Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from producer Raymond Rapada. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Eli | Email Lauren For junior White House staffers, few things can earn you as much good will within your office as a great haul on the third Thursday of each month. Known as “candy pickup day,” it’s when the Navy Mess doles out boxes of custom M&Ms, Hershey Kisses and other treats embossed with the presidential seal and President JOE BIDEN’s signature. The presidential candy is beloved by White House staffers, who relish being able to give them to friends and family as gifts and snack on them in between meetings when caffeine no longer does the trick. “Obviously we need our sugar rush to get through the days,” said a former White House staffer. But supplies are limited. Each office on the White House campus gets a certain allotment depending on its size and how many visitors it typically has coming through. And each month, the candy inevitably runs out before everyone can get their share. The actual process of procuring the custom presidential candy typically falls on junior staff, and mastering it has become a right of passage for those charged with this tasty assignment. On the third Thursday of each month, those on candy duty head into work early. They look for carts or other wheeled contraptions that will make carrying their candy stash easier. And they promptly head over to line up near the gift shop in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. They bring their laptops and sometimes even a swivel chair so they can work while waiting. Some staffers told West Wing Playbook that they’ve gotten in line as early as 8 a.m., even though candy isn’t actually handed out until mid-morning, usually around 11 a.m. If you get there too late, you risk missing the good stuff. The peanut M&Ms — the most in-demand item — always go first. The Hershey Kisses are better than nothing, but they also signal to the rest of your office that you didn’t give it your full effort. “People get there so early,” said a White House staffer. “There’s this one woman who every week is there at the front of the line with her laptop.” The real standout staffers are the ones who manage to convince the Navy Mess employees to give their office more than their designated allotment. Staffers get creative. “You’ve got to be really confident and basically gaslight them and say that you’re picking up for like X, Y and Z teams. Otherwise, they’ll try to limit how many you can take,” said the White House staffer. “If they question you or you stutter at all, they’ll say no.” (Coke and Pepsi products are also given out on candy Thursdays and junior staff have to learn which kind of soda the senior officials in their office prefer. Very few like Pepsi. The White House, it turns out, is a big Diet Coke place and there’s often some light bartering between junior staff to try to get more of it.) Interns will often take over candy duty. And sometimes junior staffers are let off the hook by a higher up who volunteers just to witness the whole spectacle for themselves. But that probably won’t be the case this Thursday, when the pressure will be especially high to procure a large supply of candy due to how long its been since offices were able to stock up on the good stuff. During the holidays, supplies were especially limited. In October, most of the presidential candy went to the first lady’s office, which hosts a number of trick-or-treating events. In fact, when staffers went to the October candy pick up, they were given Russell Stover marshmallow cream pumpkins — which no one liked. They didn’t even have a White House logo. As the holidays drew closer, supply remained scarce. In December, family-size bags of M&Ms were given out instead of the individually packaged M&Ms in the custom presidential boxes. Some offices have instituted a ration on their remaining presidential candy, barring staffers from eating it and saving it only to give to visitors when they come for West Wing tours or White House meetings. Some staffers who spoke with West Wing Playbook described the hype around the White House candy as “amusing” and “insane.” But others said it made total sense. White House staffers don’t get comped lunch or free food like they might in a corporate workplace, so a lot of excitement builds around such things, like a box of M&Ms. “It’s a way to share this special experience, which often takes us away from friends of family, with the people we love,” said a second White House staffer. MESSAGE US — Are you THE WHITE HOUSE STAFFER WHO IS AT THE FRONT OF THE LINE EVERY CANDY THURSDAY? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here!
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