Duties as Assigned: Beverage Director

We all get bizarre assignments from time to time at work that we didn't sign up for. What was your oddest role?

Just out of Columbia grad school I worked for a wonderful little architecture firm in Manhattan for two years , I will call it T+E. It had its challenges, like any workplace, but this place was like living in a sitcom with a great cast of characters that kept us all laughing and crying.

On my first day of work, I was informed that, in addition to my traditional role as a young architect/designer, I was also to be the new Beverage Director. I think my boss got a kick out of assigning this to the wide-eyed little girl from Ohio.

The Beverage Director, or BD as I was called, was responsible for procuring and preparing libations for our weekly Friday night staff meetings. Each week at 5:30, we would have an all-hands-on-deck staff meeting to report on project progress, any issues, assign tasks, socialize and drink. Since we all routinely clocked well over 60 hours/week, it was always a welcome closing to a busy week and put us in a more charitable mindset about all the weekend hours we were about to put in.

As BD, I would select the week's beverage based on mood or an office poll and put down my mouse at about 3pm on Fridays. I would check our supplies, write a shopping list that could serve at least two drinks per person, raid the petty cash and then hit the streets of Manhattan. Our offices were right by Union Square, which meant that there were several larger delis, a nearby bed bath and beyond, and several liquor stores in the area. Scouring the westside teens, I would go in search of such rarities as fresh lemons, cherries, brown sugar, or unusal liquers like Pimms. I'd pick up necessary barware, like the right glass or a muddler, plus a beer or two for those who opted out of cocktails for the week.

Back at the office I would toil to make the perfect cosmo, muddle the sweetest caipirinha, or mix the smoothest old fashioned. Just in time for the meeting, I'd serve and enjoy the smiles and company of my colleagues, over the sparkling rims of those perfect cocktails.

When I left the office to take another position, I was heartbroken to leave. My colleagues bought me a bartender's guide and signed it like a yearbook. I miss the T+E family; you are not far from my thoughts.