That Co-Worker: Late Lunch Eater
Like Jack, I also work in an office full of cubicles. And like Jack, I also get annoyed at many things my coworkers do. But the last few days have been absolutely unbearable. Like normal people, I take my lunch at noon. If I have a lot of work to do or if it’s raining outside, I’ll eat at my desk. But most of the time I like to get out of the office. I used to eat at home because I lived a few blocks away, but now I go to my car and relax for a bit or read a book. If I do leave, I’m always back in an hour, around 1 pm. The problem arises when the two women who share a large cubicle (and a cubicle wall with me) decide not to eat until 1 pm. And they don’t just eat lunch. 1 pm becomes their “chat” hour where they engage in discussion of everything concerning their families. This mostly revolves around their children, who all being under the age of 9, do some pretty stupid things that these women find adorable. Fine. There’s nothing wrong with adoring your children, but when you talk loud enough that everyone within a radius of 50 feet can hear you, that’s a problem. And since I’m right next door to them, I hear everything.
This, of course, would not be a problem if they ate lunch at noon. They could engage in their gab-fest and I would be absent from the office and unable to soak in my own disdain for them. But, no. They eat at 1. And I’m back at 1 because work typically resumes at 1 and I don’t want someone looking around for me in case there’s something I have to do. So I come back to sit at my desk and I’m instantly thrown into a world where I cannot concentrate on anything other than the voices emanating from next door.
There’s one more component to this issue that is especially note-worthy. Both of these women, I’ll call them Patty and Phyllis, work part-time. Patty is usually here every day except Friday and Phyllis works every afternoon. So Phyllis usually shows up around 1 and instead of eating lunch before she comes to work, she brings lunch for her and Patty. Now, I’m guessing Phyllis is paid for work that is assumed to begin at 1. But since she eats lunch at 1, she appears to take a lunch before she even works. So not only do they torment me on a daily basis, but they do so during a time when they should be working.
Oh, and one more thing. Phyllis talks with her mouth full of food. I seriously can hear her chew while she talks. Man…