Denuo - denuology.com

Today is Thursday and tomorrow is Friday. For Denuo Chicago, this statement is more than just an exercise in keeping your days of the week straight. Friday = Roll Day, where each week one pair of Denuologists is responsible for bringing in breakfast. We are treated to wonderful meals ranging from bacon cupcakes, bagels, breakfast burritos, donuts, shrimp 'n grits - you get the idea. I would say that savory breakfasts are bigger hits than sweet ones, not because they aren't as delicious but simply because sugar crashes are not fun.

When I started at Denuo, nobody told me about Roll Day. Miserly and tricksy, I chose to play dumb and eat free breakfast hoping nobody would discover I was mooching. Then Lizzy joined Denuo and brought order and responsibility to my life...and drained my chakhras with my Ewok flash drive. Wicket! That story is for another time.

My first partner was a special snowflake whose mantra was to DOMINATE. We bought a double-burner hotplate - a completely illegal purchase meant to bring Roll Day to a new level. If you squint, it looks like a set of turntables. Our first step towards domination: omelets made to order, with toast. We had a game plan for everything. Then the special snowflake forgot to bring his frying pan, so he had to run to Walgreen's and buy a toaster. He was wearing an apron.

Several partner changes later in a new space surrounded by 300+ Razorfish people we can't afford to feed, Lizzy is my partner. Last time, we brought out the turntables and made egg scrambles to order – with sausage, biscuits, apple butter, and Sriracha! Mmmmm. Our Razorfish neighbors are quite jealous. But enough with food: Roll Day is not just about eating – it teaches us important life/work lessons!

1) Contributing makes you feel like part of a community – once I started bribing my colleagues with breakfast, we became frands! (This empirical data only reflects correlation and not causality.)

2) It only takes one person to build momentum – special snowflake and I can't take credit for bringing Roll Day to a new level, but the turntables and toaster are what have raised the bar and enabled us to have shrimp ‘n grits, pigs in blankets and toaster scrambles/strudels for breakfast.

3) Small groups and informal settings allow for more open discussion – because our group is 10 at most, Roll Day inevitably leads to interesting conversation and allows us to learn more about each other, especially when Lizzy (cat lover) talks about cats in front of Anisha and Durbin (cat haters). Try talking to 300 people about cats.

4) It’s important to balance work with fun – everyone gets excited for Roll Day, and the half hour…or hour and a half we spend talking and laughing makes the week end on an even better note.

5) Variety is the spice of life – we have interesting and different breakfasts every week to keep Roll Day from being boring, and we also really enjoy when our California brethren are in town for it.

Anyway, Brad is up this week. He better fulfill the above lessons…or else.