Get My Coffee Later

It’s always a bit slow in the morning.  What do we do?  Review wechat and whatsap on the toilet.  Trudge over and throw my sweater and my pants on and pick up my socks from off the floor.  In my hands my two phones and my laptop.  I stop in my closet to get two new contact lenses from the shelf  and continue on into the kitchen.  The sun’s just coming on and prefer not to turn any lights on. 

The morning’s call will be in thirty minutes and I flip up the lap top to gaze over the New York Times and the Washington Post online, passing over so much I'm disinclined to read.  There’s about half a cup of coffee left in the pot and I pour it in a red mug and nuke it for a minute in the microwave.  Over at the coffee pot I dump the grinds in the compost and the soggy filter in the trash.  It takes longer than it should to fill the pot with water and now I'm concerned about the time.  Pour the water in the chamber, press the ‘brew’ button and get dash over to get the zoom bridge ready. 

The call was good.  A new prospect, with a warm hand off to me and my partner.  The people they want to reach . . . we can reach them.  The places they need help in . . . we have people there.  One of the gentlemen takes time to explain the solution in great detail and I’m tempted to walk away when I hear the telltale, staccato ‘beep’ of the coffee maker, three times in a row.  The coffee is ready.  I  decide to finish this before I go and get a cup. . 

When the call’s over, I know my colleague will want to have a debrief.  And before he can ring, I return to the kitchen to finally get some fresh coffee.  It's there, spread across the floor in a sizable puddle.  I forgot to put the pot back in under the filter to capture all this coffee.  I would like to say this was the first time this has ever happened to me.  Cursing, a lot, I start pulling sheets from the paper towel roll and stoop down to mop up the floor and clean the face of the dishwasher. 

Later in the day, I sent a document out, with the incorrect salutation.  I corrected it and resent it quickly, only to have someone point out that the currency was incorrect as well.  This too, I corrected, though I was certain that the poor person receiving these corrections was probably rethinking the utility of me and my services.  It’s been that kind of a day, since the morning coffee flowed freely on to the counter and down to the floor. 

Friday 04/10/20