...and lunch time.

Most people like having an hour long lunch. It gives you a nice little break in the middle of the day and it gives you just enough time to get some errands done should you need to do them. It allows you to run down to the local McDonald's and grab a bite to eat if you don't feel like spending the same amount of money at the local vending machine in the break room (for significantly less food, I might add). It gives you time to check your email, write a blog, and converse with your peers about the happenings of your day. Great! Everyone loves hour long lunches!

....Um. No.

What's the bloody point? I start work (Mon.-Wed.) at 8am. I leave at 7:10am. This puts me right in the middle of the morning traffic. It takes me 30-40 minutes to go 8 miles! That is ridiculous. Fortunately, I don't have to take the interstate. Add another 30 minutes to that route. What does this have to do with lunch? Actually, nothing, but I'm giving you story guidelines. I leave work at 5pm. This puts me right in the middle of rush hour traffic. I don't get home until 6pm. I go to bed at 9:30pm. Wake up at 7am, then repeat the process all over again.

Where does lunch fit into all of this? The morning traffic I can't do anything about. It's a fact of nature. Grass is green. Water is blue. There will always be traffic in the morning. It can be added to the list of things that are guaranteed in life (along with death and taxes). But, the evening traffic can be avoided. *gasp!* *shock and awe!* Indeed, it can.

How? Stop giving us an hour lunch! There's no point for it! I sit here every day, staring blankly out the large window to my left. There is nothing to bloody do! I waste an hour! An hour (or rather, a half an hour. Blasted federal lunch rules.) that I could be working! Having a half an hour lunch means you leave a half an hour early. That would mean I would leave at 4:30pm. Ergo, I miss the evening traffic by a half hour! Now this is something to be happy about! I can make it home early! I'd have more than 12 minutes (exaggeration, so sue me) to kill before it's time to go to bed!

Woe is Mark. Woe is Mark, indeed. I shall gladly give a half hour of my lunch to someone else.