Quality of Life at Work

Quality of Life at Work

We all know where to get a box of cheap ball points, - the cheapest files, the cheapest paper to cut the cost of office life. Indeed it's a national sport that takes the time of many a buyer, bean counter and the rest of us who have unwittingly become cynical about prices. There are hundreds of Web sites that compare prices and millions of conversations about how little something cost. As boot sales and ebay flourish it's become a way of life. Oscar Wilde was right - "A cynic is someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing".

In the end, our time is little valued. The time saved by a worker has been investigated it's true. Time and motion has become a science in the factories. However the happiness of people who do essential tasks repeatedly is only just dawning as a vital factor to get the most out of the payroll. People work for more than pay alone.

What lifts the spirit of the millions of people who work in mundane jobs doing essential tasks every day at work ? The cheapest chair? the dullest decor? horrible lighting? the the lowest spec machine you can possibly get away with? These have become acceptable as the norm by now and most companies are too strapped paying huge taxes and rates to be 'extravagant' by suddenly changing their ways.

The Bureau in Great Newport Street has seen the problem and provides help. Here you can buy pretty artifacts that help organise the endless clutter that builds up on a busy desk. Here is a place where you can get a present for birthdays (and more) that you can also wrap in a totally top way, bags that look the business and endless things to make a person feel special.

But there's more to it than that. the fact is you can get top quality in a variety that will surely suit your taste. By top quality I mean things that make you want to 'do it' rather than 'put it off' - like the pen that starts writing when you do. Lamy pens from the family German company are referred to as writing instruments and collectable as vintage, antique and limited editions. It's a pen that makes writing a pleasure. Here you have plenty to chose from.

Here you can get a full range of Claire Fontaine stationery. What makes it the required notebook in French schools? Nice paper, quality spirals, perfect bindings, good colours? - it's hard to say why they are so good to write in. Their range of coloured envelopes and cards speaks for itself though. Do you leave an orange, purple or pink envelope unopened? Even their brown envelope is a statement of class.

The shop itself is relaxing to be in. It's not overlit and the music is good. The best thing about it though is the certainty that if it's a good gadget that really saves time and innovates - you will find it here. for example - Claire Fontaine and Nokia have clubbed together to produce what we have been waiting for for a long time. A pen that writes on paper and sends the result to business colleagues by mobile phone.

Why? Well note taking is a common enough practice. We all do it. Now you can value your notes enough to share them, perpetuate your ideas and maybe take your light from under the bushel of complex and boring technology.

The Bureau is about flying the flag, raising the spirits and getting some extra quality into almost anything you do. Not only in the office either.