Maybe my coworkers are weird

Usually I'm the one to turn the TV on in the lunch room. I'll set it to CNN International or BBC News. Or my boss will come in and flip between Fox News and MSNBC to get the perspectives of the opposing teams' fanbases in the most entertaining American sport.

Today I had to order lunch because I still have no car (see rant thread) and it came late, so there were more people in the lunch room than the usual 0~1. The TV was off. I thought I'd just see what happens this time.

Another guy comes in and jokes that there's no murder on TV (the most popular genres in the lunch room behind news are detective shows and informative murder porn) and suggests that he could turn it on. Everyone in the room has a "meh" reaction to it. I try to stay neutral to avoid affecting the experiment.

So the four of us sat and ate lunch in total silence. I was interested to see how long it would go on, and it went on long enough for me to finish lunch. The loudest noises were the crunching of lettuce and granola by me.

Now I should mention that one of those four is very much like Consuela from Family Guy, and I'm sure that eating lunch in silence is her favorite way to eat lunch. She even looks like a black version of Consuela, same hair and build and everything.

Still, that seems weird to me. Isn't that weird?

Weird that people can live a few minutes without a TV? I sure hope not.

What sort of work do ya'll do?

I often prefer quiet. Sometimes I put on my big headphones and don't listen to anything - just use them as earmuffs.

bravenrace wrote: Weird that people can live a few minutes without a TV? I sure hope not.

Without TV is fine. Without TV OR any kind of conversation, just total silence, seems weird to me.

bluej wrote: What sort of work do ya'll do?

Essentially we're a lot like an advertising agency, so it's a typical cube-farm office full of keyboard-jockeys and paper-pushers

GameboyRMH wrote:

bravenrace wrote: Weird that people can live a few minutes without a TV? I sure hope not.

Without TV is fine. Without TV OR any kind of conversation, just total silence, seems weird to me.

If the conversation is a group of people pretending to be friends- silence is fine with me.

Seems like your co-workers understand that your real friends and family are not work. Good for them.

I tend to spend my lunch catching up on what people have posted here.

Most people at work think I am weird.

Here they turn it to the Price is Right. I would rather eat in silence.

They were all looking at their smartphones?

Appleseed wrote: They were all looking at their smartphones?

Nope, no smartphones or books or anything.

GameboyRMH wrote:

Appleseed wrote: They were all looking at their smartphones?

Nope, no smartphones or books or anything.

ok, your coworkers are weird..

GameboyRMH wrote:

bravenrace wrote: Weird that people can live a few minutes without a TV? I sure hope not.

Without TV is fine. Without TV OR any kind of conversation, just total silence, seems weird to me.

I work in a single open office with 4 other guys, often working cooperatively on large projects. No dividers or cubicles. We can have 8-hour work days where conversation doesn't exceed 100 words total.

I so vastly prefer silence to TV that it's no contest. I would rather sit, doing nothing, staring at the wall, than have a TV screaming ads at me for an hour.

I've never once eaten lunch in our company break room in 3.5-years, just because I refuse be subjected to random conversation with(mostly) strangers, or awkward silence.

Duke wrote: I work in a single open office with 4 other guys, often working cooperatively on large projects. No dividers or cubicles. We can have 8-hour work days where conversation doesn't exceed 100 words total.

But how do you guys express your feelings? LOL

I rarely watch any TV, so it's not weird to me. My lunch breaks are used for GRM or errands. or eating.

Silence is golden, not awkward. I get very tired of the inane chatter of nothingness. Sit quietly, catch your breath and gather your thoughts. Its a wonderful thing.

I'm sure my coworkers think i'm crazy. I go to my car and listen to podcasts while I eat my sammich. I get enough interaction with them being in cube nation.

I nap on my lunchbreak unless there's something good on the teevee.
Talladega Nights cost me 27 minutes of sleep last week, usually I'm out like a light.

Usually I am the only one in the break room. Last week they hired a new guy and now he is in there with me. I try to stay quite but he always wants to talk about sports. Now I eat and then go sit out in front of the shop till break is over.

I wish my coworkers were that weird.

I like silence during my break time. There's so much racket in the shop that 30 minutes of quiet is genuinely relaxing.

I like my co-workers. We talk every day at lunch in the lunch room. No TV. Occasional mobile phone use.. Usually to fact check a lie.

They're weird, Gameboy.

DaveEstey wrote: I often prefer quiet. Sometimes I put on my big headphones and don't listen to anything - just use them as earmuffs.

I always managed to gulp down my lunch in 5 min or less, and go back to my workbench and read whatever book I had stuffed in my junk bin