so this week i'm down to the wire on my magazine article project, and i've been kinda in a headcake on how i want to start the story...so tonight i brought to work with me a few issues of the mag i'll be writing for, and an anthology of music writing from last year, in hopes that i could skim through some articles during my lunch break and get some ideas and inspiration to take home with me tonight.

i walk in the lunch room, get my stuff spread out, throw my food in the microwave, and someone walks in, plops himself down right beside where i'm eating, and starts in talking about his dinner and asking about what my music book is about, and is that how i find out about new music, and how he's the last person he knows who still buys CDs, and on and on, and he's ever so obviously trying to engage me in conversation, and i'm all like "shit! of course TONIGHT this would happen on my break". any other night, i would have been happy to "uh huh" and "wow, that's great" this person as much as he liked, but tonight, i really wanted to get some work done.

and i woulda said "ya know, i wanna be alone" or something like that, but a) the guy's higher on the office food chain, b) i'd then have to explain what i'm doing that involves my wanting to be left alone, which would open up a whole NEW can of conversational worms, ("you're writing a STORY? for WHO? i knew someone who studied journalism you know, blather blather blah blah yadda..."), and c) if i didn't explain why i wanted to be left alone, it would cause a weird awkwardness which would carry over to the workplace, i'm sure.

and i couldn't really escape the situation because it would have really looked obvious if i'd gathered my stuff and left as soon as he walked in.

i guess i just had to take my lumps - you can't always escape annoying situations. sometimes you gotta just suffer through 'em. i just hate people who impose themselves like that - it feels like a violation to me, even though i'm sure this person thought he was just being social and nice.

plus, i think i am to talkaholics as w.c. fields was to kids. i can't stand 'em, and i can't ever escape 'em, especially at inopportune times.

so to all the org emily posts out there - is there a polite, non-bristly way of saying "you know what? i'm not really down for the hang tonight, dude"?

I don't know, I can never do it. I usually make a point to let my co-workers know my break time is my me-time at work. I don't like to talk to ANYONE when I'm on break, especially my lunch break. In fact, we had a bit of a laugh at it the other day as I was in the line in the cafeteria and 2 co-workers were behind me and the one invited me to sit with them and the other guy told him without even letting me reply, oh, no! Carrie needs her alone time at break. You have to respect that. So I've got them trained.

I guess I've just avoided eye contact and kinda went on with my work...still listening and replying if needed, but concentrating more on the work than them. They seem to get the hint that they're not the focus of my attention at that point and leave me alone before too long.

CarrieMpls said:

My coworkers used to be offended that I would hang out in my car at lunchtime rather than with them in the break room. I started telling them that it was because my favorite NPR program was on at lunctime and there was no radio in the breakroom.

Of course, then they offered to get a radio for the breakroom. I told them I had an extra one I'd bring in. And then I kept "forgetting."

I should have just properly trained them like you.