Attack of the Sleep Pods!

"there was no staff around which seemed strange. Maybe they were eaten by the alien looking pods for brunch....I expected tentacles to come down from the ceiling of the pod and attach themselves to my head and suck out all of my memory and then eat my brain"

Working in the Sydney CBD can be a great experience. Even greater than watching Big Brother or Australian Idol on television, and much better than listening to your old Bros or Bon Jovi albums!

There are numerous cafĂ©’s, restaurants and drinking holes in this part of the city for us workers to frequent. Most of them offer a wide range of food and drinks for hungry and thirsty workers to try. Close by is the main shopping strip that revolves around Pitt Street Mall where workers can shop ‘til they drop during their lunch break.

Anyway, one of my co-workers, Caramel – author of the mighty
http://bunnobumpkin.blogspot.com/
mentioned that there is a place in Sydney where workers can have a have a twenty minute nap in a sleep pod. Best of all it is free! Well, when I heard the ‘F’ word my ears pricked up!

“Free, what do you mean free?” I asked Caramel. To which I got the rather bemused response “Erm, it doesn’t cost you anything” Okay, I thought, I had better give it a shot. Caramel gave me details of the sleep pod experience and I swiftly accessed the web page and reserved one for a few days ahead.

On the day of the experience I was getting very excited. After all, I am always moaning about the lack of sleep I get, and often feel tired in the afternoon. Maybe the 20 minute nap would help recharge my (Energiser) batteries. If I enjoyed the experience then I could make the sleep pod a part of my regular sleep routine.

My appointment was for 12.30 and I made my way to where the sleep pods were located. Once there I went upstairs and saw three sleep pods awaiting the next customer. Funnily enough, there was no staff around which seemed strange. Maybe they were eaten by the alien looking pods for brunch.

There was a person in one of the sleep pods as I could see their legs sticking out (no idea what had happened to their upper body though!). My first thought was that the sleep pods reminded me of one of those James Bond or science fiction movies where a person is strapped into a seat and they then have this contraption put on their head, and within minutes their mind has been erased, or worse. I rejected this thought and put it down to a lack of coffee for the day.

I picked up an instruction sheet and made my way to an unoccupied sleep pod. I sat in the seat and followed what was required to have a relaxing twenty minutes of sleep time. I had trouble adjusting the level of the seat. The idea was to have your knees raised to the level of your heart. Anyway, after a few attempts I got the correct position. Next was to set the timer for 20 mins, put on the headphones and close the pod.

Lying inside the pod reminded me of what it would be like to have half a gigantic egg shell put over your head. Well that’s what it felt like to me! I expected tentacles to come down from the ceiling of the pod and attach themselves to my head and suck out all of my memory and then eat my brain. Fortunately, that didn’t happen.

A voice started speaking to me via the headphones. Also, new age music was being played in the background. The voice told me that I was going to relax and would enjoy the sleep experience. I started to relax and the music began to have a sleepy affect on me. However, this was interrupted by the voice intermittently telling me how I would be feeling by now. In fact, the voice continued the whole time of my 'sleep'.

Just as I was falling asleep the voice (now really pissing me off!) told me that my sleep experience was coming to a close and I needed to wake up. Fat chance of that, I thought. Within seconds the seat was in the upright position and my twenty minutes was over.

Did I feel less tired? No. Did I feel relaxed? No. Will I be going back? Yes – but with the volume set to zero!

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