Pretty sure I said I wouldn’t be updating about this experiment as it goes, but…
I already fell off the wagon three days in.
We get lunch every Friday at work, like Ken, the owner of the company, buys it for us. Pretty cool.
One would think, of all the days I’d actually take a full lunch, it would be today.
Here’s what happened:
- I’m on the phone until 11:20am. I get off and get ready to head to pick up lunch for everyone (did I mention I’m also the person who orders lunch for everyone and picks it up?).
- I get another call from a technician. He’s trying to find the right person on site for his service call. Eric is out today, and Shaun is programming panels in the conference room all day with the guys. It’ll only take a minute to get John a phone number. It ends up being 15 minutes before I’m able to leave.
- Okay, drop dead time. If I don’t leave to get lunch now, it’s going to be cold. I drive out to get lunch, pick it up, spill mustard on my jeans from the free hot dog they give me, and drive back. I make it back to the office at 12:30pm, half an hour later than I should be.
- I scarf down lunch in 15 minutes in the conference room with everyone. I head back to my desk and close the door to my office to finish out the rest of my lunch break.
- The phone rings. It’s John again. He needs help locking a door. It’s an access control door, so our system controls whether it’s locked or unlocked. This will probably only take 10 minutes and then I’ll finish out my lunch break from there.
- It takes 45 minutes, and I never get back to my lunch break.
A couple observations:
- I’m terrible at saying no to people when they would just be waiting for me otherwise, especially in situations where there really isn’t anyone else who could pick up and help them.
- There will always be those phone calls and requests during my lunch break time.
So, at what point do I just tell someone I’m taking lunch downstairs if anyone needs me, leave my cell phone upstairs, and then take my full lunch downstairs? That or actually leave the office and tell everyone who calls I’m out on lunch.
I think it’s now. I think that’s the next piece in this experiment anyway. How bad is it really if someone can’t reach me for an hour?
It’s all well and good to say I’m taking a lunch, but whenever something comes up, I need a better (read, easier) way to keep myself on track with the lunch break. Like I said in the initial post, if I’m not guarding this, no one else will.
If the whole world melts down while I’m unavailable, maybe I’ll reevaluate this. But that ought to be part of this experiment, testing it. And I doubt it really will melt down.
