SOMETIMES, for whatever reason, you just really get attached to a coffee cup.

So it seems in the case of Rio Tinto analyst Edmund Lim, whose favourite mug went missing from the bathroom while he was taking a toilet break in his Perth office.

Lim was so incensed about the cup's disappearance that he sent his workmates a blanket email - which has now gone global.

In the message, sent on March 20, Lim meticulously laid out the sequence of events that led to the coffee-cup culprit making off with their precious booty.

"Sometime after 10.30 this morning, my coffee cup was stolen," Lim wrote.

"The details are as follows.

1. I brought my cup to the men's washroom

2. I left it next to the washroom sinks

3. I then proceeded to use the bathroom stall

4. In that time, I know someone entered and exited the room, and I know after that person used the urinal, they grabbed a few pieces of paper towel

5. I exited the bathroom stall afterwards

6. My cup was then missing."

Lim then apologised if the email sounded "trivial" but that the cup was a "personal item". He then attached a picture of the colourful mug in a bid to track it down.

"I cannot believe the audacity of someone to do that. It is rather a nice cup."



The email, which caused much hilarity among Lim's colleagues, went viral a month later, bouncing its way around the nation and eventually making it to the UK this week as the 'campaign' to help Edmund find his cup took shape.

"Poor Edmund, help him find his cup!," one employee wrote on Wednesday afternoon.

"Edmund has lost his cup and we have done out bit to look for it, but alas he is still going thirsty," one worker wrote.

"Lads, if you see Edward’s cup in any of your respective offices, post it to Rio Tinto," another quipped.

Lim was prevented from talking to the media by Rio Tinto so could not comment on the incident.

But there was a happy ending - the colourful cup was found and eventually returned to its rightful owner.







