“I heard you bring a coffee mug warmer to meetings,” a female colleague of mine said with a goofy smile.

But how? How does she know about my coffee mug warmer? and why is that even a topic? How did that topic come about? Is there a group of people at work making fun of me all the time?

My team likes to make fun of people. As a king of nick-names, I came up with classic nick-names such as Mr. Failure, Shirley Temple, dirty hands, penguin, Allergic to Money,… Karma was finally catching up on me, I thought.

I go to daily stand-up (meeting) every morning to report my work progress and to hear from other departments on their progress and forecasts. There are over ten people in the meeting. Some of us bring coffee, tea, and water. I bring coffee, but I also bring a coffee mug warmer. It’s a beautiful vintage cast iron coffee mug warmer, that I paid one Dollar at a garage sale. The meeting is 30 minutes long. To me, it only makes sense to keep my coffee hot. It would be stupid not to bring a coffee mug warmer to a meeting. You are with me on this, yes?… yes??…

Well, I will not drink lukewarm coffee like a savage.

Anyway, nobody said anything about my coffee mug warmer at the meeting. They didn’t seem to care. Then a female colleague who doesn’t belong to the daily stand-up, pointed out that I bring a coffee mug warmer to meetings. How crazy is that?

“Who told you?” I freaked out.
“R told me right after he came back from the meeting,” she explained.
“Was he making fun of me?” I asked.
“No, he thought it was cool,” she replied.
“Mm… OK,” I rolled my eyes.

I don’t care what people say about me. I am my own person. I know I am a little different and it entertains people around me. I enjoy being that person. It’s just… I thought it was fascinating to be reminded that people watch me and they talk about me. Also, there is no topic too small. After seeing my coffee mug warmer, R couldn’t wait to tell his office mate. My coffee mug warmer made an impression on him. Who knew?

I don’t know why, but a few days later, I still think about that boring episode. So much so that I had to write about it. Hence, here’s another boring story. Hahaha.

Have a nice day. Keep in touch.