The last few years I spent living in New York City and working at Thomson Reuters before moving to England I was part of a team that, for most of my time there, was based in the same office as me. When I first started in NY, that wasn’t the case. I worked in an office where nobody I directly collaborated with was present. Eventually, the team grew, and most of the group ended up in our New York office. Today i am somewhere in the middle with much a the team in London but the people i daily communicate with spread out all over.
Having the team all together brought a lot of positive outcomes. Group meetings were more effective since we were often in person, which was a nice change from the typical phone meetings. One of the best parts was going out for lunch or coffee together. But by the time our lunches became a regular thing, I was trying to be heathier. Going out to eat several times a week didn’t align with my health goals, so I’d often skip lunch outings and opt for a sandwich in the cafeteria instead. However, I made up for it by joining the team for coffee once or twice a day.
The one exception to my lunch rule was sushi. It was relatively healthy, and I enjoyed it. Or it was healthy enough and I rationalised it as being ok. Whenever the team went out for sushi, I would usually join them. Over time, this became a bit of a pattern. I’d ask where they were going for lunch, and if it was anything other than sushi, I’d politely decline and stick to my sandwich. But if it was sushi, I’d think about it and often end up going with them.
That’s when my friend Faisal caught on to my pattern. If I declined to join for lunch, he’d jokingly suggest, “What if we go to sushi?” I’d grumble, and we’d end up at the sushi place. He started doing this more frequently, and I’d tell him they didn’t need to change plans just for me. I really didn’t want them to. But he would insist it was fine because several others loved sushi anyway. So, I’d curse him (playfully, sort of), and off we’d go—rinse and repeat.
It was delicious. Now, my current team is full of great people, and we get along well, but we’re rarely in the same office. Even when we are, it’s so hectic that we don’t have time for lunch outings. In a way, that’s good because I’m not tempted, but I do miss those sushi lunches with my New York team. I did recently get added to a chat group specifically for deciding were to go out for lunch to. I haven’t yet participated but you never know!