“I will start working when my coffee does” is a jocular saying that has been printed on many gift items, such as coffee mugs, posters and T-shirts. “I start working when the coffee does” was cited on Twitter on November 12, 2008.
“I will start working when the caffeine does” has also been printed on several gift items and has been cited in print since at least 2009.
Twitter
Angie Toews
@one2winit
I start working when the coffee does—
2:21 PM - 12 Nov 2008
Twitter
Stephanie Youngblood
@takinpitchas
Wednesdays are good days… usually very productive. Saw a coffee mug that said, “I’ll start working when my coffee does.” I need that 1 :D
10:13 PM - 27 Jan 2009
Coffee Snobs (Australia)
7th October 2009
Re: Tamborine Mountain - Mt Tamborine Coffee Plantation
herbie
(...)
The missus bought a coffee mug which states"I start working when the caffeine does”..
Google Books
The Accidental Adult:
Essays and Advice for the Reluctantly Responsible and Marginally Mature
By Colin Sokolowski
Avon, MA: Adams Media
2010
Pg. 41:
Cartoons or sarcastic signs proclaiming “The Department of I Don’t Care!” or “I start working when the coffee does!” or “You’re not the boss of me. My dog is!”
Twitter
Jeffry Haikel
@Catcher_Block
I start working ...when the caffeine does
6:41 PM - 2 Mar 2010
Funny Status
I’ll start working when my coffee does.
January 27, 2015
I’ll start working when my coffee does.
BuzzFeed
23 Hilarious Tweets About Coffee That Will Get You Every Time
I’ll start working when my coffee does.
posted on Jan.. 7, 2016, at 12:58 p.m
Anna Borges
Facebook
The Chicken Chick
May 20, 2016
I start working when the coffee does. #coffeeup
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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