We used to drink wine at the office.

That was in my last company, in the first department I joined. Even though the company itself was large and bureaucratic, my department was small and maverick - a skunkworks type of place.

It all started one afternoon when my colleague sneaked in a bottle of cheap wine. We were all pretty excited, and couldn’t wait for evening for our boss to be gone. Even our 2 young interns were happy to stay behind.

The time finally came when about 5 of us crowded around the table with our plastic cups as the foil wrapper was peeled off. We then found that there was a cork planted firmly into the bottle opening. We didn’t have a corkscrew.

There wasn’t enough space for the cork to be pushed in, so that was out. The cork was flush with the opening of the bottle so it was impossible to dig it out. And we didn’t have a corkscrew.

After a bit of thirsty thinking, we found a self-tapping screw (a screw with a pointed tip), and screwed it into the cork. Using a pair of pliers, we slowly pulled the screw, so that the cork would be pulled out along with it.

Out came the screw without the cork.

We tried screwing in a two screws together. Didn’t work either.

“Remove cork without corkscrew”, we googled. We finally found a method that made sense - slam the bottom of the bottle onto the table protected with a towel, so that the inertia of the wine in the bottle would push out the cork.

After I tired myself out banging the bottle onto the table, the cork got exposed, by a total of 1mm. We took turns banging. And banging. And banging banging baning.

Still 1mm.

From that one experience years ago, I learnt that the best way to remove a cork from a bottle is to use a corkscrew.

Anyway, we eventually established a tradition. Every now and then, someone would present a bottle of wine, and we would stand around the office, cup in hand, sipping and chatting.

Of course, the boss eventually caught us. He was very happy. We weren’t as happy.

However, our wine tradition eventually died off. The company was restructured, and our department was disbanded (we were too maverick for upper management). Different ones of us were transferred to different departments, and some eventually resigned.

It was quite by chance that after a few years, a few of us who were left were put into the same office area again, even though we weren’t even in the same department.

Not long before I left the company, I took out a bottle of cheap wine, some styrofoam cups, and my Swiss army knife corkscrew.

Wine

The 4 of us stood around the table, styrofoam cup in hand, reminiscing the good ol’ days.

It was my last day at work. Another one of us would be gone in a few weeks. And another would probably go in a matter of months. There wouldn’t be much left of that original department anymore.

It was a poignant moment.

Wine

I don’t think they drink wine there anymore.