I had to figure it out.

At first it was amusing to watch, then it became puzzling and then aggravating.

Every day I'd watch my coworker take a sip from his coffee mug, same ivory, obviously

handcrafted coffee mug.

He'd take a sizable sip, grimace for at least three or four seconds, and then take another

sip after his face had relaxed.

He'd repeat this behavior two or three times, then set the mug down and resume his work.

Later, perhaps an hour or two, he'd conduct the little ritual again.

The intensity of the grimace never intensifying, but not waning either.

Like anyone else, my initial thought was that he had simply added a hefty dose of alcohol

to the cup, and was grimacing at the strength of the booze, or the overall taste of the

concoction.

And like someone who knows how to mine their own business, I never asked him.

I never confronted this person who might genuinely need a little extra in his cup to get to

the mind-breaking monotony of our job, but I'm still a curious person.

Couldn't simply let this assumption ride completely unconfirmed, especially not since

he'd do this every single day.

I'd never personally known an alcoholic, but his productivity and the quality of his work

were not reflective of someone who was always on the edge of a buzz.

Being less and less to sobriety, no offense to alcoholics.

I'm sure there are some efficient, perfectly functional ones, so I hoped I started to walk

by his desk right after he'd taken a sip, but never once did I smell even the faintest

...