Post-Truth

Mr M liked to drink three cups of coffee every day at work. Each time he wanted a cup, he would wander from his desk to the coffee machine, make himself a cup and go back to desk. And each time he went to the machine, he walked by three senior members of staff, Mr G, Mr V and Mr R.

One day, he was summoned into his boss Mr L’s office. Mr L was furious. “Mr M”, he declared. “You are wasting too much time of the day drinking coffee! Nine cups of day is far too much.” Mr M protested, “but Mr L, Sir, I only drink three cups a day, that is surely not too much?” But Mr L was having none of it. “You were seen three times by each of Mr G, Mr V and Mr R going to the coffee machine. So you therefore made yourself nine cups of coffee during the day. Are you doubting their words?” Mr M didn’t know what to do. He could not fault the logic of what Mr L said but he knew that he had made himself only three cups of coffee.

The week went on. And every day Mr M was summoned into Mr L’s office for the same dressing down. “Nine cups a day is far too much time wasted Mr M. You are on very thin ice here”.

Friday came and Mr M wanted his first cup of coffee. He got up to make his usual walk to the coffee machine but to his surprise, the corridor was blocked by workmen. So he reluctantly took a different route to get his coffee. He was very worried about doing this as he knew the new route took him past Mr L’s office. But he did like his coffee.

The day wore on and Mr M got the call he was dreading, summoning him once more into Mr L’s office. But when he got there, to his surprise Mr L was smiling. “Mr M”, he declared “I am so glad that you have, at long last, taken some notice of our request that you cut-down on the time you spend drinking coffee. Today, you only went three times to the coffee machine. I know this for a fact as I alone saw you make that journey three times, and my other three colleagues have confirmed that you did not pass their offices at all. That is a 67% reduction in number of journeys to the coffee machine! Mr M, I am so proud of you.”

Mr M was confused. He was sure that he had made the same amount of trips to the coffee machine as every other day. He was going to argue further with Mr L, but again he could not fault Mr L’s logic.

Perhaps, he thought to himself, this post-truth era I have been so perturbed about isn’t so bad after all.