The ethics of soda

You wouldn't think that a little bottle of Pepsi would lead to an ethical dilemma, would you? But here it is.

Once or twice a week, I have a 16-ounce (actually 50 cL) bottle of soda with my lunch. I usually buy it in the morning on the way to work and then put it in the fridge so it's cold by lunchtime. I think I've been pretty good about keeping track of when I do and don't have a soda in the fridge, but I may have missed one.

You see, for weeks now, I've seen a bottle of the type of soda I drink perched on the top shelf of the fridge. It doesn't seem to have gone anywhere. No one seems to be claiming it. I've started to wonder if it's one of mine. I see four possibilities:

1. It's my soda and I forgot about it.

2. It's someone else's soda and they forgot about it.

3. It's someone else's soda and they're perfectly aware of its existence, but they're saving it for a special occasion, and they'll be horribly crushed if anything happens to it.

4. Someone drinks a bottle of this soda every day and then replaces it with a new bottle in the same place for the next day, and now they don't have a soda to drink with their lunch.

After staring at this bottle of soda for literally weeks (or, in light of #4 above, maybe it's a different bottle every day), I decided to drink it with lunch today. I'm enjoying it at this very moment. One of four things is now going to happen:

1. If it was my forgotten soda, then no big deal. I owned it, I drank it, and the universe remains in perfect balance.

2. If it was someone else's forgotten soda, then no big deal, and I'm ahead of the game by one Swiss franc.

3. If it was someone else's and they were looking forward to it, then I've ruined someone's day, and I may have to face severe negative consequences from a colleague (assuming I ever 'fess up).

4. Ditto if it's a new bottle every day for someone.

So I'll put the matter up for a popular vote: Did I do the right thing by drinking it?