Earning Brownie Points with Brownies...or Cupcakes

    Today is my birthday, and one of the first things I think about upon waking up is the fact that I promised my co-workers that I'd bring them in cupcakes.  A trip to Publix for $15 worth of pastries, and then I'm reminded that I also promised to bring in those gross little heart-shaped candies for Valentine's Day.  I don't even like those things, yet I'm stocking up my cart with them.  I can't help but come to the realization that I've been doing an awful lot of giving since getting this job.

My co-workers at the police department deal with a lot of people during the course of the night - angry, upset citizens who are never particularly happy to see them.  I like to ease the stress for them by offering up both a cheerful attitude as well as the occasional (and seasonal) treat.  This past Christmas I handed out goody-bags (as detailed in this post), and on Halloween I kept a candy bowl stocked at my desk for the entire month of October (and what with working with so many men who don't know how to portion their handfuls, I was constantly refilling that thing).  I've never gotten the same treatment in return from the officers - though the office ladies make really good cookies on occasion! - it just makes me feel good in my work environment to know that I can contribute some cheer...or diabetes.  That is a lot of sugar I'm handing out, after all...

Cost-wise it's not like I'm stretching my pockets out on behalf of my job.  Those Valentine's Day candies are practically made of chalk, so they sell for pennies a bag.  And when it came to my Christmas goody-bags it was more than a reasonable amount of money to spend considering the number of people I was able to include.  Yes, the cost of the Halloween candy got a bit excessive since I had to purchase new bags every week, but I like to think of it as a work-related charitable donation.  If you haven't done a random act of kindness for your co-workers I highly suggest that you try it out - you'll be surprised what a bag of candy can buy you in the workplace.