Many offices these days employ an office coffee service. Standard coffee service provides a technician who will visit on-site in case your coffee machinery needs to be repaired or replaced. Select services provide a full array of coffee and tea products. This means that, generally weekly, a delivery person will stop by and replenish your supply of coffee, tea, and accompaniments.

The benefits of this service are clear: if the machine breaks, you won't have to rely on that one person from another department who understands coffee makers to get the coffee flowing again. It's also a great way for employees to feel taken care of by their employers. However, this added service also creates an additional area in which employees need to practice proper etiquette. Here's how you can ensure you're behaving politely when your office engages an office coffee service.

Choose a Volunteer If possible, ask a volunteer to be in charge of interacting with the coffee service company. If you notice the coffee machine is broken, inform the volunteer, who will make the appropriate calls. This prevents the service company from receiving multiple calls from desperate workers for the same job.

Be Patient When someone's actively working on the coffee machine, don't try to sneak around the technician for that lone cup's worth of coffee still in the pot. The repairs will get done faster if he or she doesn't have to wait for impatient customers, which means everyone will get coffee sooner overall.

To Tip or Not to Tip If you have a select service where a delivery person stops by to replenish your beverage supply (and even baked goods), you may have questions concerning the etiquette of tipping the delivery person. This practice isn't yet standard, and even Emily Post's guidelines about tipping for deliveries may not apply.

If you're lucky, your boss will inform everyone about a clear policy concerning tipping the delivery person for coffee service. This could mean that you shouldn't feel compelled to tip personally, or perhaps that he or she (or the office fund) will take care of the tip. Otherwise, you and your colleagues may want to set out a tip jar in the break room for people to deposit their spare change, and let the delivery person know that he or she is free to empty the jar for themselves when they visit.

You may not be comfortable asking your boss or coworkers about their ideas on tipping. You may then decide for yourself if you want to slip the delivery person a buck or two when you happen to run into them. The service company likely has a policy regarding delivery tips; if employees are allowed to accept tips, the delivery person will appreciate the gesture.

Office coffee services, from companies like Fox Vending & Coffee Service, can help offices run smoothly and create an enjoyable workplace environment. Following proper etiquette concerning this service isn't difficult, and will help you, your coworkers, and the service personnel feel at ease in the workplace.