Coworker Confessions: The Lunch Hour Bandit

Welcome to my new series of laugh-your-ass-off stories about people that I've come across in professional environments, be it school or work. Every so often I'll post my personal synopsis of a selected individual, attempt to give you a visual and a few chuckles here and there. Please note that some of these people have multiple personalities, so there may be more than one post per person. Introducing... The Lunch Hour Bandit!

Upon starting my internship at CC, the rules and office protocol wasn't really explained to me. I spent much of my first 2 weeks figuring out how things worked around here. I never knew that something as simple as a lunch schedule would cause so much commotion.

The Lunch Hour Bandit apparently felt (and still does) that her lunch hour should be 1p every single day. Regardless of whether she came in at 8a or 10a. Regardless of whether someone else came in before her that hasn't taken their lunch yet. The LHB whines when others leave for lunch and she's left to tame these wild students alone, but closes her window at 12:59:59, long line, short line... doesn't matter. She'll even go as far as to come to your workstation to remind you that you should go to lunch at a certain time because she HAS to go at 1p. One time while our other intern was helping out a student, she walked up to her window, flipped over her 'closed' sign and walked back to her cubicle. If you can imagine, the clock struck 12:01p and the LHB was furious that she had to go to lunch 1 minute late. I always wondered what the big deal was, and then I figured it out. She takes her lunch break with her friend who works in our back office every single day, and since her friend has a set work schedule, she has to go at 1p. How childish??? Seriously, you can't always have your way. Unfortunately, if your supervisor baby's you because she feels sorry for you, then I guess you can manipulate others.

Well, let me tell you... one day she didn't take her lunch break until 1:30p because of me. I'm sorry, but if I work from 9a-5:30p, I should not be forced to take my lunch break at 11 or 11:30a and starve for the remainder of the day. I'm not even that hungry at that time. So when she asked me what time I was going to lunch... I told her my regular time- 12:30p. She repeated 12:30p several times while lingering around my workstation before she finally returned to her desk to mumble rude shit under her breath. Before the day was over, another coworker approached me about the situation. The next morning, our supervisor sent out a mass email stating that we should stick to our scheduled lunch times. That works for me considering I was never given one... oh well. And since my adorable intern friend works in the back now, I'd like to have lunch with her from time to time.

Have you ever dealt with a coworker that thought they ran everything, but was only really running their mouth?

Junk Food Eviction

When shopping for desk food, I normally don't realize where I'm spending my money. Just recently I noticed a few pounds being added onto my waistline, along with daily headaches. Let me explain...

Not my desk, but close enough :-)

There is usually some form of junk food in my desk drawer. This drawer houses Oreo cookies, apple sauce, miniature Snicker bars, sunflower seeds, Pringles and candy canes. My coworker who sits right next to me has boxes of cereal at her desk. The other intern in our office keeps bringing Starbucks to work, on top of the occasional cupcakes/cakes that are brought in.

My daily routine at work includes periodically checking my Blackberry, adjusting student accounts and stuffing my face with this junk food. Not only this, but I rarely take my lunch to work and watched my debit card rack up over $250 in fast food charges in a little over a month! When I first started this internship, I was onto a good start... bringing my lunch everyday, using my break time to study or read and just learning everything there is to know about our office. Now that I'm used to things and can understand/interpret things a lot better, I have fallen into a slump. I guess this is what happens when there isn't much empowerment on the job. Not enough room to make changes or implement new ideas since everything is done by the book. Therefore, I need this 'excitement' in my day. My work day has been minimized to reading mindless news articles, magazines, eating junk food and shopping on my lunch break.

2010 has got to be a much better year for me! I've already decided to try new healthy snacks like apples sprinkled with cinnamon, bananas and peanut butter, 'desk-made lemonade' consisting of a few squirts of lemon and ice water. Not only will this save me money, but it'll also help me feel better. I'm also enrolling in a hip-hop dance class with my new intern friend.

I guess being able to train the new intern who starts in January will add a little excitement to my day and help with my binging activities.

GAB wants ADVICE: Lunch Ideas

GAB wants ADVICE is a feature that I'll utilize to gain a little more insight about situations that I find myself in, or maybe advice for a friend. Please leave your advice and comments :-)

A week from today I'll be leaving AH to embark on new territory. I'm ecstatic about this, but there's one dilemma. The founder of AH likes for the employees to be in the office at all times during the day, therefore the company purchases lunch for everyone, EVERYDAY! Obviously this won't be the case at my new job.

I'm in a bit of a pickle. I want to save more money and buy less junk/fast food for lunch. My biggest goal is to figure out some type of lunch plan for the week. I'd like to stay in the $20/week range and take a brown bag lunch to my new internship.

Any easy-to-cook, inexpensive lunch ideas?? More on the healthy side, please!!

GAB Rant: Over-ordering for Lunch!

GAB Rant is where I'll rant and rave about minor and/or major occurrences that I experience around the office- or near the office, on a day-to-day basis! Enjoy :-)

So today, AH decided to order Potbelly for lunch. You know, the sandwich shoppe. Well, this was my first time having Potbellys, so I went light for lunch (I usually do).

Not the other intern... Not only did he take 10 minutes to go over the menu, but he ordered a sandwich, chips, and a cookie. I know that may not sound like a lot, but it was enough for our supervisor to call him into his office for a 'talk'.

This isn't the first time he's done this. The idea is to go with the flow of the office. You don't make your own rules; you blend with what's already happening. If no one else who came before you is ordering food out of the woohaa, then you're not supposed to.

Bring your own snacks to work! Don't expect your employer to provide for your daily bout of the munchies.

Intern Do's & Don'ts

Ok- so my AH internship isn't my first one, and over the years through both regular jobs and other internships, I've learned the do's and don'ts of any employee, but especially interns... Internships aren't just jobs; they're your first footsteps into a company. Therefore, you always want to put your best foot forward, and exude the utmost respect for the company for which you are working for. After all, we ultimately want to receive a full-time offer from the company.

So, here are some of the things I noticed other interns doing while on the job (this is mostly current):

1. If you're scheduled to be at work at 9:00a, please don't show up 9:27a expecting a pat on the back.
2. If your lunch break is supposed to be 30 minutes, please don't take an hour and a half to eat a taco!
3. If the office seems rather busy and you finish your work early, ALWAYS ask if there is more work to be done.
4. When the company gives you gifts i.e. sporting event tickets, please don't ask for more so that you can take your friend for their upcoming birthday!
5. School comes first, no matter what! So don't sit in the office bragging about how much of a slacker you are. Remember, everyone there already has an education, and they're looking for MORE people like them!
6. Remember, you are always representing the company whether you're at work or not. So act like it.
7. Never participate in office gossip... it could be the death of you, and your employment!
8. Just because the receptionist tells you to help yourself to the supply closet, don't take it upon yourself to restock your bookbag for the next two semesters!
9. Employers (most of them) have all been in your shoes, and most of them have done the same work that you are doing. If you're given a task that should ordinarily take about an hour to complete, do not turn that into a full day of work.
10. Don't ask if it's ok to leave work at 3:30p, but still put 5p on your timecard. Why would you even do that if you aren't working for that extra hour and a half??? I mean, that's soooo unethical!!!!
    

Those are just a few of my issues with interns... but I'm sure as the summer progresses, there will definitely be more.