There are few things
more satisfying
and
intensely annoying

than when my guests
at the table
who have clearly come
on a business-minded lunch

bring a notebook
but forget a pen
looking like
a fish out of water

and then ask me
to "borrow" one
because I came prepared
as if I was a pen dispenser

and 9 times out of 10
will pocket
or forget to get it
back to me

making me the one
to retrieve my own belonging
that they had the audacity
to think it was just a small thing

to borrow a cheap pen
but without it
they couldn't have
performed their job

just like I can't
when they
walk off
with it.

11/07/2008

Posted on 11/07/2008
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