Den Tomme Koppen

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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."

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."

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

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