“The trouble with staying home from work is that you have to drink coffee on your own time” was credited in January 1962 to Harold Coffin (1905-1981). Coffin was a humorist who wrote “Coffin’s Needle” for the Associated Press for 13 years, retiring in 1975.
New York (NY) Times
HAROLD COFFIN
AP
Published: September 18, 1981
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 17— Harold Coffin, a former humor columnist for The Associated Press, died Saturday of a heart attack in Capitola, a small town near Santa Cruz, south of San Francisco.
He was 76 years old.
Mr. Coffin retired from The Associated Press in 1975 after writing “Coffin’s Needle” for 13 years.
15 January 1962, Fort Pierce (FL) News Tribune, “Grins and Grits,” pg. 4, col. 1:
The trouble with staying home from work is that you have to drink coffee on your own time.
—Harold Coffin.
16 August 1962, Deming (NM) Headlight, “Plain Talk” by Wendell Faught, pg. 1, col. 1:
‘The trouble with staying home from work,” writes Lloyd S. Walters of the Mountain Home (Idaho) News, “is that you have to drink coffee on your own time.”
18 July 1977, Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, UT), pg. 1, col. 3:
Today’s Chuckle
The worst thing about retirement is having to drink coffee on your own time.
Google Books
The Winning Manager:
Leadership skills for greater innovation, quality, and employee commitment
By Julius E. Eitington
Houston, TX: Gulf Pub. Co.
1997
Pg. 165:
And a standard quip among the retired has it that “The worst thing about retirement is having to drink coffee on your own time.”
The Notes:
Ronald Reagan’s Private Collection of Stories and Wisdom
By Ronald Reagan
Edited by Douglas Brinkley
New York, NY: HarperCollins
2011
Pg. 203:
The trouble with staying home from work is that you have to drink coffee on your own time.
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.
Recent entries:
•“I read old books because I would rather learn from those who built civilization than those who tore it down” (4/18)
•“I study old buildings because I would rather learn from those who built civilization than those who tore it down” (4/18)
•“Due to personal reasons, I’m still going to be fluffy this summer” (4/18)
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More new entries...
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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