A recent news article was the trigger for my latest exercise in musical memories. To be more specific, reading about my former employer swallowing up a smaller company led to memories of when they did the same thing to the company I was working for. It was a time of high stress for everyone and although it turned out reasonably well, we all had different ways of dealing with the pressure that existed in the early days.

I found I was coming in earlier, working later, and often churning right through my lunch hour. That lack of a break, coupled with the increased stress levels, soon had me as nervous as a rhino on roller-skates. Of course, the uncertainty of our future probably had something to do with it too, but in any case I decided that if I wanted to keep my sanity, I had to take at least part of every lunch hour off.

At first, I tried just leaning back in my chair and closing my eyes for a while — not dozing exactly, but trying to mellow out a little. It worked pretty well except for one thing — interruptions. Our offices were located in the front part of our big manufacturing facility, and that meant that guys from the factory floor knew exactly where to go whenever they had a problem or a question, and it didn't matter if it was nominally the lunch hour.

I didn't really blame them. They had a job to do and a quick answer sometimes saved them a lot of trouble, but the situation created an interesting dynamic. Obviously, I was fair game if I was working at my desk, but if I was leaning back with my eyes closed then it made them hesitate. And even if I'd caught a glimpse of their approach through slitted eyes, I wasn't inclined to make it any easier for them because doggone it, I wanted my break.