Subj : Re: What's "lunch"?? (was: Personal connections) To : comp.programming,comp.lang.java.programmer,comp.lang.lisp From : Barry Margolin Date : Tue Sep 06 2005 02:08 am In article , rem642b@Yahoo.Com (Robert Maas, see http://tinyurl.com/uh3t) wrote: > > From: Ulrich Hobelmann > > You guys didn't eat lunch? > > I don't know what you mean by "lunch" in that context. My work > situation wasn't like high school when we had a class from 8-9 then > another class from 9-10 then another class from 10-11 then another > class from 11-12 then a less-than-one-hour break when the cafeteria was > serving **LUNCH** which was the only food available all day there, then > another class from <13-<14 then another class from <14-<15. At work at > Stanford IMSSS, we had flexible hours. Except when there was a > scheduled meeting, we came to work whenever we could, and worked as > late into the night as we felt like, except in the Winter when the > steam plant was turned off at a certain time and my office, with bay > windows, got unbearably cold within about 10-20 minutes after > steam-off. Whenever one of us got hungry, we logged out, locked our > office, and went somewhere nearby to get a snack, then came back. The > nearest food place was some vending machines across the street in > another building. The burritos, with microwave oven, were usually the > best food available. I never once saw a co-worker there at the same > time I was there, and only rarely saw some stranger from another > building there. When I went to get food from the vending machines, I > didn't bother to give my eating-time a specific name such as "lunch". > Obviously your question is meaningless in regard to socializing with > co-workers, the topic of this sub-thread. So, when you got hungry, why didn't you ask one of your coworkers if they wanted to go get something to eat in the cafeteria or sub shop with you? No one forced you to eat alone, you could have gotten other to go along with you. When I worked in a software engineering job, we also worked flexible hours, but a bunch of us usually went out to lunch together anyway. Finally, there are other ways to socialize at work. Don't you ever go into your colleague's office/cube to discuss a problem you're having? Also, I know you said "I wasn't paid to socialize, I was paid to work", but I've never been in a high-tech workplace where people just worked continuously. Don't you ever take breaks and shoot the breeze? Some people go out for smoking breaks, some get coffee, some just pop out into the hallways -- no company I've ever worked for has ever had a problem with this, as long as you get your work done as well. The same attitude that allows you to work flexible hours also allows you flexibility in how you schedule your time *at* work. Weren't there ever any social events at work, or organized by the office? Many companies have formal holiday parties, departments often have gift swaps at Xmas time, some groups have a monthly or quarterly celebration of birthdays, summer picnics or outings, etc. Or socializing with your coworkers *outside* of work hours -- at one of my jobs, a bunch of us often went out to a movie on Friday night after work. Or people throw parties and invite their colleagues. If you didn't get to know your coworkers, it's really your own fault. I admit that at some of my jobs I didn't really fit in socially, but I never blamed the job. -- Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA *** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me *** .