Happy Hour
It was almost 5 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. Ed was working. His coworker Jack popped his head inside Ed’s cubicle. “Are you coming to Happy Hour?” Jack asked. Ed had heard of Happy Meal, but he had never heard about Happy Hour. Ed asked Jack what Happy Hour was. Jack explained that Happy Hour was actually a few hours on weekday afternoons when people were leaving work, and when bars had special prices on drinks and appetizers. Sometimes you pay for only one drink and they give you two; other places have a special menu of food and drinks that is only good during certain hours.
Ed thought that really did sound like a good reason to be happy. However, Ed still had at least an hour’s worth of work to do. Ed’s coworkers encouraged him to come and have at least one drink with them. Ed finally decided to go with them to the nearby pub. However, Ed had more than one drink; he had a few. He had so many drinks that his coworkers put him in a taxi home at the end of the night.
On Saturday morning Ed was not feeling happy at all. He had a horrible headache and felt sick to his stomach. His wife made him a special soup and gave him some medicine.
When Ed returned to work on Monday morning, he felt much better physically. His coworkers, however, teased him about drinking so much on Friday. His boss wondered why Ed hadn’t completed all the work he was supposed to finish on Friday. Ed certainly couldn’t tell his boss that he left work early to go and drink with his colleagues. Ed was called into his boss’s office to explain. “I guess I was too happy,” Ed said unhappily.
