pointless story of the day

The fluorescent light is flickering above me. Someone is banging on the radiator pipe that is directly behind me. I complain, and eventually someone comes to fix the light. For this, he needs to stand on my desk, which means I cannot work. So I go check out menus for what I want for lunch.

I don’t often buy my lunch. I think I’ve done it 3 times in the year-plus that I’ve worked here. But today is special. Not for any particular reason. As I flip through the menus, I think that pizza might be good, and I should be able to rally enough people around the cause to buy a whole pie (that’s NY-talk for a whole pizza).

People start to get excited that I’m ordering from this place, which is more than a pizzeria. They start talking about what they want to eat that’s not pizza. I try to explain that if they don’t order pizza, I’m not ordering pizza, and will therefore order from somewhere else. They don’t seem to get that
a) I can’t afford a whole pie by myself
b) I can’t eat a whole pie by myself
c) I don’t want to do either of the above

But there’s no changing their minds. They suddenly have their hearts set on whatever they decided to get 5 minutes ago. Since they are going to order from this place, I go ahead & order too. I get a cheese calzone with extra sauce.

I am fed. The light has stopped flickering. There is still metal-banging. All is almost right with the world.