Prescription Potluck

The office is in shambles due to an impending move, people are worried about their jobs, still trying to process this whole sale...but don't worry! It will all be fine. We have a potluck coming up!

Apparently there is something about everyone bringing in food and standing around awkwardly that seems to heal all wounds. As long as we can have a potluck, we don't need to worry about whether or not we still have jobs.

I don't know how a potluck works in your office, maybe its a good time. But this is how it works in mine.

At 11am they start bringing out the food. 11. In the morning. Thankfully no one is expected to start eating until noon but in the meantime, smells of all kinds of delicious are wafting through the halls. When we finally do get into the room, there is a lot of awkward standing around. For 2 reasons:

1. No one wants to be the first to start eating, getting all the best food and largest portions but looking like a greedy pig at the same time.
2. The group that finds themselves working here are not of a particularly social disposition, so a social gathering of this sort throws them all into confused silence.

At this point, where you sit becomes of paramount importance. Choose wrong and you could spend the next hour being ignored or alternatively, discussing various cat habits. Offices are nothing if not clique-y.

Once everyone has that sorted out, there will inevitably be some speech. Tomorrow will run along the lines of how much we have all enjoyed working together (lies, I don't even know everyone's name, and there are only like 30 people that work here), how we're all embarking on a new chapter in our working lives, and something about staying in touch?

I always harbour some hope that people will lose track of the time and we will get longer than the allotted one hour lunch to celebrate our achievements/new chapter/holiday but that never happens. Some sort of inner manager clock ensures that we are all back at our desks at 1pm sharp. Which leaves us with another 4 hours of work. Not how I like to roll on Fridays.

Send me good thoughts tomorrow as this facet of office culture tortures me once more.