Coffee Etiquette-The Unspoken I Buy You Buy Rules Among Friends And Coworkers

Here at the radio stations, we are all coffee lovers. Some of us are coffee snobs and only like it from certain places, others don't care if it's from the coffee pot in the kitchen or a drive-thru line. But if one of us is going, we always text the other and let them know. First, so that we don't BOTH end up going and end up with two coffees each to drink during the show, second because we typically take turns. I buy, you buy-repeat. It's been the system since we became a team and it'll likely always be that way while we're here.

But what do you do in a different situation... Like, if you're at work and a coworker says they don't have time and can't leave the building, and they ask if you'd mind making a coffee run--but they don't give you any money they just tell you what they want. So you jump in the car, head to the coffee shop, and grab their order and while you're there you get one for yourself. Then, when you get back to the office, your coworker just takes the coffee you ran and picked up, says THANKS, and walks away--never offering to PAY YOU for the coffee they just had you run and get?! Do you get up and follow down the hallway after them telling them how much it was? Or do you wait til next time and see if they buy yours?

Etiquette says you should at least OFFER to pay-especially if it's the first time you've asked someone to do this for you and the back and forth taking turns buying hasn't been established yet. It's the polite thing to do. It's up to the person who made the coffee run to accept your money, or just say 'You buy next time!'. What say YOU? Post your thoughts in the comments below and tell us if you think we're wrong, or how you'd react if someone asked you to run for coffee but offered no money.