At the greenhouse I grew up in, in Honselersdijk, my mom brought the coffee – in a big pot and already premixed, no choice, with milk and sugar - to the greenhouse center-path. There my parents and their employees would have a 10-minute break, sitting on a wooden crate. As a little kid I would eat all the broken windmill-cookie crumbs and tried every day, hopeful but to no avail, if I would actually like coffee already.
Now, as is the case with most companies, here in Beamsville we have a beautiful and fully stocked lunchroom with various coffees, teas, soups etcetera to choose from. Times change. Friendly, social human resources management and a pleasant work environment are common practice. Not that the parental greenhouse of 45 years ago did not qualify. But expectations all around have increased over time and the bar has simply been raised quite a bit.
When cellphones did not exist yet, an urgent message was politely forwarded to the employee. That was easy and perfectly accepted by everyone. Later, when most employees started bringing a cellphone to work, we initially implemented some rules. Cellphones were to be left in your locker or in the lunchroom, to ensure that tasks and responsibilities were not disturbed by the odd personal phone-call! Slowly but surely those policies became redundant, because the practicalities of being instantly available to one another overruled. And there really was no abuse or inappropriate use anyways.