for clean water. Everyone who works here is completely dedicated and passionate about what they do. They send everyone in the company on trips to South America and Africa to visit our producer partners, to get a better understanding of the work we do.
Anyway, that's not what this post is meant to be about. There's a really big meeting tonight (we're also a worker-owned cooperative rather than a corporation) and a lot of big ideas are going to get decided on. After this huge meeting my manager organized a band night, as there are a lot of musically inclined people working here and we need to relax after a 3 hour meeting.
I'm relatively new here, and also relatively shy. I come from a classically trained musical background, so while people here who are more singer/songwritey perform here a lot, I've never really had a chance to, and I miss it. I was thinking about a chorus I was in in college and one of the songs we performed was an a capella canon, written by Mozart, that is actually a drinking song. Cue the lightbulb! I sent out an email to some coworkers that I knew were singers and asked if they were interested. Everyone was really enthusiastic, and kept suggesting names of other people who sing who would be interested. Eventually I ended up with about ten people who were all really strong singers. We had three rehearsals, all half an hour long, and on our lunch breaks. One of the people singing had this great South African song that he wanted to try. We all learned it in half an hour and are performing both tonight.
It's going to be pretty excellent. The South African song is called "Freedom is Comingm," and everyone here gets really emotional when they think about the mission of our country, which this song really emphasizes. I am hoping for tears : )
Even if there are no tears, it looks like we may become a regular group. People keep coming up to me and saying things like "I'm so glad you started this, it's been really fun!" and "I'm sorry I couldn't join you guys this time, but let me know when you are getting together again!"
Not bad for a shy customer service rep, if I do say so myself
Anyway, that's not what this post is meant to be about. There's a really big meeting tonight (we're also a worker-owned cooperative rather than a corporation) and a lot of big ideas are going to get decided on. After this huge meeting my manager organized a band night, as there are a lot of musically inclined people working here and we need to relax after a 3 hour meeting.
I'm relatively new here, and also relatively shy. I come from a classically trained musical background, so while people here who are more singer/songwritey perform here a lot, I've never really had a chance to, and I miss it. I was thinking about a chorus I was in in college and one of the songs we performed was an a capella canon, written by Mozart, that is actually a drinking song. Cue the lightbulb! I sent out an email to some coworkers that I knew were singers and asked if they were interested. Everyone was really enthusiastic, and kept suggesting names of other people who sing who would be interested. Eventually I ended up with about ten people who were all really strong singers. We had three rehearsals, all half an hour long, and on our lunch breaks. One of the people singing had this great South African song that he wanted to try. We all learned it in half an hour and are performing both tonight.
It's going to be pretty excellent. The South African song is called "Freedom is Comingm," and everyone here gets really emotional when they think about the mission of our country, which this song really emphasizes. I am hoping for tears : )
Even if there are no tears, it looks like we may become a regular group. People keep coming up to me and saying things like "I'm so glad you started this, it's been really fun!" and "I'm sorry I couldn't join you guys this time, but let me know when you are getting together again!"
Not bad for a shy customer service rep, if I do say so myself
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