Clay sat at a table in the break room, staring at a steaming cup of coffee. At that moment, Marshall walked in.
Marshall greeted Clay, “Clay, I’ve decided that today I’m going to make your day better!”
Clay looked at Marshall, “I don’t need to have a better day.”
“I am going to figure out how to do it,” Marshall said
“I don’t even want to have a better day,” Clay said.
Marshall continued, “I know what’s got you down. The weather is terrible. The news is worse. We’re working under fluorescent lights. It’s hard out there!”
“Nothing is bothering me,” Clay said. “This is my mood in the morning.”
Marshall almost yelled his next declaration. “It is my purpose in life to improve the lives of others around me. Do you know what I did this morning?”
“A daily affirmation?” Clay said. “Gosh darn it. Do people like you?”
“I made it my mission to make Clay’s Day better,” Marshall said. He put his arm around Clay and waved his hand in front of Clay’s face as if he was laying out a vision for him. “Each day, Clay’s life is getting worse and worse, and I need to make it better. So what will help?”
“You see this? The steam is wispy now,” Clay looked pointedly at his coffee and then took a drink. “It’s the perfect temperature. Marshall, you know what?”
“What?”
“Before you arrived, I was just thinking I needed to pass the time until my coffee was the perfect temperature. You passed that time.”
“So I made your day better?” Marshall asked.
“You did not make it worse.”