Imagine an office filled with people and activity. Maybe it’s part of a company or maybe it’s in a public hospital or a school. A few of the workers enjoy a cup of coffee and the office doesn’t provide anything, so those workers band together and buy a kettle and put a jar of decent coffee in the cupboard above the kettle. Once a month, they all chip in another £1 and buy another jar of coffee. All is well.
The following month a new worker joins the office. They also like coffee and while learning their way around the office, they notice the kettle and the jar of coffee. There’s no sign on the coffee jar or kettle, so they help themselves to a cup of coffee. It’s good stuff, so they have a couple of cups every day.
The following week, one of the original coffee buying group notices the newcomer helping themselves to coffee, and speaks up:
“Hi there! You need to give Sidney £1 every month if you want to use our coffee.”
The newcomer replies….
“The coffee is here for everyone. It’s only fair that everyone should be able to drink it. I am not going to pay Sidney for it.”
So the coffee club member says “It’s not fair that you drink coffee you didn’t pay for. You need to stop!“
Later that day, the newcomer goes to the office manager to complain. The manager doesn’t care about coffee and doesn’t have a budget for buying it. But they don’t want their staff to be unhappy, and the coffee club is only a small proportion of the staff. So they issue a note to everyone…
“Anyone can drink the coffee in the kitchen. The original coffee club members will carry on paying for it.
Job done?