She
phoned me just after
midday. Asked if i wanted to go to lunch with her. I said "yeah, cool", because
there's nobody i'd rather spend a pleasant hour with and besides, getting
out of the office for a while seemed like a
pretty good idea to me.
We fixed a meeting point about 5 minutes from where each of us works and agreed that twenty-five to two was the best time to meet there. However, as i was heading that way at the right time, she called me on my mobile and said the girl who was meant to cover while she was away wasn't back from her own break yet. We agreed that i'd get a drink and meet her inside.
So, i got my drink and played snake on my phone while i was waiting. Ten minutes later she showed up. We headed to the food counter only to be told what we wanted had run out and that we'd have to wait five minutes, so we found ourselves a place to sit, she got a drink.
She was obviously really pissed off so i tried to brighten the mood a little but she got even angrier. I didn't understand, i mean, you have lunch with somebody, the idea is to enjoy yourself and enjoy that person's company, am i wrong? The idea is to have a good time, or so i always thought.
Obviously not. She told me that my efforts were pointless and to leave her the hell alone. She said she was angry about something she had every right to be angry about - the delayed food - and that i should just butt out. I was bemused and annoyed by this. I pressed. I don't remember the exact words but it finished with her asking "So this is all my fault?" and i, in my anger answering "yes. It is." And then i left for the counter, alone.
I regretted the words almost instantly, as usual. I picked the dish she had intended to wait for and the only available vegetables - chips - and then i paid my bill and went straight back. As soon as i did so, she put on her coat and said "right. I'm off".
"To get your food or are you just going?"
"No, I have to go back to work".
"But... your lunch?"
"I don't have time now."
"Well, take mine, that's why i.."
"No, I don't have time, and anyway I hate chips".
"But you have an an hour for lunch!"
"Thirty-five minutes ago I had an hour. Bye"
I stifled the "but you only showed up ten minutes ago" which i feel would not have enhanced my prospects of longevity and said goodbye.
She left. A couple of minutes later she passed the pub window from the direction of the sandwich shop and gave me a wave. I ate my food, which was very bad.
Then i dragged my feet back to work, feeling hollow and hardly wanting to be bothered with C++ and systems design. Or anything else, for that matter.
I suppose it could have rained, but still. What a shitty lunchbreak.