Employees asked to pay $60 a year to use office water cooler

An employee has shared how their workplace makes them pay $60 a year to use the water cooler.

Reddit user RemyBrady shared a picture of a sign fixed to their office water cooler, which encourages people to pay $5 per month to sign up to the “very cool water club”.

The notice reads: “Hello water drinker.

“If you would like to enjoy this delicious POLAND SPRING WATER please see Sandra or Michelle to get signed up to the very cool WATER CLUB.

“This water ain’t free yo.

“Members are currently enjoying unlimited refills for $5 per month.”

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The Redditor shared the post to the antiwork subreddit, a forum where people discuss exploitative workplaces and poor working conditions.

Since the post was shared two days ago, it has received over 73,000 upvotes and 4,700 comments.

The top comment reads: “‘Ain’t free yo’ the most professional words in the workplace.” The original poster responded: “I guess the government isn’t the most professional of work places.”

Another commenter shared a horror story of their own. They said that at a school they used to work at, they had a “water club” because the tap water was gross. The new superintendent covered the cost of the water - but this caused one person’s house of cards to fall apart…

They explained: “This led to the discovery that the school secretary had been lying about how much water cost, overcharging everyone, and pocketing the difference. THAT led to the discovery that she had been skimming money from about a dozen other sources around the school too - all to feed her massive gambling addiction!”

Yikes.

But another commenter suggested it may have been set up by workers, independently of management, in the hopes that their colleagues will pitch in if they want to use the cooler.

They said: “I've seen this at two separate office locations with two separate companies... It's really not that uncommon and the employees managing the water are doing nothing wrong.

“Put your pitchforks down.”

Another said: “I used to run the water club at my office. I work with judges who make more than 3x my salary and would routinely stiff me on their 5 a month. F*** them and water clubs.”

Another commenter said in government offices, it could be “considered a waste of public money [to buy employees water] as there is tap water”. They added that $5 is a lot cheaper than buying your own, and more convenient than carrying it around yourself.

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