Don't Touch My Coffee

Synopsis

My coworker was absolutely convinced that drinking iced coffee would make me drop dead on the spot. Every day, while I was in the bathroom, she'd sneak over and pour out my coffee, swapping it for plain water behind my back. I was a stock trader, and coffee was my lifeline for staying sharp during those endless hours glued to the screen. After a few days of this, I kept zoning out from sheer exhaustion and missed out on several key moments to close my positions. The director was furious, yelling that if I caused any more losses, I'd be out the door and have to pay for it myself. I pleaded with my coworker, "I'm juggling hundreds of thousands of dollars every second. There's no room for mistakes. Please, stop messing with my coffee!" Her eyes welled up with tears, clearly hurt. She accused me of being ungrateful, saying I was treating her concern like it meant nothing. Seeing this, the supervisor poured a cup of hot water right onto my keyboard. She snapped, "Can't you just go to bed earlier at night? Why do you have to throw her kindness back in her face?" Staring at my blank screen, it suddenly hit me. The account crashing right now was the one the supervisor's husband had maxed out with ten times leverage from an online loan. Whatever. Let her pour it out, for all I care. It was not like I would be the one to jump off a building.