This week, a coffee barista put up a booth outside the Goldman Sachs offices to advertise his nascent java business. He alleges that the megabank’s caffeine-deprived executives gave him and his coworkers an earful.
“You’re back! Thank God!” one Goldman employee exclaimed Thursday morning as he approached the stand, which was serving hot coffee, iced coffee, and iced oat milk lattes.
“They took that s*** away — they took our coffee away,” gasped another, according to Britton O’Daly, owner of Cometeer, which sells its coffee in flash-frozen pods
According to O’Daly, other bankers who were welcomed with a banner that said “Free Coffee for Goldman Employees!” were either too fearful or too anxious to engage in conversation. Instead, they immediately grabbed a handful of pods and dashed inside the posh Manhattan offices of the bank at 200 West St.
According to The Post, Goldman Sachs began the new year by discontinuing its free coffee perk for staff, who are already on edge due to impending layoffs. One employee told The Post that those who went to the 11th-floor “Sky Lobby” for their normal cup of coffee were met with “a sign and a woman yelling at us that it was no longer complimentary.”
One young employee stuffed seven pills into his pockets before rushing to work, according to O’Daly, who noted that nervous bankers seemed to be preparing for a late night on Thursday.
Goldman workers informed the Cometeer team that the company’s decision to stop providing free coffee had made their five-day-a-week commute even more unpleasant. According to O’Daly, employees characterised the workplace as “loud” and “chaotic” with “everyone looks sad.”
The Cometeer team that set up shop following the termination of free cold brew said that the attitude of Goldman workers has declined even in the last few months, and that everyone looks “stressed.”
“The situation is dire,” remarked O’Daly. “People are really bummed about the coffee phasing out.”
As a result of chief executive David Solomon’s announcement that he intends to let off another group of employees during “the first half of January,” Goldman employees are apprehensive. Last month, Semafor claimed that Goldman would lay off 4,000 “low performing” employees, or around 8% of the workforce. However, according to sources, this figure may eventually be fewer.
Goldman ceased offering free cold-brew in the lobby after Labor Day, but continued to provide complimentary coffee on the 11th floor.
»Goldman bankers “are really bummed about the coffee phasing out”«