Snack attack

Not much to say about this clip of Google's first micro-kitchen, other than it was pretty distracting to sit at my desk knowing that as soon as I hit writer's block I could get up and stroll twenty feet down the hall to enjoy free snacks until my creativity returned or my stomach hurt. I favored peanut M&Ms, red licorice vines and Starbucks Frappucino in chilled bottles. Sometimes Charlie would bring up leftovers from lunch (like the pie seen in the clip). It didn't enhance my productivity.

Hanging out in the micro-kitchen was fun though, and I'd often sit there eating cereal, reading the paper and sipping coffee in the early morning hours as my coworkers straggled in. It gave the place a very homey feel, especially once we started adding custom touches. George Salah, the facilities manager had the Coke logo on the drink cooler replaced with a backlit Google sign, I put some word magnets on the fridge to encourage free expression and Jim Glass, the assistant chef, and UI designer Joe Sriver replaced all the cereal labels with Googlified versions. There were “Larry-O’s” featuring a Photoshopped version of Larry Page as Robin Hood holding a baby Larry Schwimmer and “Raisin Brin” with Sergey beaming from the yellow sun on two scoops of raisins. There were Cindy Charms honoring my boss, “Honey Nut Angie-O’s” for our facilities coordinator Angie Frische and “Porn Flakes” honoring Matt Cutts who was responsible for creating filters to screen out adult content.

As Google grew, the micro-kitchens (and full-service cafes) proliferated to ensure no Googler was ever more than 150 feet from a food source. Google eventually ditched the high-calorie snack foods for healthier fare, but while it lasted, life in the Googleplex was sweet indeed.