A Lack Of Caffeine Can Make People A Little Crazy

My coworker stops in before he drives across the country for work, we chat, and he leaves. A few minutes later, I realise he left his still unopened cup of takeaway coffee on the side. I go out to see his car gone. I call him but his phone is off. I message him just so he knows why I called.

Ten minutes pass, and I figure, well, the coffee is soon to go cold, and it’s still good, so I break the tab and drink it myself.

The next day, he’s back in the office. We chat about how the trip went.

Coworker: “Oh, I saw a missed call from you.”

Me: “Yeah, I sent you a message. You left your coffee behind.”

Coworker: “Oh, that’s weird; I didn’t get it. But that does explain things. I was wondering where I left it. At least I didn’t drive off with it on my roof like I thought.”

Me: “Yeah, I’ve done that before, but I reversed and got to watch my coffee pour down the window in front of me. Yours didn’t go to waste, though.”

Coworker: “What do you mean?”

Me: “Oh, well, I drank it. I waited until I was sure you weren’t coming back.”

Coworker: “You drank my coffee?”

Me: “Well, yeah. What did you want me to do, pour it away?”

Coworker: “You shouldn’t drink my coffee. I paid for that.”

Me: “Hang on. If I hadn’t drunk it, it would have been thrown away.”

Coworker: “Buy me another one!”

I would have done anyway, just as a nice gesture, sort of paying it forward, but his attitude is so aggressive, and I don’t appreciate being ordered around.

Me: “Mate, I don’t appreciate your tone.”

He let out a string of expletives at me, went straight to Human Resources, and told them half of the story. I had to explain the actual story. They told him to go away and that it was not an issue.

Funny — when he did the same thing to my lunch a few months back but didn’t actually check whether I had left — I hadn’t — I didn’t make half the fuss he did.