Coworker who bought supplies for the coffee machine that another employee bought and left in the office for free started to charge $1.50 per coffee without asking: 'Eventually, I unplugged the machine and took it home'

María Cetra • Writer

Sep 20, 2026 5:45 PM EDT

Office problems? Caused by an entitled coworker? That's not very original…

Having a complicated situation with a coworker is extremely normal when working i am office. It's not possible to work in the same workplace as a bunch of other people for years, seeing each other EVERY DAY, and not end up having at least a minor disagreement with someone. Is like living with a big family. You're gonna end up wanting to fight with a minimum of one of them, but you still have to live together, so things get better later on, or they don't, but there's nothing you can do about it. You will continue to have to see each other every day, unless one t¿of the two gives up and moves out, or in the office case, resigns and changes jobs.

In this story, we have a coworker who decided to do something nice for everybody by buying a coffee machine for not much money, so they decided to gift it to the office kitchen as a nice gesture. The only deal was not to break it, but other than that, just use it as you pleased. This was followed by another coworker also doing something nice out of the kindness of their heart, at least in the beginning. They decided to buy some syrups and beans to make the coffee better. Everything changed when one day a sign with a QR code was put up alongside the coffee machine, requesting other coworkers to pay $1.50 for each coffee they take.

Of course, this was not taken well by the coworker who gifted the coffee machine to the office, as it looked as if somebody was wanting to profit from it. After discussion, it was discovered that it was put in place by the other "nice" coworker to raise the money to buy the syrups and all that. The one who bought the coffee machine offered to do a collection for everyone for it instead of paying each time, but the other coworker was against it. In the end, they took their coffee machine home. What do you think about this situation? Was taking the coffee machine a huge reaction to a minor inconvenience? Was the other coworker taking advantage of everyone?