My husband's navy career was destroyed prematurely when he was ordered to clean the wardroom but not warned against cleaning the coffee pot or (shudder) the cups hanging next to it...
Pretty tragic, Clair. Nice thing about the Navy was that you could screw up but recover. But I've known many officers who were fastidious about their coffee mugs and kept them as sparkling clean as the Queen's tableware. Never understood why. Germophobia? Pansyitis? It would have been far worse for him had he done it in the Chief's Mess.
On my second Frigate, I was a Chief. We had an XO who was fastidious. Not a bad trait for someone, who among other things, has the duty to do a daily habitability inspection of the ship. When he'd come through the shop he'd inspect our coffee mess and occasionally "hit" it for spilled sugar or creamer or a dirty paper cup that needed to be discarded. Fair enough. But he'd never "hit" a personal coffee mug. He knew better. It never stopped him from mumbling, "You people", "Gah...disgusting", or "Tsk!" in several languages.
{ ^ Heh. That XO wasn't particularly liked. Not that it mattered. It is not in their job description to be liked. But his guy was a.... an....#&&4O!3. He got orders to Iran as a Naval Attaché in Bandar Abbas. Later I found out from one of the Chiefs, a good friend who I was stationed with twice, that he and a few others had sneaked underneath his VW Karmann Ghia and had attached a painted Star of David sign to the undercarriage. I'm guessing they took the XO's coffee mess mumblings more seriously than I did.}
LOL, we had a staff meeting every Tuesday morning. I was hustling to make the meeting and grabbed a cup of coffee in the breakroom on the way. The Admiral was right behind me, and ended up taking the last cup. He didn’t say anything other than, “Gonna be a couple of minutes late, I’ve got to make a new pot.” I offered to do it, but he abided by the rules! And yes, we started late, and he said why!
Fill it until the water touches the bottom of the basket.
Fill the basket with Navspec coffee water level
put the lid on, plug in, and perk through
When the done light comes on, pull the plug and let it cool off stone cold
Plug it in again, and let it perk through.
When the done light comes on, it is ready -
It will keep you awake for days, soothe your nerves while you wait for something to happen, give you an eye a twtch after a while, keep your gut running smoothly, and if accidentally spilled on the deck, it will peel the paint off the deck right down to bright metal
There was a rule I heard about making the coffee strong enough for the spoon to stand up in the mug with no support except the coffee, but I never saw it done. I guess it was apocryphal, or some myth from the wooden ships back in Nelson's day. Or maybe because so many sailors were wholly heterosexual and took their coffee black and had no need of spoons. I dunno. I heard that Navy Instrumentmen and Torpedoman's Mate's who had access to torpedo juice (180-proof alcohol) would add that to their coffee. Far better than that soy-ish sugar and creamer.
I remember a ploy in BESS (Basic Enlisted Submarine School) to try and convince that one guy to clean the coffee pot. Unfortunately, the instructor wasn't cruel enough to actually order him to do it. We all knew that there was no faster way to an "UNSAT" on an eval. The instructor didn't like the slogan on my cup though. It said " Pardon Me. You've probably mistaken me for someone who gives a shit." He still graded my after Christmas leave pop quiz a 4.0 even when I didn't do the "homework." I guess E6's might actually know what they're doing after all. 😄
First ship was a Destroyer Escort. I was the junior RDSA, RDSN, RD3 and RD2 for two years aboard because we all promoted together up though E-4. I got more than my fair share of coffee making E-2 through E-4. First time I made coffee in the Navy was a huge failure. Had no instruction. Thinking I could speed up the process, I filled the 20 cup aluminum percolator with hot water. What did I know, I'd just recently turned 18? I got angrily straightened out. But my education wasn't complete. Having learned cleanliness and hygiene at an early age from my mother I took it upon myself to clean the percolator with a green weenie and Comet Cleanser. I got the inside shiny. Geez, you'd think I'd desecrated a holy relic like a piece of the Holy Cross by sanding and shellacking it. But I got more education and an opportunity to chip in for a new coffee pot. That old pot might have been salvageable, but who wanted to wait for that chemical taste to go away?
On that same ship, we got a new LPO, RD1 Cav__t. Now, by this time I knew way more than COFFEE 101. I was a Junior or Senior...a journeyman, if you will. Maybe 400 level in regard to coffee. Had my own ceramic mug. We all did. Never cleaned it. None of us did, beyond an occasional warm water rinse if there was dust or a dead roach in it. The new LPO was from Arkansas, hadn't gone beyond 8th grade. I'd completed 11½, though I didn't put on airs because others in the division were college boys who'd partied too much and got drafted. The LPO was a level of crude beyond what passed for normal in 1967. First day he was at morning muster/quarters with us he had his coffee mug in his hand. He finished it off and said, "This is my mug. I don't share it. I can't watch it all the time. But if you are rude enough to use my mug when I'm not there, go ahead". Then he quickly unzipped and "rimmed" his mug with his private part. Now, we all knew that mugs were never to be borrowed, that to drink from a shipmate's mug would sully it. Why, Petty Officer Cav__t? Why? I guess he was just marking his territory. He turned out to be a very good LPO. He later converted to the Electronics Warfare Technician rating, as I did. He retired a Master Chief and earned a PhD, went on to work another 20 years for DOD as an EW advisor. He is still around, pretty sure he has that same mug. Unsullied, except by himself.
At unnamed place I once worked, we witnessed a coworker rim the disliked bosses coffee mug the same way. We were appalled, but we never mentioned it to the boss.
Yeah. Oh, my. Thanks, John, for bringing that up. That's not something I would do. If I saw it done (and I never did) I suppose I'd toss the guy's mug as a favor to him and send him some anonymous cash for a replacement. Though I once put a dead gecko in guy's mug. It was ugly looking after the weekend. But at least he got fair warning. Got to watch each other's backs, right? Never worried much about that as a Chief. As a "Paid Asshole" W-3 on a Frigate and O-3E as DIVO for a 400 man division it was worrisome. But it wasn't something to ponder on. I could compartmentalize, think to myself it could never happen to me, or go into denial mode to cope with such things. At least in the Chief's Mess or Wardroom your mug is fairly safe.
My husband's navy career was destroyed prematurely when he was ordered to clean the wardroom but not warned against cleaning the coffee pot or (shudder) the cups hanging next to it...
Pretty tragic, Clair. Nice thing about the Navy was that you could screw up but recover. But I've known many officers who were fastidious about their coffee mugs and kept them as sparkling clean as the Queen's tableware. Never understood why. Germophobia? Pansyitis? It would have been far worse for him had he done it in the Chief's Mess.
On my second Frigate, I was a Chief. We had an XO who was fastidious. Not a bad trait for someone, who among other things, has the duty to do a daily habitability inspection of the ship. When he'd come through the shop he'd inspect our coffee mess and occasionally "hit" it for spilled sugar or creamer or a dirty paper cup that needed to be discarded. Fair enough. But he'd never "hit" a personal coffee mug. He knew better. It never stopped him from mumbling, "You people", "Gah...disgusting", or "Tsk!" in several languages.
{ ^ Heh. That XO wasn't particularly liked. Not that it mattered. It is not in their job description to be liked. But his guy was a.... an....#&&4O!3. He got orders to Iran as a Naval Attaché in Bandar Abbas. Later I found out from one of the Chiefs, a good friend who I was stationed with twice, that he and a few others had sneaked underneath his VW Karmann Ghia and had attached a painted Star of David sign to the undercarriage. I'm guessing they took the XO's coffee mess mumblings more seriously than I did.}
LOL, we had a staff meeting every Tuesday morning. I was hustling to make the meeting and grabbed a cup of coffee in the breakroom on the way. The Admiral was right behind me, and ended up taking the last cup. He didn’t say anything other than, “Gonna be a couple of minutes late, I’ve got to make a new pot.” I offered to do it, but he abided by the rules! And yes, we started late, and he said why!
Woe betide the guy who doesn't abide by that rule.
Into a 50-cup coffee urn -
Fill it until the water touches the bottom of the basket.
Fill the basket with Navspec coffee water level
put the lid on, plug in, and perk through
When the done light comes on, pull the plug and let it cool off stone cold
Plug it in again, and let it perk through.
When the done light comes on, it is ready -
It will keep you awake for days, soothe your nerves while you wait for something to happen, give you an eye a twtch after a while, keep your gut running smoothly, and if accidentally spilled on the deck, it will peel the paint off the deck right down to bright metal
There was a rule I heard about making the coffee strong enough for the spoon to stand up in the mug with no support except the coffee, but I never saw it done. I guess it was apocryphal, or some myth from the wooden ships back in Nelson's day. Or maybe because so many sailors were wholly heterosexual and took their coffee black and had no need of spoons. I dunno. I heard that Navy Instrumentmen and Torpedoman's Mate's who had access to torpedo juice (180-proof alcohol) would add that to their coffee. Far better than that soy-ish sugar and creamer.
I remember a ploy in BESS (Basic Enlisted Submarine School) to try and convince that one guy to clean the coffee pot. Unfortunately, the instructor wasn't cruel enough to actually order him to do it. We all knew that there was no faster way to an "UNSAT" on an eval. The instructor didn't like the slogan on my cup though. It said " Pardon Me. You've probably mistaken me for someone who gives a shit." He still graded my after Christmas leave pop quiz a 4.0 even when I didn't do the "homework." I guess E6's might actually know what they're doing after all. 😄
First ship was a Destroyer Escort. I was the junior RDSA, RDSN, RD3 and RD2 for two years aboard because we all promoted together up though E-4. I got more than my fair share of coffee making E-2 through E-4. First time I made coffee in the Navy was a huge failure. Had no instruction. Thinking I could speed up the process, I filled the 20 cup aluminum percolator with hot water. What did I know, I'd just recently turned 18? I got angrily straightened out. But my education wasn't complete. Having learned cleanliness and hygiene at an early age from my mother I took it upon myself to clean the percolator with a green weenie and Comet Cleanser. I got the inside shiny. Geez, you'd think I'd desecrated a holy relic like a piece of the Holy Cross by sanding and shellacking it. But I got more education and an opportunity to chip in for a new coffee pot. That old pot might have been salvageable, but who wanted to wait for that chemical taste to go away?
On that same ship, we got a new LPO, RD1 Cav__t. Now, by this time I knew way more than COFFEE 101. I was a Junior or Senior...a journeyman, if you will. Maybe 400 level in regard to coffee. Had my own ceramic mug. We all did. Never cleaned it. None of us did, beyond an occasional warm water rinse if there was dust or a dead roach in it. The new LPO was from Arkansas, hadn't gone beyond 8th grade. I'd completed 11½, though I didn't put on airs because others in the division were college boys who'd partied too much and got drafted. The LPO was a level of crude beyond what passed for normal in 1967. First day he was at morning muster/quarters with us he had his coffee mug in his hand. He finished it off and said, "This is my mug. I don't share it. I can't watch it all the time. But if you are rude enough to use my mug when I'm not there, go ahead". Then he quickly unzipped and "rimmed" his mug with his private part. Now, we all knew that mugs were never to be borrowed, that to drink from a shipmate's mug would sully it. Why, Petty Officer Cav__t? Why? I guess he was just marking his territory. He turned out to be a very good LPO. He later converted to the Electronics Warfare Technician rating, as I did. He retired a Master Chief and earned a PhD, went on to work another 20 years for DOD as an EW advisor. He is still around, pretty sure he has that same mug. Unsullied, except by himself.
At unnamed place I once worked, we witnessed a coworker rim the disliked bosses coffee mug the same way. We were appalled, but we never mentioned it to the boss.
Yeah. Oh, my. Thanks, John, for bringing that up. That's not something I would do. If I saw it done (and I never did) I suppose I'd toss the guy's mug as a favor to him and send him some anonymous cash for a replacement. Though I once put a dead gecko in guy's mug. It was ugly looking after the weekend. But at least he got fair warning. Got to watch each other's backs, right? Never worried much about that as a Chief. As a "Paid Asshole" W-3 on a Frigate and O-3E as DIVO for a 400 man division it was worrisome. But it wasn't something to ponder on. I could compartmentalize, think to myself it could never happen to me, or go into denial mode to cope with such things. At least in the Chief's Mess or Wardroom your mug is fairly safe.
The backstage coffee pot is similar. No one ever thought to clean it because stagehands do the impossible but not the bloody impossible.