Imagine what could be so much of a privilege that it needs to kept under lock and key away from the common eye and the access of lesser mortals like me.
Come..on.. take a wild guess!!!
Now, if you have guessed it right, I can only imagine that you have either already identified my company and its ways, or you have been working in a similarly pathetic place.
Coming to the secret closely guarded - these are paper cups. Yeah, there it is - its out in the open now... paper cups - which you can probably buy for like a pack of 20 for the cost of two diet cokes.
These famous Paper cups (given their celebrity status - I shall write those as names complete with caps) are kept under lock and key in a cupboard in our kitchen in the office. Now these are only given to the senior managers of the company when they want it. Most of the managers luckily use their own cups for coffee and tea. 'Others' like me have to live with cheesy and 'cheapest of the cheap' plastic cups. These are so thin that you can't hold it hard, without distorting or nearly mutilating the poor cup. Pour in some hot water - (you cannot avoid this, unless you make coffee with cold water) and thing nearly melts - you can see it actually. There would stretch and shrink marks all over the cup after pouring in some hot water.
Now, I am not much of a tea or coffee drinker and so, I haven't brought my own cup to the office (which I regretted, just this once). But I felt a sudden urge to drink some coffee (I missed breakfast, and the coffee; I thought would hold my hunger till lunch). While I made the coffee, another senior guy came in looking for some coffee himself. But, when he say the normal plastic cups, his look changed to a mix of revulsion and disgust (aren't they very close anyway - hell - I just put it in for the effect). So, he called the guy who is in charge of the pantry and asked him for the better paper cups....oops, sorry, Paper Cups!!!
Mr. Pantry-Incharge came and he takes out a bunch of keys from his pocket and unlocks one of the cupboards - to take out a pack of the paper cups, casually takes out one, hands it over to the Mr. Senior and then starts putting the remaining back. So, I ask him politely - can I have one of those?? - I am still stirring my coffee and my plastic cup already looks like it has been exposed to fire! He gives me an amazing look - which I cannot decipher - and then says "hmmm.." then "ahem"...and then "very few cups...(cough)....mainly for managers - You can use the plastic cup". And then he quickly avoids my look, locks the cupboard and rushes out.
Mr. Senior looks at me and says - "wow..he didn't give you one" - and my brain goes "yeah..did you notice that???.. how nice. Do you want my plastic desolved coffee..GUESS NOT, eh??!!!". I just manage to blurt - "Yeah, Paper Cups are a privilege here.". And I walk out, throw the coffee in the trash. My hunger was gone anyway.
Seriously, I didn't see this coming..even in my wildest dreams. Paper Cups - the coveted Paper Cups..Damn!! Looks like I might not be making my own coffee in the office for a long time to come.
This place never stops surprising me. It can spring one, when you least expect it.
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