A bit tired after my afternoon class, I grabbed a cup of office coffee and headed back to my office. Balancing the cup on my book as I unlocked the door, a drop spilled.
I wiped the stray drop up and then noticed even more spillage under the cup. It quickly became apparent that the cup itself actually had a hole. I think the failure rate for styrofoam cups is pretty low, but here I had a problem.
Being lazy, I didn't want to go find another cup or pour it into something else, and my napkin was getting the worst of it, drop after drop. I debated guzzling the coffee. It's not like you drink office coffee for its flavor, so you wouldn't be missing anything. Satisfied with this reasoning, I put the cup to my lips. Oh the burning.
I needed something else. I had gum but really didn't want to use gum to fix this. Everyone uses gum. There has to be an original way to plug this hole.
I thought of gently malforming the styrofoam, since it's malleable. In the end I tore off a small piece of Trident and smushed it between my fingers then let it mix with the hot coffee to get that chewed consistency. That seems to be working, but now there's a minty aroma surrounding my cup.