The Case of the Missing Doughnuts
Every office has one. The mystery. The thing that stirs up suspicion, causes a ripple of drama, and leaves people in a whirl of confusion. In Jason’s office, that mystery was doughnuts. Specifically, the office doughnuts. They had vanished, and no one could explain how.
It all started on a Friday morning when Sarah from HR made the announcement: “We’ve got doughnuts in the break room, courtesy of the company! Grab them before they’re gone!”
Jason, who had been up since 6 a.m. trying to make sense of a particularly complicated spreadsheet, was in desperate need of some sugar. He quickly made his way to the break room, his mind already dreaming of the fluffy, sugary goodness that awaited him.
But when he walked in, he was met with a horrifying sight. The doughnut box, which had been full just minutes ago, was empty.
Jason blinked in disbelief. “What? No way…”
He looked around. The usual crowd was gathered, sipping coffee and chatting, but no one was paying attention to the fact that the doughnuts were mysteriously gone. He narrowed his eyes. Something wasn’t right.
"Hey, who took the last doughnut?" Jason asked, raising his voice slightly.
Clara, who was standing near the counter with her second cup of coffee, shrugged. “I don’t know. I just got here.”
Mike, the office prankster, gave him a mischievous smile. “Maybe it was the doughnut fairy. You know, they only come on special days.”
Jason wasn’t buying it. “Clara, didn’t you get here before me?”
Clara looked guilty for half a second, but then she shook her head. “I didn’t take any, I swear! I was too busy checking my emails. But you should ask Dave. He was the first one in this morning.”
Jason turned to Dave, who was sitting in the corner, looking unbothered as usual. Dave was known for two things in the office: one, his impressive collection of superhero action figures (which he kept on his desk for some reason), and two, his unfortunate habit of eating the last piece of anything, whether it was cookies, pizza, or—evidently—doughnuts.
“Dave,” Jason said, pointing to the now-empty doughnut box, “did you eat the last doughnut?”
Dave blinked, his mouth full of what appeared to be an entirely different snack. “What? No. Why would I take all the doughnuts? I only eat pizza.” He gave Jason a quick, confused glance, then shrugged. “Besides, I already had my breakfast.”
Jason wasn’t convinced. Dave was the kind of guy who would deny everything, even if there were a doughnut-shaped stain on his shirt. So, Jason did what any sensible person would do in such a situation: he started an investigation.
“Alright, we’re getting to the bottom of this,” Jason declared, adopting his best detective pose. “The doughnuts are missing, and I’m going to find out who took them. Everyone in this room is a suspect.”
The other office workers chuckled, but Jason wasn’t joking. He marched over to the desk of Karen from accounting, who was quietly working away on a spreadsheet.
“Karen,” he asked, “where were you when the doughnuts went missing?”
Karen looked up, wide-eyed. “What? I didn’t take them! I’ve been crunching numbers all morning. You can check my spreadsheets if you don’t believe me.”
“Yeah, because that’s the most suspicious alibi ever,” Jason muttered under his breath. He was starting to think that no one would admit to the crime. This was turning into a full-fledged mystery, and he wasn’t going to let it go until he had answers.
Just as Jason was about to conduct his next round of questioning, Sarah from HR walked in, looking perplexed.
“Is everything okay in here?” she asked. “Why does it sound like you’re solving a crime?”
“The doughnuts are gone,” Jason said dramatically. “Someone took the last doughnut, and I’m going to find out who it was.”
Sarah raised an eyebrow. “The doughnuts… are missing?”
“Yes!” Jason said. “Gone. Vanished. And I’m getting suspicious looks from everyone in this room. So, who took them?”
“Jason,” Sarah said slowly, “I’m pretty sure the doughnuts weren’t even here when you came in. I just ordered them, and the delivery guy is still in the parking lot with the rest of the box.”
Jason blinked. “What?”
“You heard me,” Sarah said with a smile. “There were no doughnuts. You’re the first person to walk into the break room, and you’ve been standing there, interrogating people, for the last 15 minutes.”
Jason froze. The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. He had jumped to conclusions. The doughnuts weren’t gone at all. They had never even been there. He had made a fool of himself, interrogating his coworkers like a character in a crime drama, over nothing.
The whole office burst into laughter. Even Dave, who had barely acknowledged Jason’s dramatic entrance earlier, was holding his stomach, laughing so hard he almost choked on his snack.
“Jason, you are so gullible,” Clara said between giggles. “You’re practically the office detective, but with zero cases solved.”
Jason turned bright red. He had been so eager to dive into the mystery that he hadn’t stopped to think that the doughnuts had literally not even arrived yet. He slowly slunk back to his desk, muttering to himself.
And as the delivery guy finally walked in with the actual doughnuts, Jason decided he would never again try to play detective in the office. At least, not when the crime scene was a break room with no doughnuts.
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