Bottled Water
This is from Defrag, a highly amusing column in the Australian newspaper on Tuesday. It’s about a company called HQ2O who’s selling bottled water from the water coolers of tech companies like Yahoo.
Defrag doesn’t know about you, but we often think, “Gee, if we only knew some way we could drink the same water as those people at Yahoo!, then we’d be as rich as them.”
Actually no, that’s a lie.
We’ve never thought this at all. It hasn’t even crossed our minds in the moments after consuming our 16th tequila before we lose consciousness, when it seems like a good idea to quit work to become the world’s first roller-skating astronaut.
But the mere fact that an idea is mind-numbingly stupid doesn’t mean someone won’t do it. Just look at the Franklin Mint. A company called HQ2O (www.hq2o.com) is selling bottles of water from the water coolers of Silicon Valley.
Yep, you can actually drink water that has been sourced from Tripod, Yahoo! or Wired. Guaranteed almost completely backwash free.
Or, more to the point, you can’t drink it, because the water has come from a water cooler and has not been purified in any way, so legally the company can’t tell you it’s okay to drink, “but don’t worry,” says the company’s Web site. “We wash our hands frequently, and sterilise all the containers and utensils used in the bottling process.”
Well, that’s a relief. Apparently the water is being sold as a collectable, and Defrag can well imagine a time when a bottle of water from Yahoo! would be worth, say, at least a bottle.
Friends would come over and notice it on the mantelpiece. “What’s that on the mantelpiece next to the comical ceramic tramp?” they would ask. “It’s a bottle of water from Wired’s water cooler,” you would reply, watching the look of envy cross their face. Or maybe that’s bewilderment – sometimes it’s hard to tell.
9:40pm (GMT +10.00) 
