Lunch Consideration

Eating etiquette in the office or in a cubicle; now this seems to be a touchy subject with some office employees and supervisors. All I can do is give my opinion on what I have seen in my many endless hours and days working in a “cubicle farm”.

I do know that many of us take our own meals, snacks and to our desk so that we can eat and work during lunch so that we don’t have to “clock out” or we might have a boss that is pressuring us to finish a project or meet a tireless deadline. But come on folks; let’s be real and considerate of our fellow employees sitting in the close “cubes” all around us. Yes, I am talking to you, the one that just brought the can of sardines to work as if you are trying to scrape up your last dimes for a meal.

Just imagine having to sit next to that person (just one cubicle over) and having to smell a can of sardines smothered in green chilies and oil. And then to top it off, they decide when they are done eating from this small tin; they dispose of it in the trash can under their desk for all the “cubes” around to smell for the rest of the day. You can’t get more considerate than this. Yes, that was being sarcastic.

Then comes the employee that burns the bag of Orville Redenbacher in the break room next to all the desk and cubicles. Fill the whole floor with that burnt smell. You know the kind that lingers like a smog day in Los Angeles. I don’t know if there is a fire or if I need to sit and wait for an oxygen mask to drop down from the ceiling tiles. Like the ones on a doomed airline flight.

I also see the employee that is leaving for a “fast food” run and doesn’t even bother to stop and ask everyone to see if they want something. I guess that is a clique thing (but that will be another blog at a later date). Here I sit in my cubicle eating the lunch I scrounged up early in the morning and in comes the “fast food” runner. For some reason, my bologna sandwich and potato chip just smell like the Jack in the Box that just entered the room.

In closing, all I can say is; be considerate of the others around you. Or be forth warned that the day is coming when I do the “Pay Back” and everyone wishes that they had left the building for lunch.