Barely Used

Used can be as good as new. You save a little money and nothing goes to the landfill. A used car can cost thousands less than a new one and run just as well. A used pair of pants are already faded so you know the color will stay after several washes. As a kid we once went to the dump with Dad and found a teddy bear. Mom wouldn't let it into the house, which was utterly baffling because it was the best thing I had seen in a long time, and of top of that, it was free.

But the "why buy new when slightly used will do" rule just doesn't hold true when it comes to chap stick. This morning I walked into my cube to find a present. During the bitter cold Minnesota winter, a little lip balm may soften my parched lips, but it absolutely will NOT be anything that has already been used by anyone but me. Or maybe Kevin. In fact, having it used just one time is enough to make it completely off limits.

Gingerly, I picked up the offending tube and pranced it into Steve's cube. "Is this yours?" It wasn't his. Was it Kurt's? Nope. Was Todd the offender? Not him, either. It would be a shock to my system if it ended up being someone outside of the "Pentagram of Trust" so I sat back down in a perplexed stupor.

Finally, Steve fessed up to the surprise offering. He had found it in the lab coat of a visitor after he had left. He did not have any open sores on his lips, or in any other publicly obvious place, so Steve figured it would be a wonderful surprise for me. Just to make sure I knew it was only one hair shy of being brand new, he labeled it with the "Barely Used" note.

A closer inspection of the tube reveals that someone had once viciously ripped into the security wrapping in a dire effort to access the soothing relief that only chap stick can provide. Could I ever really trust a tube that broadcasts a history of abuse by such an obviously desperate man?