QuantumChemist wrote:
This reminded me of something that happened while in grad school. Typically members of my research group would eat our lunches at different times in our collective office (separate room than the laboratory rooms). Unfortunately, that was when our "wonderful" research adviser would seek us out to ask questions about our research or upcoming presentations or even general chemistry knowledge questions. Many times, we did not get time to finish eating our lunches because he constantly was quizzing during our break times before we had to get back to work. He did it out of plain enjoyment of making us squirm under his power. So, I started a bad habit of disappearing out of the building for lunch at a random time each day. There were no departmental rules that said we had to eat there or be there at specific times, just that we got our work done on time (which I did). Being that I was spending 12 to 16+ hours a day (6 or 7 days a week) in the lab, I felt that I needed some time to recollect my thoughts while eating my food. That is why I still eat alone if I can.
When I was a grad student in Math, many, but not all, of the math grad students would get together on Sunday nights to go eat supper. Everyone was invited. There was a core of about six to eight who made it almost every Sunday. Also, one woman would usually bring her daughter and another would bring her husband who was a Statistics grad student. Also a couple of lecturers as well.
Several had never come to the department to study on Sunday but they would still show up to eat and then go back home afterwards.