The Empty Mug

It was Pedro's first day at his new job. He arrived twenty minutes early. The office was on the fourth floor of a building near the river. Someone showed him his desk and gave him a laptop. Then they disappeared into a meeting.

Det var Pedros første dag i den nye jobben. Han kom tjue minutter for tidlig. Kontoret lå i fjerde etasje i en bygning nær elven. Noen viste ham pulten hans og ga ham en bærbar datamaskin. Så forsvant de inn i et møte.

Pedro sat down. The desk was clean. There was a single ceramic mug on the corner, empty. He thought it was a welcome gift, maybe. He didn't drink coffee, but he was thirsty.

Pedro satte seg ned. Pulten var ren. Det sto en enslig keramikkopp i hjørnet, tom. Han tenkte at det kanskje var en velkomstgave. Han drakk ikke kaffe, men han var tørst.

He walked to the small kitchen and filled the mug with water. When he sat back down, a man with a beard appeared at the door of his cubicle. The man looked at the mug for a long second.

Han gikk til det lille kjøkkenet og fylte koppen med vann. Da han satte seg ned igjen, dukket en mann med skjegg opp i døren til kuben hans. Mannen så på koppen i et langt sekund.

"That was my mug," he said. "I sat there before." He smiled. "It's fine. Welcome. I'm Diego."

"Det var min kopp," sa han. "Jeg satt der før." Han smilte. "Det går bra. Velkommen. Jeg heter Diego."

Pedro turned red. He apologized and offered the mug back. Diego laughed. "Keep it. Consider it your welcome gift. But ask first about the coffee. The machine is more complicated than it looks."

Pedro ble rød. Han unnskyldte seg og tilbød å gi koppen tilbake. Diego lo. "Behold den. Tenk på det som din velkomstgave. Men spør først om kaffen. Maskinen er mer komplisert enn den ser ut."

Later, Diego showed him how the coffee machine worked. It took ten minutes.

Senere viste Diego ham hvordan kaffemaskinen fungerte. Det tok ti minutter.