Sleeping at work?
I’m sure everyone has experienced the exhaustion-induced head nodding that happens during a long meeting, in a warm, dark room. Perhaps some of us have actually dozed off during such an event, leaving co-workers confused as to whether to giggle at us, or give us a concerned wake-up nudge. Well, that’s not what this is about at all.
There is a couch in our lunchroom. It’s inviting, comfy, and even has both a pillow and blanket. It’s where I go when I want to get out of the open lab space to somewhere quieter and nicer to read my papers. It’s so relaxing, I am sure I could fall asleep. But would I ever be so bold as to actually lay down and fall asleep? Probably not. I live so close that it’s not like I’d fall asleep on my commute home after a hard day of work if I didn’t take a nap. And I’m never so tired that I’d feel a need to purposely go in there and lie down. And if I was feeling shitty/sick, I’d go home! I don’t think I could rest there anyway, it’s a fish bowl, surrounded with about 80% of the walls made of glass. It’s at the front of the building, so any visitors (and the boss!) would see me lying there. Not to mention that it’s the lunchroom, so there’s people going in and out of there all the time, and talking at the water cooler or coffee machine.
But people actually DO sleep in there. One co-worker wasn’t feeling well one day, so she went in there to lie down during her experiments. Ok, understandable - you’re feeling under the weather, but have experiments that only you can take care of. But get done with what is urgent, and then head home. It’s not worth it to get everyone else in the lab sick.
Another co-worker is now known for her “after-lunchtime” naps, as I’ll call them. I’ve seen her in there three times within the last week and a half. She’s pretty new, so I know this is going to be a regular thing. I felt bad the first time I went in there, and didn’t want to disturb her, since I didn’t know what her reason for dozing off was. I thought maybe she’d been reading, and just dozed off - since her book was lying there and she was snooring away. I thought the microwave might wake her, but what the hell, I needed to eat! The next time I saw her, I only went in to get some water, so I didn’t have to really think about feeling bad or not. Today was the third time, and I was actually in there first. I was in the middle of heating up my lunch, and burning some almonds in the microwave when she came in. We smiled at one another, and she went over to the couch. She took off her shoes, and I thought, ‘Well, maybe she’s just going to read with her feet up. I’m not ever taking my shoes off at work though…’ But then when she laid down, I knew it was going to be a recurring event. This time I ate my lunch in silence until another co-worker came in to congratulate me about the press release for the rallycar. We got talking, and it turns out he’s a huge rally fan and follows the WRC closely! Then another co-worker came in and we were all talking - a fourth co-worker came in, and I kind of shrugged. Eventually they all left, and the co-worker on the couch was quiet for a few minutes. Then she sprang up and ran out, I suppose into her office. I don’t know for sure, because I was done with my lunch and left, but she left her shoes next to the couch. It was almost as if she was the wicked witch killed by the flying couch… I hope we didn’t bother her, but it’s a reason I couldn’t sleep there. And I feel totally awkward that every time I try to eat my lunch there’s now going to be someone napping away. *sigh*
