Old Skool Lunch

Quick post before my second round of drinking today.

Our canteen at work was closed today, which meant no lunch on site. (FYI, for you Americans, in Norway it is a common 'perk' at work to get a subsidized lunch on site. This is for two reasons: lunches are short, no more than 1/2 hour, and food is expensive, so a subsidized lunch can be a real financial consideration. I know people who choose jobs based on the canteen. Lunch is definitely NOT a going out occasion here. )

I sent out an email to a few work buddies that I usually sit with at lunch, suggesting an Old Skool Mad Men style lunch as a treat since we didn't have a lunch otherwise. I booked a table at an Italian place near the office for 8 people.

The email got sent around, and a bunch more people said they wanted to come. I called the restaurant and got a bigger table. I spread the word that people needed to let me know if they were coming as I had to make reservations and the restaurant could only hold so many.

As I left the building to go to the restaurant, I saw a big group of people who had not been on the list heading over to the restaurant. Hmm.

I got to the restaurant and the table I had booked was full of people who hadn't told me they were coming. This kind of annoyed me, like, hello, is it common to crash a reserved table reservation AND take places of other people who HAD reserved? Jeez.

Luckily a few people (unluckily for me, as they were among my usual lunch buddies) had canceled so everyone was able to fit, but, man, what if they hadn't canceled? I would have kicked those other folks ot the curb, I swear I would have.

Anyhow, it all worked out in the end. We had 20 people when all was said and done. I had a couple glasses of wine, most other people did too, and we had a very non-Norwegian long lunch of pasta and anti-pasti and leisurely dining. When it came time to pay I ended up being the money handler, and between those who paid their portion with card, and my having had wine, and people giving me cash, I gave up keeping track of who did what, and just left my number with the waitress telling her to call me if there were any problems. As I have not heard from her, I guess it turned out ok.

I got a lot of comments from people telling me what a great idea that was and we should do it more often. I thought that was kind of funny....I mean, it was just LUNCH. I can't really take credit for LUNCH being MY great idea, you know?

But I will, if they insist.

I giggled my way through the rest of the afternoon. Luckily I did all my work on my spreadsheets and financials earlier in the day. Wine + Math = Not Good.