Lunch in Less than 20 Person-Hours

Okay, I’ve officially had it with lunch at work! Every time we get more than two people together to get lunch, it turns into a fiasco. This is about how it goes:

Well-Meaning Hungry Person: “Hey Ted, I’m going to run to some restaurant, are you in?”

Ted: “You bet, I want …”

Now, it could end here and avoid fiasco status, but it doesn’t. The person who starts the lunch order thinks, “Gee, it would be polite if I asked others in the office too.” Here is where the whole thing starts to go wrong.

Well-Meaning Hungry Person: “Hey James, I’m running for lunch to some restaurant, are you in?”

James: “Usually Julie and I get something together, so let me check with her.”

Well-Meaning Hungry Person: “Ok, I’ll check back before I call it in.”

At this point, you should just run away. This has all the markings of a coming fiasco, but you trudge on and think that this is an isolated incident.

Well-Meaning Hungry Person: “Hey Mary, I’m running to some restaurant. Do you want anything?”

Mary: “Sure thing. I want …”

Almost made it. Just before you can get away, she innocently asks:

Mary: “Is anyone getting eggrolls. I want eggrolls, but I don’t want a full order.”

Now you are in the business of being a lunch matchmaker. You are no longer just placing a group order, you have become a lunch “facilitator”.

Before your place the order, you check with James, who says:

James: “Ok, I checked with Julie and we want some other restaurant. I’ll see if anyone else wants to change and go with us.”

Now, the whole cycle starts over again and you have to wait to find out which of the orders you’ve already taken are going to be nullified. Frustrated, hungry, and late. Now the lunch is really starting to look like a true fiasco.

After another 20 minutes, you actually get to call in the order once everyone has made up their mind on which lunch order they are going to participate in. You call in the order and within 5 minutes of calling in the order, people start to swing by your desk wondering when the lunch will be there. Remember, they placed their order 20-40 minutes ago.

So, everyone stands around until the food actually arrives 60-90 minutes after you got the bright idea to be polite. No work is getting done and everyone’s wondering why the food isn’t here yet and more importantly wondering why they ordered with this person who couldn’t even get the food here in less than an hour.

Once the food gets there, the fiasco does not end. When it comes time to pay for the lunch, some people don’t have cash, others only have large bills. A system of bartering lunches back and forth begins that causes ill will and no one knows who owes what.

Office workers of America, unite! Order lunch in a group without dragging it out and wasting everyone’s time.

A Little Less Talk and a Little More Action

So I’ve covered what goes wrong with a seemingly simple lunch order. So what am I going to do about it? Sit around and complain? That’s not my style, so I am beginning work on a project to help people order lunch without the fiasco.

Here’s the basic idea. If we can create a simple online system for people to place their lunch orders, they can place them online and simplify the whole process.

You will soon be able to find more information at http://www.sharedlunch.com

Benefits

• You don’t have to run all over the office to get everyone’s order
• There is a firm cutoff time, so the order gets placed on time
• You can enter actual costs, so everyone knows what they owe
• Everyone has an order history, so they can quickly select an old order
• Everyone gets a link to the restaurant menu, so they can decide quickly

Cons

• You have to start your lunch order earlier in the day (before you are hungy)

In the upcoming days and months, you’ll see more information at the SharedLunch site.