Girl on the NetIDEA: extrovert train carriages. Like those ‘chat to me’ benches, but a whole carriage of the train dedicated to people who wanna talk rather than just read a book or listen to music (through headphones, of course) and enjoy the scenery. Introverts can drop their extrovert mates off in those carriages so they have people to chat to, and extroverts will leave us alone to enjoy our quiet time.
Extroverts do this ‘I’ll keep you company!’ thing at really distressing times imho. Like, just as I’ve managed to extricate myself from the group and I’m getting ready to go out for a walk, someone will go ‘I’ll come with you!’. Oh noooo I’m only walking to get AWAY from people! Or I say I’m nipping to the shops or out for a vape ‘I’ll keep you company!’ - I don’t WANT company that’s why I’ve found an excuse to go away!
When I was working I’d get excited about lunch breaks on a nice day: plan which bench I’d head for in the park, look forward to the specific Tesco Meal Deal sandwich I’d eat on it and the book I’d read while there. Then half the time some random colleague would pop up at last minute to ‘keep me company’, and I’d miss out on my plan. Instead I had to TALK to a COLLEAGUE for the WHOLE OF LUNCH. And that’s basically work. Extroverts stole my lunch breaks.
Graham Downs@girlonthenet I can probably count on one hand the number of "proper" lunch breaks I've taken in my 26 years of working. I've never liked them, I've always felt they were a waste of time, and I've pushed back every time I've worked at a company that's tried to force me to get up from my desk and go somewhere else to eat.
It's just not me. I'd rather just munch down a sandwich at my desk and get on with it. Getting up and taking a proper "lunch break" is just such a disruption in my life. Plus I've found that when I have gone somewhere over lunch, I find it very difficult to get back into "work mode" upon my return (not to mention how much productivity we lose by people returning late from lunch).
YMMV, of course. That's just me. :-)