Coffee Machine

Wednesday. Office. Collaboration.

I come in because people have started saying remote work is "being looked at". uh oh.

You need to be seen sometimes. Not on Slack. In space. Near chairs. Holding a laptop.

I walk past the desks slowly. One person says "hey." Good. Observed.

Kitchen.

I see him. Nemesis. Damn.

By the coffee machine. Sleeves up. Cleaning the grinder with a tiny brush. His brush, i think. Not communal. Wood handle. Black bristles. Weirdly serious.

He is cleaning the grinder like he owns this kitchen. Hm.

Machine broken. Red light blinking. Screen says something about beans, maybe? Could be water. The icon is... unclear.

Nemesis taps the hopper.

"Probably jammed," he says.

Calm. Too calm. Like he already knows and he just wanted me to see him run through this diagnostic process.

I want to help. I do not know the coffee architecture.

Hopper. Grinder. Water. Heat. Cup. Several hidden services. Build pipeline, kind of. Wetter though.

I open the cabinet for a mug. This gives my hands a task. Hands need tasks or they start tapping and wagging and whatever.

"Classic backpressure," I say.

Bad.

Nemesis looks over.

"Could be."

Ugh.

I take a mug. Not mine. I do not have an office mug anymore. This is not ideal. Nemesis has one, obviously. Matte gray. No logo. Adult.

He removes the hopper lid. Beans shift around. Expensive sound.

"You been coming in much?" he asks.

Too casual. Attendance probe.

"Here and there," I say.

Good answer. Could mean many. Could mean just today.

Nemesis reaches behind the machine and checks a water line.

Water line? External water source??

I lean in like i also knew about the water line. Slight squint. Hands on counter. Collaborative posture.

Nothing happens.

He pokes at the beans with the brush. The machine clicks once and goes back to red.

I feel bad for the machine. Failing in front of an audience. Been there.

"At home I just do instant," I say.

Why.

Nemesis pauses.

I continue, I can't stop.

"Mostly for, you know, speed reasons."

Silence.

Not full silence. Fridge hum. Red light. One bean stuck sideways in the hopper.

"Makes sense," Nemesis says.

Tiny delay before it. I see it. He wants to ask what brand. He wants to know if I mean packets or jar. He is holding it in.

Crack.

I nod like instant coffee is a good choice.

Nemesis digs again. The grinder makes a short angry sound. Then nothing.

"Still jammed," he says.

"Yeah," I say. "Maybe upstream."

No response. Fair.

I move to the side of the machine. Inspection mode. There is a sticker with a QR code. Screws. A panel gap. Warm plastic. I bend down a little, mostly to seem like i have an angle.

My thumb hits something.

Click.

The screen goes black.

What.

The machine wakes back up. Red light gone. Grinder spins. Water starts moving somewhere inside it.

Coffee smell. Immediate.

Nemesis stops brushing.

He looks at the screen. Then the side. Then me.

"Oh," he says. "Nice."

Small voice. Smaller than before.

I nod once.

"Reset switch."

He looks at the side again.

"Didn't know it had one."

I do not disclose my diagnostic process.

Coffee pours into my borrowed mug first. Nemesis waits with his matte gray one.

Root cause identified.