Cafeteria

Now that I am poor and therefore monetarily reponsible, I am trying to be better about bringing my lunch to work.

I calculated that since starting this job, I have spent nearly $1000 on lunches.

Yes, the soft, gooey, white chocolate chip cookies from Subway are priceless but with $1000 I could be well on my way to purchasing my very own adult purple velvet loveseat!

Since I've started bringing my lunch to work, there have been fewer trips to the ATM, less activity on the credit card, and a sudden obsession with tupperware sizes.

This would all be fabulous if I didn't have to suffer from a middle-school-like fear of the cafeteria.

It's not that I am afraid of eating lunch with other people.

I'm just aware of the fact that I could be trapped with someone I don't particularly like, or worse, trapped with someone with whom I get along just fine but to whom I have nothing to say.

I admit that I am deathly afraid of small talk.

I am attached to my introverted lunchtime behavior.

I like to read the paper. I like to get out of the building. I like to people watch and walk and not have to dread who I might be trapped with in the cafeteria.

I am starving but don't want to eat yet because I bet there are tons of people down there eating and discussing the weather right now.

I am afraid that I'll walk down there and everyone will be friendly! and happy! and laughing! I'll be even more of an outcast than I already am.

Is a purple couch worth this strife?

Are peanut butter sandwiches really subsitutes for slices of pizza?

Sometimes I really miss Cambridge.