The burden of responsibility

I was waiting in line to use one of the three microwaves in our company's kitchen when a coworker walks up behind me, puts her food on the table and says, "I'm after you. Don't let anyone go before me." and walks off! Now, what. I didn't have time to protest or say anything. So, now, a microwave opens up and I put my stuff in. I've got one minute and forty-five seconds to worry. Another guy comes up and I say, "You're in line after her," pointing to the food sitting on the table. "If she's not here, I'm next," he says.


I hate these kinds of things. It reminds me of the Seinfeld episode when the Elaine character is asked to save some seats for the others. She says,

"No! I don't want to save seats. Don't put me through that! I once had the fleece just ripped out of my winter coat in a seat-saving incident!"

from the Seinfeld Scripts site

That's how I feel when someone asks me to save their place. In this case, more people were coming into the cafeteria and I didn't feel like arguing with anyone. Luckily, this time, the coworker who had asked me to save her place returned just as two microwaves opened up. So, she and the fellow who had arrived after her were both able to heat their meals without further waiting. But that never happens in the movies or on TV.