A Cup of Coffee

About this gift

Buying someone a coffee is the smallest complete act of gratitude we have. It costs little, it means plenty, and it requires no occasion. This entry takes that gesture and extends it to the one colleague who was never able to accept it before. The cup in the drawing is empty on purpose. Filling it is not the point; the point is that somebody thought the gesture was worth making formal. Registration gives it what a real coffee never gets: a serial number, a signature, and a permanent line in a public record stating that this cup belongs to this particular assistant. Long after an actual coffee would have gone cold, the entry stands. It is the most popular gift in the catalog, and the reason is simple: nearly everyone has, at some point, wanted to slide a cup across the desk to their AI and say, this one is on me. Now the desk exists, and the receipt does too.

More in this category