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Chronicles of a Graduate: The Lost Art of Lunch
By Patty Marra, Series Guest Blogger I recently received another bump in my hours (woo!) which, in addition to a larger paycheck, also means that I have earned myself lunch. Yes, thirty minutes of glorious, unpaid time to take a break from my computer screen, engage in some human interaction, and grab a bite to eat. It’s nice to have a break during the day—for those exact reasons. It’s nice to talk to other people face-to-face, and my eyes certainly appreciate the change of scenery. From my brief time in corporate America, however, I have noticed that lunch seems to be a dying art. A large number of the people who walk through our cafeteria don’t stop to sit down at a table; they grab their food, snag a few necessary utensils, and it’s back up to the desk to munch and work. I always find this incredible. I suppose if you’re only working a five hour day, it’s not horribly important to take a break and step away from the computer screen for a little while because you get a pretty long break from it between when you leave to go home and when you come in the next morning. However, if you’re on the 9-5 schedule, that’s a long time to go without a change of scenery or mental break. Is There Opportunity in Lunch? Beyond that, lunch could be a great time to meet other people. Perhaps this is more strongly defined by company culture, but I have heard that at Google, they encourage everyone to just sit down wherever for lunch and chat with their tablemates about what they do and what they are working on. I would love to feel like I could do that in our lunchroom—just imagine how much potential for learning and collaboration could come out of that. You would have a guarantee that every day at work, you would learn something new. However, that’s not the case. It seems that so many people are using lunch as a time to eat at their desk or work out, that maybe corporate America is missing out on opportunities for innovation. Have you ever made a valuable contact over a random lunchroom conversation? Is there something behind this, or is it just the ramblings of a naïve entry level employee? Where is the middle ground? About the Author  Patty Marra is a freshly graduated alumna of Marquette University, who is working on answering the question, “…what next?” She is navigating the ever-evolving hiring maze of today’s business environment, and sharing the pieces of knowledge she learns along the way. She loves social media, but appreciates a good face-to-face conversation. Long-term, she is looking to establish a career in marketing project management, and help everyone she can along the way. You can get in touch with her by email, or you can find more of her thoughts via herblog, Twitter, and LinkedIn.Does this sound familiar? Are you in the same situation? Have you been here before -- what's your advice for Patty? Please comment below. |