coffee in a mug, not

i've officially been working for one month now. the learning curve has been erratic, to say the least. at times, i find myself looking at the screen on my laptop and glancing at the time every five seconds, other times, i am given a piece of work that is completely alien to me that i do not know where or how to begin.

but i guess, one is expected to learn, and when unsure, to ask. of course, observation is an important trait to acquire. after all, we are adults and no adult wants to be be spoon-feed. that apart, i find myself knowing my colleagues a little better, i am beginning to get used to the working culture, i am beginning to settle down in my cubicle, and my chair is starting to mould into the shape of my butt.

not too bad for four weeks of work, i guess.

anyway, a small incident highlighted my day in the office a few days ago. my office has a pantry with a coffee machine. those instant type of machine where you press a button and it fills up your cup with hot coffee. and i had brought one of my favorite mugs to the office, in case i need a hot drink or something. so the other day, i was really sleepy in the afternoon, to the extent that my eyes were refusing to stay open. and then i remembered the coffee machine!

genius, i thought to myself.

so i stood up, picked up my 500ml beer mug and walked to the pantry, eager to try the coffee to help me stay awake for the next two hours. and then disaster struck. i could not fit my mug under the coffee machine, because it was too big. i tilted it to no avail. the only way to fit my huge mug was by turning it 90 degrees, which would then be impossible to contain any coffee.

a colleague walked past the pantry, he smiled at me and i smiled back. after he was gone, i tried again, secretly hoping my mug would shrink enough to fit under the coffee machine. then i looked around for another cup in the pantry, so that i could at least use it to transfer coffee into my mug.

the pantry has no mug/cup/glass/bowl that i could use!

in the end, i returned to my cubicle with my still empty mug with no coffee to drink. but that episode managed to keep me awake for the remaining two hours until i knocked off.

moral of the story: don't use too big a cup, in other words, don't be kiasu!

m.