When Lunch Gets Lost: Hungry and Humbled

This Monday didn’t start off on the right foot for me. I got into a workplace drama earlier in the morning and then found out there was a mistake in the catering system that made them skip my lunch delivery. I waited for an hour, making it the most frustrating lunchtime of my life.

As if the workplace drama wasn’t enough to dampen my mood, another one came right after the catering news...

I know the mistake was simply human error—I understand how it can happen even in a professional setting. As humans, we’re bound to make mistakes, aren’t we? I know I’ve made plenty myself. But while I may sound calm and forgiving now, I wasn’t exactly… understanding yesterday. With work drama and an empty belly added to the mix, I was truly annoyed, to say the least.

Still, I was thankful that the catering courier was so kind to help me reach out to the person in charge. It wasn’t even his job, but since my package was skipped, he quickly helped me contact customer service. (Respect. That’s responsibility, people.)

Once I managed to reach customer service, I didn’t exactly become furious. I was just a little mad because they offered to switch my forgotten lunch into dinner—to which I replied: “Geez, it’s not about switching it to dinner. I haven’t bought lunch yet.”

Even though I didn’t lash out, I was still pretty mad. I was starving. It was long past my usual lunchtime, and I had almost zero tolerance for hunger.

Before going down to get lunch from my office canteen, I texted my boyfriend (and cursed a little): “They really didn’t send it. xxxx.”

Except I didn’t send it to my boyfriend.

I accidentally sent it to the helpful catering courier.

Well, I didn’t realize it at first. I was ordering takeaway in the canteen when a message from the catering courier popped up: “We’re genuinely sorry for the mistake 🙏🏻.”

I thought, “Wow, that’s really responsible of him.” So I replied, “That’s okay. Thank you so much for your help.”

And then it hit me—the message I had typed beforehand. The not-so-nice curse. The boyfriend-only vent. All of it was sent to him.

I was shocked! I didn’t mean to villainize the catering courier over an honest mistake anyone could make. I quickly apologized: “Sir, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to send this message to you. I was just venting to my boyfriend. Sorry 🙏🏻.”

He replied, “That’s okay, Miss. We apologize for the miscommunication today 🙏🏻.”

I still felt bad for sounding like an ungrateful customer, so I added, “That’s fine. I’m sorry once again. I didn’t mean to sound harsh. I was just venting but I was distracted 🙏🏻.”

Again, he reassured me: “I understand. You haven’t eaten yet, Miss, so maybe you’re just getting emotional, and it’s totally okay.”

So even though my lunchtime was delayed, the experience taught me to be more patient. Everyone makes mistakes, and I do too.

In the end, I believe mistakes are always something to learn from. We wouldn’t know better without our past experiences and the mistakes we’ve made along the way.

(And yes, I got both hungry and humbled. Oh well.)

P.S. Also, I should really go more curse-free. This has been such an important reminder, don’t you think?

If you like this post, you might also enjoy The Warmest Lesson I Learned (Even If It Hurt a Little) and No Wi-Fi, No Problem? A Lesson in Digital Detox.