TeamLunch

Two words that never cease to make me break out into a sweat (apart from 'no sugar') are 'Team Lunch'.

Before my first, I used to think that team lunches were all about fun and food... A mini party even! How great it is to finally know your fellow colleagues a lil more personally. It's something that makes them seem slightly human (Note: I have not used the terms 'more human').

But here are the hard facts: team lunches are socially awkward occasions where you endure long uncomfortable silences with people whom you hardly know outside the office whilst you push around food on your plate. A time during which people suddenly turn religious and pray to God, pleading with Him that time flies by quickly... Well fat chance, my friend, God ain't listening. Time crawls slower during a team lunch than it does while waiting for a typical Bangalorean traffic jam to clear.

Yes, that slow.

Have you noticed that even the people you are remotely comfortable with, suddenly act all awkward and weird when they have a dining table and some silver-ware put in front of them? It's like they don't know what to do under the circumstances... 'Do I go friendly all the way? No wait, that doesn't suit the occasion! Better to act grave like someone just died.'

It's true! I used to face that (and act accordingly, I admit) in my former company all the time. The last time I attended a lunch in my previous company was one week after I gave in my resignation letter. The party was because of a successful hardware completion which would help us software engineers achieve our target. I was going to leave the company long before that target would have been reached. Boy, was I feeling uncomfortable during that afternoon.

But then again, I have to admit... team lunches are best of the lot, especially when you compare them to office parties. :D

Why am I suddenly writing about unofficial intra-personal 'meetings' all of a sudden? Aah, it's just because I attended one during the afternoon today. :)

[Oh, before I sign off: I realised that I violated my one-word-for-a-title rule. The rule was purposefully enforced because I sincerely believe that an eloquent person can express all in one word. And if I had to go drag myself to a thesaurus to do it, I would have... Unfortunately, the enforced rule created nothing but unoriginality and more laziness. I couldn't be bothered to find one word that conveyed - you guessed it- 'Team Lunch', and hence the title of this post!!! :D ]