Yesterday I did something that I didn't do for a long time.
Usually I don't take a real break at lunch when I work at my job, I just eat 5-10 minutes so I can get home as fast as possible to continue working on my business. But not yesterday. Yesterday I forgot my protein bread, that I usually eat for lunch, at home and I decided to go to lunch with 2 colleagues. I didn't expect anything special to happen that could make me want to create a thread like I'm doing now. And indeed, nothing special happened. The sad, but normal conversations that happened made me write this.
Endless Complaining
Let me take you to this lunch break. Actually it all started before we even got to the canteen, it already started in the elevator. Some of the first things one of my colleagues said was "did you see at what time Joe left yesterday?! At 3pm!" other colleague "yes, I saw him leaving together with Bill, those 2 always come as last and leave as first" colleague "yes and guess what, Joe spent around 4 hours surfing the web while we worked!"
I almost instantly regret the decision of going with them.. Their convo went on and after bitching about a few more colleagues they found a new topic to bitch about: the canteen food. Then the cold weather. Then that it's just Tuesday and not weekend already. Then the company's plans of outsourcing parts of the customer service. Then anything bout any tv show. Then the elevators being too overcrowded at lunch. Then.. Then.. Then.. until we were back at the office.. Now I knew why I never go to lunch with them. I experienced 30 minutes of Slowlane 101.
We All Know Them
This lunch break was an extreme example. I had my head smoking afterwards from all this crap. But I think we all know those type of people: the grandma who complains about the yearly rising prices. The guy on the train who can't stop talking about how unfair his salary is. The woman who complains about the train always being late. The girl who complains about her boss making her work the late shift again. It's nothing new that some people love to complain. But why do they act like that?
Could It Be That Their Lifes Are Boring?
Could it? I think it is a symptom off a Slowlane life. I think it's something that occurs when people are trapped into their Slowlane routine. Always the same routines: getting up at 7am, fighting traffic on the way to work, working 4 hours, lunch break, working another 4 hours, fighting traffic again on the way home, taking a shower, dinner, tv for a few hours, going to sleep, aaaaand back to start.
And any reason that's (in their opinion) worth of talking about, or should I say bitching about, is something that breaks this routine for a few seconds or minutes. The 1 minute staying in the kitchen talking to the guy from the cubicle to the left, complaining about the company changing the shifts again helps to forget that they have to work another 5 hours today. The complaining about the new colleague's style is way more interesting then thinking about them having to work their hated job another 3 days before it's finally weekend again.
In my opinion, all this complaining is just a shortliving exit out of the boring daily routine, most Slowlaners are used to.
So if you find yourself in situations where you complain about something unimportant, or interested listening to someone bitching about some irrelevant shit, it could do a lot of positive things to you if you stop complaining and start to change your life so you don't have to complain anymore. Oh and if the guy next to you on the train talks to his friend about his shitty boss again, there's a simple way to ignore that: just put in your headphones and read in a book.
Usually I don't take a real break at lunch when I work at my job, I just eat 5-10 minutes so I can get home as fast as possible to continue working on my business. But not yesterday. Yesterday I forgot my protein bread, that I usually eat for lunch, at home and I decided to go to lunch with 2 colleagues. I didn't expect anything special to happen that could make me want to create a thread like I'm doing now. And indeed, nothing special happened. The sad, but normal conversations that happened made me write this.
Endless Complaining
Let me take you to this lunch break. Actually it all started before we even got to the canteen, it already started in the elevator. Some of the first things one of my colleagues said was "did you see at what time Joe left yesterday?! At 3pm!" other colleague "yes, I saw him leaving together with Bill, those 2 always come as last and leave as first" colleague "yes and guess what, Joe spent around 4 hours surfing the web while we worked!"
I almost instantly regret the decision of going with them.. Their convo went on and after bitching about a few more colleagues they found a new topic to bitch about: the canteen food. Then the cold weather. Then that it's just Tuesday and not weekend already. Then the company's plans of outsourcing parts of the customer service. Then anything bout any tv show. Then the elevators being too overcrowded at lunch. Then.. Then.. Then.. until we were back at the office.. Now I knew why I never go to lunch with them. I experienced 30 minutes of Slowlane 101.
We All Know Them
This lunch break was an extreme example. I had my head smoking afterwards from all this crap. But I think we all know those type of people: the grandma who complains about the yearly rising prices. The guy on the train who can't stop talking about how unfair his salary is. The woman who complains about the train always being late. The girl who complains about her boss making her work the late shift again. It's nothing new that some people love to complain. But why do they act like that?
Could It Be That Their Lifes Are Boring?
Could it? I think it is a symptom off a Slowlane life. I think it's something that occurs when people are trapped into their Slowlane routine. Always the same routines: getting up at 7am, fighting traffic on the way to work, working 4 hours, lunch break, working another 4 hours, fighting traffic again on the way home, taking a shower, dinner, tv for a few hours, going to sleep, aaaaand back to start.
And any reason that's (in their opinion) worth of talking about, or should I say bitching about, is something that breaks this routine for a few seconds or minutes. The 1 minute staying in the kitchen talking to the guy from the cubicle to the left, complaining about the company changing the shifts again helps to forget that they have to work another 5 hours today. The complaining about the new colleague's style is way more interesting then thinking about them having to work their hated job another 3 days before it's finally weekend again.
In my opinion, all this complaining is just a shortliving exit out of the boring daily routine, most Slowlaners are used to.
So if you find yourself in situations where you complain about something unimportant, or interested listening to someone bitching about some irrelevant shit, it could do a lot of positive things to you if you stop complaining and start to change your life so you don't have to complain anymore. Oh and if the guy next to you on the train talks to his friend about his shitty boss again, there's a simple way to ignore that: just put in your headphones and read in a book.
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