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 på hans nye job. Han ankom tyve minutter for tidligt. Kontoret lå på fjerde sal i en bygning nær floden. Nogen viste ham hans skrivebord og gav ham en bærbar computer. Så forsvandt de ind i et møde.

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 sig ned. Skrivebordet var rent. Der var kun et enkelt keramikkrus i hjørnet, tomt. Han tænkte, det måske var en velkomstgave. Han drak ikke kaffe, men han var tørstig.

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 gik til det lille køkken og fyldte kruset med vand. Da han satte sig tilbage, dukkede en mand med skæg op i døren til hans kontor. Manden kiggede på kruset 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 mit krus," sagde han. "Jeg sad der før." Han smilede. "Det er fint. Velkommen. Jeg hedder 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 blev rød i hovedet. Han undskyldte og tilbød at give kruset tilbage. Diego lo. "Behold det. Betragt det som din velkomstgave. Men spørg først om kaffen. Maskinen er mere kompliceret, end den ser ud."

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

Senere viste Diego ham, hvordan kaffemaskinen fungerede. Det tog ti minutter.