At The Office

I walked to the supply cabinet located a few steps away from my cubicle, in the support team area, and opened each of the three drawers searching for paper clips. I was able to find everything else but the item I was looking for.

“Excuse me; does anyone have paper clips to spare me some?” I asked the guys. “I believe we run out it.”

“Sure! “, said Steve while tossing his box to me. “But there are some in one of the drawers. I believe the on the first drawer.”, he quipped.

“No; what do you mean? I just went through all, one by one and I can’t find any”.

“Yap, they are there; I have seen them yesterday when I grabbed my box.”, he continued.

(Them? Yesterday? huh!)

“I can’t see it; where?”

“Right there, on the cabinet, on one of the drawers but anyway, you can still use mine; I don’t mind”

“All I see are boxes of staples and I am looking for paper clips”, I replied.

Before I was able to finish the sentence, the group erupted in laughter; they had this typical smirk on their faces that made me feel this small. Perplexed, I murmured to myself, “what! Am I missing something?”

The top drawer was still open. I turned around and there they were, all nine boxes, closely wrapped in plastic; one was missing – I believe taken by Steve. It read in big white letters on the red background STAPLES = #1 paper clips

Duh! Ding, ding, ding; someone please pass me the binocular. I wonder what Maxine would have to say about it. I really made her proud. What a goof!