Thursday, September 5, 2013

the lunchroom

We have a fairly large breakroom at the office. The only thing it lacks is a stove, but it does have two microwaves, a full sink, and a full sized side-by-side fridge/freezer. It also has a very large table with seating for twelve.

I seldom eat in there. First, the chairs need to be cleaned. They are upholstered and frankly, gross. Also, I usually do some exercise on my lunch break, if I'm not out running errands, so I eat in my cubicle. Yesterday our boss walked with us, so when we got back, he wanted to eat in the kitchen instead of at our desks. Fine. I was happy to take a few extra minutes away from the abstracts I was setting to style.

While we were there, a rather random conversation came up about dream vacations. One gal said she wants to take her daughter to Greece. I mentioned a trip to England for me and the hubby.

Then a gal from another department said she doesn't have any dreams or goals, she just tries to get through each day.

WOW.

The room fell silent, that awkward "I don't know what to say to that" silence. The Greek vacation gal, began to ramble on again about her dream trip. Then a new crew of folks wandered in, the no dream/goal gal gathered her things and left.

My department talked about it once we were back in our area. Now, this woman is a bit nuts. She is very passive-aggressive and I've had her go a bit crazy on me twice in the two years I've been working there. Once over a frog video and once over who I sat with at lunch.

Yet even though we know she is a bit off, we all felt sad that she would say to a room full of people that she has no dreams or goals.

I've always had dreams, goals, hopes. They've changed over time, been adjusted and modified, but they are still there.

My boss said she could have just said that to have the exact effect she did. He thinks she is that nuts. Who knows, but it was a moment for me to think about my plans for the future and to recommit to them!

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