In my office building’s elevator is a TV screen that freely advertises its purpose: to help everyone avoid awkward small talk in the elevator.

Whew.  Because that was always a big concern of mine …. (Please read with sarcasm).

However, sometimes there is really interesting information flashing across the screen (amidst Starbucks ads that make a person want to take the lift right back down to the first floor and purchase an overpriced coffee drink … which luckily I never have to do because I already have my steaming cup of chai tea clasped securely in my hand!).

One of the statistics they flashed recently was some preposterous percentage of people (87 perhaps?  I’ll check on my way down this evening) don’t have a healthy work/life balance.  They even – I kid you not! – eat lunch at their desk.

Wait a second.

The first time I saw the stat, I definitely made a face.

I, me, myself ~ this girl! ~ eats lunch at her desk.  I find it to be vastly more efficient, and it also prevents me from spending too much time chatting, and not enough time working.  Because here’s the deal ~ I prefer (and it rarely works out for me but I haven’t stopped trying) to be done with work when I leave at night.  So if that means working through lunch, so be it.  There’s not a whole lot of time (after the hour commute home) to go to the gym and get in a good work out, cook a fun meal, do chores around the house, etc before the clock is ticking 10pm, and the countdown to bed starts.

And trust me, this little lady needs her zzzz’s.  Besides, 5.45am comes pretty fast.  And it’s dark out now, which is even less inspiring when one needs to get out of bed and get organized for another jam-packed day.

Oh Mr. Elevator TV ~ why did you give me something else to worry about?

As I ate my rigatoni with lamb ragu this afternoon while doing some data entry, I wondered if the multi-tasking act was truly affecting me in a negative way.

The lunch was good.  Check.

The work was easy, and getting done.  Check.

No heart palpitations.  Good Sign.

No yearning to be sitting with my co-workers, idly chatting about things (in fact, truth be told, I was glad to miss lunch today ~ too many people jammed around the lunch area!).

So all in all, I’m doing okay.  But if you’re eating lunch at your desk and are feeling a little angry about it ~ you may be part of that terrible percentage, and some life reevaluations may need to be made.

Or, you could just be efficient.  But that’s only my opinion.  😉