Home for Lunch

One of the things I love about my job is its proximity to where I live. I love the fact that I never have to worry about the one-hour commute that is the average one-way commute time here. I love the fact that I never have to worry about gas prices. Really, I'll complain that it's $3 a gallon but I only fill up every other week so 40 bucks every couple of weeks isn't that bad. If it were every other day like some of my colleagues, that would be a different case. I love the fact that I have the luxury of waking up 30 minutes before I have to be at work. In the past, I loved the fact that I could come home from work. There was a time when I craved efo (vegetable soup made with palm oil). I would rush home and eat it with anything at lunch. Efo isn't something you want to eat at work so having lunch at home meant I wouldn't have to deal with people saying "Hmmmmmm, what is that smell?" But I digress.

Today is the first time I've come home for lunch in a looooooooong time. I've been so consumed with staying close by so that if I'm ever needed, I'm in the building. Today, I didn't plan on coming home but at 11:55 this morning, it seemed like a really good idea. There is a point of saturation and working through lunch gets you there very quickly. This past Friday, I was at work until 7pm. On a Friday! I didn't even break for lunch. This corporate America sef. It gets really tiresome. Today, I'm looking out for my sanity. For real, some time ago at my old job, I literally felt like crawling under my desk to get away from the work. I was ready to scream and yell at everyone to leave me alone. That's when I knew it was time to leave.

Going forward, I am going to block out my calendar at lunch time so I have less "working lunch" sessions. In fact, I am going to physically leave the building at lunch time so people can't reach me. People always feel it's okay to barge in with "I know you're at lunch but could you..." Who am I kidding? Today's probably going to be my last lunch at home in a long while because there'll be fifty messages waiting for me when I get back.