Ex Officio, Urban Omnibus, Judy Park Lee, Casey Peterson, and Lucas Teixeira Vaqueiro, February 1, 2023

Far from the only reason, inflexibility on remote work is one factor in a growing vacancy crisis in city agencies, amid the well-reported departure of workers from a “sinking ship.” And while the ball pits and kombucha taps of the 2010s collect cobwebs and consultants reimagine the office of the future, municipal workers report to spaces with a longer tradition of austerity and their own, very particular esthetics.

This is a photo essay on everyday civil service offices, and it’s an interesting, amusing read. It will be familiar for anyone who’s ever worked in a governmental/bureaucratic agency, or a small nonprofit for that matter. Like so:

Ask anyone who works in a government agency if they’ve ever seen a “chair pile” in their office building, and they will probably say yes. No one knows where the pile came from, or what it’s for, but it’s been there for as long as anyone can remember.

This is also great:

Among the many messages affixed to the walls of the public sector office, one can always spot a collection of unofficial “ad-hoc signage” scattered throughout. One sign might ask passersby to refrain from tapping on the window so as not to scare the urban planner inside. Another reminds people to kindly check if they’ve flushed before exiting the stall. This ad-hoc signage features a distinct graphic style characterized by the generous use of default MS Office fonts (Times New Roman, Calibri), capitalization, and clip art. The result is a typology of signage that is bespoke but also anonymous and mundane. Often found in communal spaces like kitchens and bathrooms, these signs offer a rare moment for public servants to express themselves in a public forum without restraint.

But it’s also a very deep and thoughtful piece. Read the whole thing.

I Really Miss My George Foreman Grill, Eater, Jaya Saxena, March 31, 2023

This is all to say I really miss my George Foreman Grill.

The George Foreman Grill was a fascinating phenomenon of the ’90s. Unlike with the microwave or blender, there was no brand comparison to be done, no generic version.

You can already tell I’m going to love this article. It’s not mostly about the device per se, though, but about the middle ground between microwaving and “real” cooking that it opened up:

At some point I realized the George Foreman Grill was a step above the microwave, with just enough “cooking” required to make me feel like a sophisticated adult swanning around the kitchen. I made grilled cheese, chicken breasts, quesadillas, and burgers both beef and Boca. The food was hot and had sexy grill marks like, I hate to say it, the food on TV. It was also pretty foolproof. Oil didn’t start smoking if I left it on for slightly too long, and there was no risk of burning my mom’s pans.

But mostly, cooking with the Foreman Grill proved to me that it was indeed possible to cook food that had a little bit of complexity and tasted good.

Plus, a critique of the weirdly consumeristic diet culture of that era. Give it a read.

The Silent History of ‘Parlor,’ Merriam-Webster

And then the Americans do something very American. They go and begin to apply the word to something altogether new: a well-appointed commercial establishment that engages in a specified type of business. They refer to ice cream parlors and beauty parlors, to pizza parlors and tattoo parlors, and even to funeral parlors. And truth be told, we don't think they are considering the etymology of the word at all.

A fun, quick read on the evolution of language. And it makes me want ice cream.

Fixer-Upper — Recipe, Branding Remodels Are No Magic Bullet for Flailing Flagships, Good Beer Hunting, Kate Bernot, April 13, 2023

Both beers are iconic brands that helped establish an industry that now seems to be passing them by as beer styles like Amber Ale and Vienna Lager no longer show growth opportunities for these breweries.

This is an interesting business/culture story, in that it underscores how corporate the original craft breweries have become, and how different today’s craft/microbrewery scene is from the one these pioneers launched decades ago. (And it makes me want beer.)

Related Reading:

New and Old #55

New and Old #56

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