We had a lunch meeting with our new department manager for R&D who told us how our firm has done and what changes we might expect in the workplace.  We’ve done very well and are starting to reverse some of the cost cutting measures so sometime this week our water coolers will come back.  We prodded him more to see what else we could get and soon we found out if our luck continued we’d get all our old amenities back.  This manager was new so I figured I could try something.

Me:  Do you think we could get our meeting budget back?  We used to have food during lunch meetings.
Manager:  I don’t see why not.
Me: So, we could bring back free bagels on Friday? (which we never had)
Manager: Well, I guess if we can justify it.
Another temp picking up on what I’m doing: So you’re saying, six months or so we could get the espresso machine back? (which we also never had)
Manager: I love a good espresso.

By the time we were done we’d almost gotten a soda fountain and build-your-own sundae bar.