For whatever reason, certain elements in my office think we must enjoy each other’s company and food in the annual ritual of Office Pot Luck Lunch. Someone (I suspect a frustrated ex-spirit club member) circulates a sign-up sheet asking what we’ll bring.
I’ve come to hate these things. The big day arrives and it’s a mad rush to heat up a dozen covered plates in two tiny microwave ovens. There’s no way we can all sit and eat together, so we file past a table, load our plates, then go back to our desks. Great fun, huh? Then an unfortunate few have to clean up the mess - usually the secretary and any other women in the group.
Last year, I opted out, and everyone - from the boss to the newbie - assumed I did so because I couldn’t afford to bring anything in. The offers of “You can eat anyway” were almost worse than having to pretend to enjoy the “luncheon” - sheesh! But I digress…
Am I alone in this? Does anyone LIKE these events? Does anyone enjoy socializing with coworkers? Should I grin and bear it or call in sick? 'Tis the season…
I think they’re a pain in the ass. The food’s usually good though. What I hate about my company’s luncheon is that they charge, too! $10 if you don’t bring anything, $3 if you do. This company doesn’t even provide free coffee. $5 a month, and I only drink one cup a day. But I digress… We usually eat in a conference room, but you’re right, there’s never enough seating and lots of people go back to their desks. I prefer to eat lunch alone anyway, as I like to read on my lunch hour.
But I guess we should be able to tolerate it once a year, huh? Co-worker relations, or something…
I’m in here 8 hours a day because I need to earn a living. I’m nice to all you people because there are laws that forbid me from killing you. I suppose I could ignore everyone most of the time (which I often do) but you insist on coming into my office and sharing information I have absolutely no interest in hearing. Then you invite me to your inane lunches and after hours social events at the local pub. Which part of “I could not care less” don’t you people understand?
Okay, I’ll admit, one or two of you are worth exchanging pleasantries with - like time of day, weather outlook, even stock market banter is alright now and then. But don’t ask me about my personal life and don’t be offended if I don’t ask you about you and yours… mmm’kay?!
This is not a social club. We are all just prisoners here of our own economic needs and wants. We all know that the second any of us gets a better offer we’ll bolt for the door so fast there’ll be a vacuum sucking sound where we once stood. Oh and forget the farewell lunches. We all know they are simply information sessions about who’s hiring and what they’re paying - if I wanted to see more of you, I’d have stayed here.
The way the working week is structured, I see more of you people than I see my kids. So you’ll forgive me if I don’t get a thrill from the prospect of having to choke down that potato salad of yours’ while you recite the recepie to me and tell me how you stayed up till 3:00am making it. Besides, it’s my lunch hour too and this is the one hour in the day that I get to do exactly what I want even if that means closing my office door and shooting paper clips into the waste basket. It’s my damn time and I’d sooner jump out this window than spend my time eating out of plastic plates while standing around the conference room with you people.
…wow, I guess I had a rant in me about this…
The first company I worked at did this out of a tradition. They were down on business contracts, and the threat of layoffs hung over them. Someone came up with the idea of a pot luck luncheon to cheer people up. It did, and then it became a tradition.
It started to get old to the women in Admin, because they ended doing most/all of the arrangements and clean-up. They almost called it off, until a group of men volunteered to take it over. (It was really funny seeing one goober who couldn’t figure out how to tear off aluminum foil for the leftovers.)
Understand this, my fellow cow-orkers. My lunch break is semi-sacred. I leave the office for lunch everyday for one reason - my sanity. I take that time to stop, reflect, and prepare for the remainder of the day. I need to leave your bitching and whining during that time to remind myself that there are adults in this world, they just don’t choose to work here. Your potluck lunches deprive me of this much needed downtime.
You take sick days as “mental health days”. I don’t, preferring to do my job as long as I am physically able, as I promised my employer. Lunch is my “mental health hour”. Take it away too often for things not related to getting my job done and you will not like the results.
To be blunt, if we did not work together by chance we would not spend time together by choice. I don’t dislike you, for the most part, but neither do the vast majority of you appear on my “people to hang around with” list outside of work. I’m sure most of you feel the same. My circle of friends is smaller than my circle of cow-orkers. It always will be. Get used to it.
I agree with you. I like some of my co-workers, and I socialize with them after work. Other co-workers are nothing more than deadwood and I wouldn’t “party” with them if they were the last group on earth. I don’t respect them at work, why would that be any different any other place?
We buy cakes for people having a birthday…but that’s as far as it goes with me.
I can see some of your points FairyChatMom and others, but bring on the food days!!!
No offense, but it doesn’t sound like the logistics are worked out well in your office. Not everyone needs to bring a hot dish and if they do bring a hot dish that is why they make crock pots. Food days are a chance to sample a wide variety of good snack food. Snack being the operative word. At best for a main course you are really looking at hot beef, BBQ’ or cold cuts. Cleanup should be assigned to the people participating. The office is under no obligation to allow you to have a food day and it certainly tends to slow productivity so everyone should be willing to help with cleanup.
That being said our food days usually last throughout the day and not everyone takes lunch at the same time. We also have a fairly sizable breakroom but there is no way everyone could eat at the same time. I don’t mind bringing the food back to my desk because I can continue working and then actually accomplish something on my lunch hour. Plus generally I would rather be left alone for my lunch hour. And to be honest it generally results in a day long snack session. Being a glutton on a food day doesn’t count as a Deadly Sin…right???
Veggie tray
Deviled eggs
Cheese and Sausage
Cheese Spread and crackers
7 layer salad
Potato Salad
Hot Wings
Taco Dip
Taco Salad
Hot beefs
BBQ’s
Little Smokies in BBQ Sauce
Meatballs
Chips and homemade dips
Cookies
Fudge
Cakes
Brownies
And tons of other stuff I can’t think of right now….
How can you people not like food days??? Maybe it depends on the corporate environment.
As the admin type person who has to plan, pull together, make this semi-interesting and really could give a rats ass about all this stupid holiday get together, let’s eat together, cook for each other, socialize and play nice nice when we really hate each other’s guts kind of stupid ass lunch crummy office singalong holiday it’s the most wonderful time of the year shit, I wish all of you who really didn’t want to do this would just say so - it would make people like myself’s (? that doesn’t sound right but screw it) lives a whole heck of a lot easier. Because then, I could tell the bosses that “Nobody wants to do this. They have told me so! To my face you goddamn reindeer-lover! Drop it you MORON! And no, nobody likes or wants your wife’s sniker doodle cookies - we’re sick to death of them after all these years!”
And yes, I do all of the set up AND clean up. Over two long, agonizing days. So for you idiotic managers (read “I’ve got a degree and a six figure income but I couldn’t manage my way out of a baggie let alone a whole department unless my secretary did it for me”) who continue to perpetuate this bullshit, KNOCK IT OFF.
I don’t dislike all of my coworkers, and SOME are friends who have been welcomed to my home. The rest are people who work here - I see them 40 or so hours a week and maybe in passing at the mall or something.
Actually, one tradition I rather enjoyed here was called “Snack-a-Day” - between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we’d take turns bringing in cookies or brownies or cheese-n-crackers to share with the office. That was nice, if fattening. I just don’t get into the massive feeds.
And I’m not gonna comment about the the food brought by folks who don’t wash their hands in the bathroom. <shudder>
Well, I witnessed it today - another division in the building had their T-day luncheon in the conference room. They set up a huge buffet and carried their plates to their desks. I had to short-cut thru the room as they were cleaning up afterwards - “THEY” being an entirely female contingent. Yep, sure glad WE didn’t do that this year.
But the “Snack-a-Day” sign-up list made its way thru our division today. Ah, what the heck - I’ll bring in a plate of cookies for that.
We did our lunch last Friday. We paid $5 for a turkey dinner and bringing a dish was optional. There is a big enough conference room where we were all able to eat. It was really fun and sorta like a family get together. The food was good, I definitely ate too much. We also had the after lunch jokes about taking a nap.
::deb walks away humming, thinking that maybe she doesn’t work in that bad of a place::
FWIW I agree about the annoying food days, especially in larger companyies. Thank goodness I work now in a small company, and when we do eat together, it’s more like a family lunch thing.
Fairychatmom, how is your hubby doing? I have been meaning to ask you about that for a while now. Hope he’s feeling better too.
Since I am self employed I don’t have the joys or pains of such a day. However, ocassionally my client has these potlucks and usually I never find out about them but somehow I usually show up on the days they have them, no food in hand. Well, they feel sorry for me and always ask if I want some lunch.
Yipeeee, a free lunch! You can’t beat that! Sometimes I decline when I am feeling like I may over step my boundries stating that I had already eaten.
For my client though, it really does brighten up things and instead of the standard daily routine everyone pitches in for something other than work. I always note a positive rise in the mood within their office when they do this. There are about 35-40 people in the local office and people either gather in the conference room, go back to their desks or pile into the copier room which has a HUGE table in the middle mainly used to mess around with very large commercial architectural plans. It’s a pretty friendly company anyway.
