A coffee barista set up a table outside Goldman Sachs headquarters this week to promote his fledgling java brand — and he claims he and his colleagues got an earful from the mega-bank’s caffeine-starved bankers.
“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
Other bankers — who were greeted with a warm, friendly sign that said “Free Coffee for Goldman employees!” — were either too afraid or too stressed to chat, according to O’Daly. Instead, they just quickly grabbed a handful of pods and scurried into the bank’s upscale Manhattan headquarters at 200 West St.
As reported by The Post, Goldman Sachs kicked off the new year by yanking its free coffee perk for employees — who are already on edge over looming layoffs. Those who went to grab their usual cup of joe in the so-called “Sky Lobby” on the 11th floor were confronted with “a sign and a woman yelling at us that it was no longer complimentary,” one employee told The Post.
O’Daly said that jittery bankers on Thursday seemed to be stocking up for the late night ahead — one young employee crammed seven capsules into his pockets before hurrying off to work.
Goldman employees told the Cometeer crew that Goldman ending the free coffee has made going into the office five days a week even more dreadful. Employees described the office as a “loud, chaotic” place where “everyone looks sad,” according to O’Daly.
The Cometeer crew who set up shop after the end of free cold brew said the mood of Goldman employees seems to have soured from even a few months ago — and that everyone appeared “stressed.”
“The situation is dire,” O’Daly added. “People are really bummed about the coffee phasing out.”
Goldmanites have been jittery after chief executive David Solomon revealed plans to lay off another round of workers during “the first half of January.” Last month, Semafor reported Goldman will lay off 4,000 “low performing” staff — roughly 8% of its workforce — although insiders noted it may ultimately be a smaller number.
After Labor Day, Goldman had ended the complimentary cold-brew in the lobby but kept the free coffee on the 11th floor.
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
