By the coffee machine in the company pantry, that became Xiao Mei’s most feared place to pass every day.
She is an ordinary clerk in the administrative department, with delicate features and a gentle personality. But for the past week, whenever she goes to get coffee, a male colleague always slowly approaches.
That man was exceptionally short, standing beside her, his head just reaching her waist. Each time, he would first take a deep breath, then say in an intoxicated tone:
"Your hair smells great."
On the first day, Xiao Mei just took it as ordinary flattery and forced a smile.
The next day he came again, sucking even harder.
The third day, the fourth day... every day like this, unwavering.
Xiaomei began to feel something was off. The man spoke too close to her, his breath hitting her clothes, and his eyes kept drifting upward. She tried changing the time she went to get coffee, but he would appear precisely then; she deliberately stood farther away, and he would move closer to continue sniffing.
A week later, Xiaomei really couldn't take it anymore.
She went straight to the HR department and told the supervisor, Lao Zhang, the whole situation exactly as it happened.
"He comes every day to smell me, and even says my body hair smells good! That’s already sexual harassment!" Xiaomei grew angrier as she spoke, "I’m going to complain about him!"
After listening, Old Zhang pushed up his glasses with a confused expression:
"He said your hair smells nice... what does that have to do with sexual harassment? He was just complimenting your hair fragrance."
Xiaomei took a deep breath, lowered her voice, and almost squeezed out the next words through gritted teeth:
"He’s that dwarf in our company!"
Old Zhang froze completely.
Three seconds later, he slowly revealed an expression of "I get it," the corners of his mouth twitching several times. In the end he couldn't hold back, buried his face in his hands, and laughed out loud with his shoulders shaking.
“So…” Old Zhang raised his head, trying hard to stay professional, “when he stood there, the height of his nose was just…”
"Yes." Xiaomei's face turned livid. "Not hair. Down there."
Old Zhang was silent for a long time, finally squeezing out only one sentence:
"...I'll handle it right away."
That afternoon, the dwarf male colleague was called in for a talk with HR. No one knew the content, only that later, when passing the pantry, he no longer dared to get close to female colleagues.
But this matter quickly spread throughout the company.
Whenever someone goes to get coffee, someone always stifles a laugh and reminds, 'Mind the height, mind the height.'
After that, whenever Xiaomei smelled coffee, she would instinctively tighten her legs and silently vow:
If someone praised her 「hair is amazing」again, she would first make sure to confirm the person’s height.
Xiaomei's vow didn't last long.
After the HR interview, that dwarf male colleague—everyone called him Xiao Guo—did behave himself for a while. When he passed the pantry, he would deliberately take a detour, and his eyes no longer drifted toward Xiao Mei. But people in the company had already turned this incident into a classic joke.
“Did you hear? Xiao Mei was praised for having excellent hair.”
“Which hair?”
“Who else could it be? You know Xiao Guo’s height.”
Every time someone lowers their voice in the pantry to talk about this matter, as soon as Xiao Mei appears, the scene instantly falls silent, then erupts in suppressed laughter. Her face flushes red repeatedly, and she can only quickly leave with her cup.
What's even more critical is that she herself began to become sensitive.
In the past, when she handed me coffee, she would stand naturally; now she always subconsciously presses her legs tightly together. Once she was wearing a skirt, standing in front of the coffee machine waiting for hot water, when footsteps suddenly came from behind. Her body stiffened, and she instinctively clamped down, causing the hot water to spill and burn her hand.
“Are you okay?” a male colleague of ordinary height asked with concern.
Xiaomei shook her head, but her ears were burning red. She realized she had developed a conditioned reflex to the combination of 'someone approaching + deep breath.'
Xiao Guo was actually quite wronged too.
During the interview, the HR manager laid it all out clearly. He was completely stunned at that moment.
"I really just think her hair smells nice! I have rhinitis, and I'm especially sensitive to smells..."
The supervisor rubbed his temples: “You were standing so close when you smelled it, and the height was right there too. Who would believe that?”
Xiao Guo, on the verge of tears from grievance, said, "Can't I just stand farther away from now on?"
“You’d better even go to the break room less.”
Since then, Xiao Guo stopped going to the tea room upstairs. But after he left, the pressure on Xiao Mei instead grew even greater—because the other male coworkers began joking about it.
Someone would deliberately take a deep breath behind her and then say seriously, 'The coffee beans today smell good.'
When someone passed by, they would glance down at their own height, then look at Xiao Mei's waist, and smile meaningfully.
The most excessive time, a salesperson who usually loved to stir things up asked loudly in the pantry, 'Xiaomei, what shampoo do you use? Please recommend it. My friend is 1.3 meters tall and wants to give it to his girlfriend.'
The whole crowd roared with laughter.
That same afternoon, Xiaomei went to her supervisor and demanded a formal reprimand.
The supervisor gave a wry smile and agreed, but also advised her in private: “Things have already blown up this big; if you keep pursuing it, it won’t look good for you either. Everyone will forget about it in a couple of days.”
Xiaomei knew he was right, but she still felt wronged.
She started trying to avoid going to the pantry alone. Either waiting for a colleague or simply bringing her own thermos. But the more she avoided it, the bigger the shadow this matter cast in her mind.
Until the team-building event a month later.
The company organized a barbecue in the suburbs. During free time, Xiao Mei sat alone in a corner in a daze. Xiao Guo somehow came over, holding two drinks in his hands.
He stopped two meters away from her, placed one of the cups on the table beside him, and then stepped back.
“I... I didn’t mean it.” Xiao Guo’s voice was very soft. “I really just thought you smelled good. I won’t come close to you again after this.”
Xiaomei looked up and stared at him for a few seconds.
When this person stood, he indeed only reached her chest. If he got any closer or lower, his nose would land in an extremely awkward place. She had always found it disgusting before, but now, seeing his awkwardness, she suddenly felt it was a bit absurd.
"Do you really just smell hair?" she asked.
Xiao Guo nodded vigorously: "I have rhinitis, really! I even specifically asked the doctor, who said I'm allergic to certain plant fragrances... It seems like the shampoo you use has some."
Xiaomei remained silent for a long time.
Finally, she sighed: 'Next time you want to compliment someone, first make sure where your nose will stop.'
Xiao Guo felt as if granted a pardon, nodding repeatedly before turning and running off.
From that day on, the jokes in the pantry gradually decreased. Xiaomei also slowly returned to her normal habit of taking coffee. Only occasionally, when someone behind her let out a deep breath, would she still unconsciously clamp her legs together, and then silently repeat that vow in her heart:
If someone praised her “hair is amazing” again, she would first make sure to confirm the person’s height.
Better confirm one more time.
Another two months passed.
The jokes in the tea room eventually faded away. New colleagues didn't know that past anecdote, and old employees were too lazy to bring up old accounts again. Xiao Mei became comfortable again; when getting coffee, she could even chat with others while waiting for the hot water.
Until one afternoon.
She was standing in front of the coffee machine when very light footsteps suddenly came from behind, followed by a deliberately suppressed deep breath.
Xiaomei's body instantly stiffened, her legs subconsciously clamping together. She slowly turned her head—
Standing behind her was the new intern.
The boy had just turned twenty, tall and thin, of completely normal height. Seeing Xiao Mei turn around, he smiled somewhat awkwardly and pointed to his own nose:
"Sorry, I have a bit of a stuffy nose. I just wanted to smell the coffee aroma—did I scare you?"
Xiaomei stared at him for two seconds, then suddenly burst out laughing.
After laughing, she felt her previous nervousness was ridiculous.
"No." She shook her head, "Keep smelling it then. The coffee is newly opened; the smell really is good."
The intern breathed a sigh of relief, really took another sniff, then nodded in satisfaction and left.
Xiaomei stood alone, watching the coffee drip slowly into the cup. She suddenly realized that some shadows don't follow you forever. They can be gently lifted on an ordinary afternoon by an ordinary deep breath.
When she returned home in the evening, she posted about this on her social media feed, captioning it with just one sentence:
"Confirmed, the height is no problem."
Soon there was a comment from an acquaintance colleague below: 「Finally okay?」
Xiaomei replied: 'Mm. Next time someone says my hair is amazing, I'll check their height first, then decide whether to call the police.'
After sending it, she was the first to laugh.
Since then, the pantry became, for her, just a pantry again.
Sometimes people still bring up that dwarf and the line “The hair is excellent,” but it has already become a pure joke, no longer carrying any meaning that makes her uncomfortable. Sometimes Xiaomei even takes the lead and replies herself:
“So, before praising someone, measure their height first. A lesson learned the hard way.”
After everyone finished laughing, the topic moved on.
And Xiao Guo was later transferred to another department. When they met again, they would only nod from afar. He never approached her coffee machine again, and Xiao Mei no longer clenched her legs because of the breathing behind her.
Some awkwardness fades with time, but some jokes stick around.
What remained was only, when it occasionally came to mind, that half-laughing, half-crying curve at the corner of the mouth.
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