A group of us gathers each day around noon in the cafetorium
(yes, my company made up this stupid word to describe the open area where we
consume food). It’s roughly the same
group with some outlying revolving members, and we’re all from the same
team. Other members of our team see us,
but don’t stop, heading out to eat instead.
Still more see us, and choose to sit somewhere else. A few will even sit by themselves rather than
sit with us. A larger group chooses to
eat at their desks every day, whether with food they brought from home or with
food they went out and acquired.
I find it fascinating that we have so many anti-social
people on our team, so I started breaking down some statistics. Not counting the managers, who never eat with
us (something about keeping the separation between management and peons), we
have 25 people that regularly come to the office. Of those 25, we have 10 that will gather
together. That’s more than half of our
team that is anti-social.
At first I thought it might be cultural or racial, because
the majority of our team is of Indian ancestry.
But it’s not. Of the 10 people
that eat together regularly, 4 of them are of Indian ancestry, 3 are black, and
3 are white. So, a pretty equal mix and
representative sample of what makes up our team. Of the 15 people that choose not to eat with
the group, 11 of them are of Indian ancestry, 1 is black, and 3 are white. So, while not equal, it’s still a
representative sample from every group on our team.
It’s not gender-related, because of the 10 people that eat
together regularly, 2 are women and 8 are men.
Of the remaining 15, 3 are women and 12 are men.
I even broke down married versus single. Of the 10 lunch buddies, 6 are married and 4
are single. Of the remaining 15, 12 are
married and 2 are single.
So, after all of this wasted time, all I can conclude is
that those 15 people are just anti-social.
They have all been asked to lunch at least once and turned us down. Everyone else knows that you don’t need a
formal invitation. The table is always
open, and all you need to do is find an open chair. If there is no room left at the table, then
we will grab another table and drag it over.
There is never an excuse for someone to not feel welcome. For now, I’ll just enjoy eating with them and
enjoy the laughs. They’re a great group
of people, and I feel blessed to know them all.
