The Glass Is Not Half-Empty

Here's a new one for you. A large percentage of the UK population works in tertiary industry, and are providing a service in one form or another to others. Those who work in offices will generally own at least one mug. At one point or another on most days, this mug will be filled with a hot liquid such as tea or coffee.

Your average reader will relate to this, and will also identify with the following scenario.

Reader looks down at desk and sees hot drink. Reader fancies a sip. Reader looks into drink, checks quantity levels to prevent spillage, sips or gulps, and replaces mug on desk.

Let me put this to you. What if that mug was empty? What if you didn't check the quantity of remaining liquid before returning for another sip?

Naturally, in the throes of conversation with colleagues, this has happened to me on precisely two occasions on my relatively short stint in an office environment. The circumstances were the same. I did not check the quantity before sippage, and as a result, found myself trying to drink from an empty cup.

In here lies the quandry. Do you:

• Put the mug down knowing that everybody has seen you try to take a sip from an empty cup.
• Pretend there's something in there anyway to save face, and go through the whole process of drinking air, and including such tactical flourishes as licking your lips and making your throat gulp.

The choice is yours.