Wanna co-pour?

Photo by Ralf Roletschek.

By Melissa Nightingale

It’s after midnight and my gtalk client is pinging. I’m up and still working, sitting cross-legged at my desk, a glass of lagavulin 16 next to my keyboard. It’s been a long day of work and while I signed off for dinner, I hopped back on a couple hours ago and am still at it.

I turn the volume down on my machine and fire up skype. Before it even finishes loading, a call is coming in from a coworker halfway across the world who understands exactly what kind of day I’ve had.

I smile at the glowing green light on my machine and lift my glass to touch the screen as he does the same.

“How you holding up?”

“OK, it’s been a hell of a day. Better now.”

. . .

Welcome to The Co-Pour.

Years ago when we were starting out in tech, co-pours were a safe space to blow off steam, to debrief on the entirely preventable mess you were cleaning up, to talk about career development and traverse the challenges of tech leadership. In the late evening glow of a macbook screen with scotch in hand, it helped to know that someone else was up doing the exact same thing in another country or time zone.

Co-pours were how you knew you weren’t alone.

Grab a seat, get comfortable, pour something that warms your insides. We’re glad you’re here.