The Coffee Cup of Personal Interactions

[DaveJohnson 0]

The Coffee Cup of Personal Interactions

A Log by Lieutenant Junior Grade David Johnson

 

It had been a very interesting few hours for David. First he had been released from the brig, then he had to deal with his messy roommate and if that wasn’t bad enough he had been yelled at by one of his superiors in engineering, Lt Cmdr Bob Baker who had given him orders to run diagnostics on the holodeck’s which contradicted orders Lt Cmdr Jax had apparently given before he even joined the ship. Jax had obviously sensed his frustration as after a quick meeting with the engineers she invited him to relax, and have some coffee and sticky buns. Ordinarily, David wouldn’t think of doing such a think on duty but considering what he had just been through he accepted her offer without question. As the two sat there drinking coffee and eating David watched as the dark brown liquid swirled around in his cup. He wanted to make conversation but he wasn’t sure exactly what to say. Before the incident he was going to tell Jax about his specialties, what kinds of tasks he would be suited for. But, he decided that instead of talking shop and trying to make himself look good he would make normal conversation. Over the next 10 minutes David found out a lot about Jax’s interests, and even invited her to come join him on the holodeck for some rock-climbing which was one of his favorite activities. As they talked David began to contemplate what his relationship had been like with people at the academy. He had been one of the best students, had been given high praise from his professors but yet, he hadn’t made many friends and he began to think that the reason for that was simple. Every time he had been in a situation like the one he was in with Jax, just talking and eating he had either bragged about his skills and awards or he had told his colleagues the reasons why he was going to be a Captain one day. Obviously that approach hadn’t worked. Now, he had a chance to start fresh and though he had already made a negative impression on the Chief of Security…literally, he wasn’t about to do it with his direct superior or with anyone else. He realized that interactions with others were a little like the coffee in the cup. It was dark and mysterious just like the personalities of some of the people he had already met and it swirled around and around for a while but it would eventually stop swirling and get cold. He realized that he had been given chances to make friends and have positive social interactions in the past but had not taken advantage of them and when he had met people who were mysterious he hadn’t taken the time to find out what the people were really like just like a person who stares at the coffee and never bothers to taste it. But, he was still young and he still had chances just as the coffee was still swirling and that he had to drink the coffee before it got cold, and make friends on the ship before the chance to do so had gotten cold as well. With that he turned to Jax and said, “Did you say something about sticky Buns.” She opened the box and with a smile he said, “Ladies first,” waited for Jax to take one and then continued his conversation with her. He now knew what to do. The coffee that had been his interactions with others prior to joining the ship had gotten cold, but he had just been handed a fresh cup and he was going to make sure it stayed hot for a long time.