Tuesday 11 August 2015

Coffee mugs & Albert Einstein

It was my colleague's birthday last month.


"Tasse Kaffee" by 3268zauber - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tasse_Kaffee.jpg#/media/File:Tasse_Kaffee.jpg

Every morning, this colleague of mine would persistently ask me if I wanted a cup of coffee.

Now, I quite like this colleague of mine - he is very wise, kind, experienced and knowledgeable and, to this day, we have great philosophical discussions - but I don't drink coffee (nor do I drink tea) so I had to decline each time the offer was put to me.

Of course, I can drink coffee every now and then, but it has to be very sweet as I am a bit of a sweet tooth.

The fact of the matter is that I find that coffee (caffeine) doesn't really have an effect on me in small to medium doses - I can still sleep the same with or without it. By way of contrast, during my uni days I found that people would drink energy drinks or coffee to extreme limits (especially the night before an exam).

So I have never really understood the obsession with coffee. But sure, okay, I like the taste - coffee ice cream is great for example.

So the joke would be along these lines.

There was a period of time where my colleague would, at approximately 11am each day (his usual hour), make his coffee and then put in a special effort to walk by my door and ask me:

"Want a coffee Andre?"

Each time I'd have to disappoint him:

"No thank you, appreciate it though"



On other days the following lines would pop up (in no particular order):

"You sure you don't want a coffee?"

"Thanks, but I'm alright---Thank you for asking me though."


"Coffee today?"

"I'm okay thanks."


"Why don't you drink coffee?"

"I don't know, I just don't. Sorry."


"Do you drink tea?"

"Sometimes, but not really on a regular basis"


"You should try coffee one day."

"Sure. I will, but maybe not today...."


"You're the only one here who doesn't drink coffee!"


I'd then often hear him say this in the background to another colleague:

"One day someone will have to force Andre into drinking coffee..."


Our secretary also joined forces with my colleague and asked me the other day:

"So what DO you drink Andre?"

"Well.... I like to drink honey mixed with hot water at home." 

(There is a silence - and then she bursts out laughing)

"WHAT?! That is such a 'dad' kind of drink!"


(I can't really say she's wrong...)

Still, another time, when it was my colleague's birthday, he sent this humorous email to the whole office with words to the following effect:

"So for my birthday everyone MUST have a cup of coffee (and that includes you Andre)."

So, given the above, I thought it would only be appropriate for me to get this mug for my colleague's birthday:
Totally addicted to coffee

I thought it was funny at the time.

However, I'm not completely sure whether he appreciated the joke though, as he hasn't asked me about coffee since I gave the mug to him...**

In a strange sort of way, sometimes I wish he'd start asking me again**.

I didn't mind.


***

I also bought this really cool Albert Einstein mug with this inspiring quote:
I have no special talents, I am only passionately curious.

I feel that this is a good motto to have in life. So I have been using this cup at work.

The two cups come from Pyramid International who, as I understand it, have a large host of such novel products.

Interestingly, Albert Einstein and his image are trademarks of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Wikipedia tells me that Einstein's image rights were bequeathed to the University and, apparently, the University employs an agent to enforce these rights at the commercial level.

The cups are rather pricey for what they are and cost around $25 each including shipping.

Perhaps I will focus more on writing small entries like this instead of long, over-the-top board game reviews or music lists.

Andre Lim


** Murphy's Law: The day after I published this post, he asked me if I wanted coffee.

No comments:

Post a Comment