munching lunches.

First lunch @ Taqueria 27.

 

Ricotta dumplings. French dip sandwich. Angus carne asada tacos. Shoyu ramen. Avocado garden burger. Almond croissants.

Lunch has always been a sacred time for me. I love food. If you follow me on insta, you know I’m always hunting for the city’s finest om noms. When it comes to eating, there’s only one right thing to do in my book: set aside pure, wholesome time just to appreciate it. No homework, no stress. Just me and the food. Finals, who?

On my first day of work, my manager took me out for lunch. Taqueria 27. It was loud and packed with people rushing in for a quick lunch before clocking back in. My mentor and the senior design manager debated over how many flavors of syrup were offered for the sparkling water. My manager assured me I wasn’t being tested over lunch, just on how many ambiguous pop culture references I could make, while I nervously laughed and hoped I wasn’t about to spill guacamole all over myself.

In short: this was not sacred lunchtime.

No, I was way too nervous, way too focused on trying to figure out were they being sarcastic or is this real life? and whether quipping back would get me fired on the spot. I spent the week trying to suss out everyone’s personalities to prevent future awkwardness. A week later, after a team lunch downtown, I made a snarky comment about a billboard we’d seen. My manager stopped dead in his tracks, then burst out laughing. I felt like I’d become an official team member at that very moment.

 

On the second day, I meekly typed in #lehiinterns, “does anyone want to meet in the lobby and grab lunch?” I typed and erased that three times, worried that no one would respond and I’d just look silly.

Six people ended up joining me. For most of us, it was our first lunch at the bustling Adobe Cafe. The three stations with diverse daily specials and the cheery chefs behind them have become near and dear to my heart. But that first day, after trading the same ol’ niceties (Where are you from? What school did you go to? What year are you? What team are you on? What’s your project?), somehow we all bonded over just how good the asparagus from the Comfort station was, even to the vegetable-averse.

It wasn’t sacred lunchtime. But maybe it was turning into a lunch of its own. I’ve eaten with them more times than I can count since then, and I even carpool with two of them every day.

 

On Wednesday, a senior designer introduced himself and made small talk about our design system. As he was about to leave, he turned and asked, “So, you play League huh?”

I hadn’t met anyone else who played video games in the office yet, but I’d written that I played League in my self-introduction on the internal design blog. We became quick friends. He introduced me to a few intimidating developers on the fourth floor who played League every day at noon in the basement gaming room, the Bunker, before getting lunch.

When I played with them, it was loudly announced that since it was my first time on their team, they were going to watch my every move. As it turns out, after a lot of yelling and screaming, I somehow proved myself enough that game. I’ve learned a lot about these engineers in the past couple weeks over our boisterous, victorious (or very defeated) post-game lunches (read: not sacred lunchtime, at all). Maybe too much—Jeff’s nine year old son really, really loves Duck Tales.

All this to say that lunchtime has come to have a very different meaning to me. And don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy my sacred lunchtimes on my precious weekends. But besides all the furious designing and researching, I think I’ve been enjoying this other dimension of the internship through lunch: no work, no stress, just people and the food.

 

How have your lunchtimes been? Do you have a special way you like to eat? Let me know in the comments below!