It's just a coffee mug
Wednesday, we had a departmental meeting in what normally is our coffee break room, which boasts a sofa suite and a coffee table and photos on the walls from parties, company picnics and the like. Each of us has his or her own coffe cup or mug, usually scattered on the coffee table and reused each day (washing is up to the owner). Yesterday I discovered that my coffee mug was missing. Probably scooped up with the rest of the dishes from the meeting and sent to the employee cafeteria.
It annoys me. It's just a mug. It's not even pretty; it is plain white sporting only the black text logo of a fungus insurance firm (I kid you not), but it was given to me by a very friendly representative of said firm when I was new at my company, over 20 years ago. And I get a secret kick out of drinking out of something that has "hussopp" (literally: house fungus) in big letters on it.
But what I've come to realize really bothers me is that, in spite of that coffee mug being my regular cup for 8 years in this department, nobody has noticed it's mine. It was mistaken for one of the company mugs.
This is definitely one of those stupid minor annoyances in life that can become so major, if it isn't let go. But I'm torn between trying to get that mug back (and I have searched and will search again the cup racks in our cafeteria) and just saying, "Ah, fuck it" and bringing something else to work. Something my cow-orkers won't assume is company property. Like something bright red with "BITCH" written on it.
Hmmm... I think I know what I want for Christmas. ;-)
Comments
Well yeah, it's called STEALING!
I've caught guys at work trying to walk off with my tools either because they are trying to steal them, or because they don't have their own. In either case, it is completely disrespectful.
Bummer. Now I'm upset again! :P I looked online to see if they were still available, but never found them. Perhaps I'll try that again today... when I should be studying!
I was referring more to Tim's comment and the idea of people walking off with stuff that is obviously someone else's than specifically your coffee cup.
I guess actually, in a lot of these cases, we don't really know if it's outrightr stealing or just stupidity. Be that as it may, in the case of tools, most people have a very clear "hands-off" policy, and to ignore that unwritten rule is the eptome of disrespect. That same rule, I expect, applies to things on an office worker's desk, no?
Mark, my vote's with stupidity. The cup was not taken from my desk but from a communal coffee break room. I should probably bring it up Monday and make everyone else go look for it.
It stayed with me after that.
Today I'm bringing my bright San Franciso mug to work. That ought to send the message, "Ikke din kopp!", Mark. ;-)