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With rare exception, I eat alone at lunch time.
In the past 15 years, my jobs have been such that I don’t have co-workers with whom to have lunch or the co-workers can’t connect to have lunch. And there were some times the co-workers didn’t make such good lunch company. There was also the temptation to run out when I can, gobble, and get back to work as soon as possible.
Eating alone has its benefits. I often read journals and papers. Unfortunately I tend to spill when I am not paying attention to my plate – it is one of the main reasons why I wear bowties.
Sometimes I get to hear other people’s cell phone calls or conversations. People think that people eating alone are deaf. I have heard many a fanciful conversation at counters and in fast food joints. It is free entertainment. Sometimes it is annoying – today I overheard a rather loud man talking nonstop about his operation.
Overall eating alone is either a dull or a sad past time. I think too much about the lonely situation I have at work. Eating alone touches a memory of the times I was growing up and ‘forced’ to eat alone or elsewhere (although there is some consolation these kids have grown up to become my patients).
I get tempted to ask a fellow ‘eating alone’ person if they want to join me for company, not unlike the scene in Moonstruck where Olympia D asks another person eating alone to join her for dinner.
Ah well. It is not a major issue, but I experience it every work day.
