Lunch: A Love Story

By Stephanie Cochard

We all know that in the working world, lunch is the adult version of Recess. It’s your favorite subject in school, the bright spot in your day, the hot date you look forward to while watching the clock tick.

You and lunch make a great couple. You’ve been together for as long as you can remember, planning and partaking of delicious culinary experiences together, passing the time reading, chatting, and planning for the future. Nothing could break you two apart, or so you thought…

One day you wander into the break room, ready for a date with your lunch- something you’ve been looking forward to all day long. You’ve prepared something spectacular, a special treat for the two of you to share. Opening up the refrigerator, the anticipation of enjoying this scrumptious event mounts…you excitedly scan the shelves searching for the exquisite container possessing this handmade creation, and then…

Gone. Just, gone. Nowhere to be found. You’ve been betrayed, cheated on by the taste of another. What went wrong? You were—happy. Who is this “other diner” your lunch has left you for? Emotions of anger, disappointment, and despair surge through your veins as you stand devastated before the refrigerator, miserable and hungry. The dark chasm in your heart magnified by the growling emptiness in your stomach. You didn’t even get the chance to say goodbye.

It’s the code of the breakroom that you don’t make a move on someone else’s lunch. Don’t be the wrench in the relationship between a person and their meal. Here’s a friendly reminder to be respectful to others - only partake of the food you prepared and remember to clean-up after yourself in the process. Because nasty breakups in the break room can be prevented with a little common courtesy.