Work/Life Balance

In North America we are working more and doing less. The amount of stress leave has gone up exponentially and people are complaining of always feeling tired and overworked. Can you blame them? Times are tough and people are worried about their jobs. What's more, advances in technology mean that you can never really leave the office. Ever.

- Things are different in Italy.


In Italy you cannot simply come to the office and go to your desk and start working. You must say hello to everyone in turn and spend a few minutes talking about the shoes you bought, or the gelato you ate. Once at your desk you must re-apply your perfume or cologne because it makes you feel better. After 2 hours - as if by magic - somebody asks you to go for a walk and get a capuccino. There is coffee available in the office and Santina brought cornetti, but it is good to leave the building and get some air, no? Of course going out for coffee is not just going out for coffee. You can't go to the first place because they were mean to Fabrizia last week when she tried to pay with a 50 euro bill. The second place is closed because today is 3 days before the Festa della Republica and people like to take the days off beforehand per la vacanza. The third place is over on the Piazza Buenos Aires but of course this means we have to walk a bit - but it is worth it because they make a real Capuccino Freddo (cold cappucino) as opposed to just adding cold milk to hot espresso, which would be (apparently) unthinkable. Besides, if you take more time for a break, people will assume you were stressed and needed the extra few minutes, no?

Coffee proceeds at a leisurely pace...you sit at the terrace and flirt with the waiter and smell the Mugetto in bloom. You feel refreshed, and saunter back to your office and talk to your coworkers about where the best bakery is in the neighbourhood.

As if by magic, the next 2 hours fly by. And then it is time for lunch. Well, ordinarily it would be time for lunch but today there was a diplomatic reception at the Villa Grazioli, which of course we went to. Afterward, we went for lunch. There was food at the reception, but that was not lunch. And of course, you cannot have lunch without going for coffee....

Do you see the pattern?

Now it is 5:15, and I was supposed to leave at 4:30. Of course, I was not done my work at 4:30 because I went for a cappucino and a reception and lunch, and then coffee. But now I am done my work. And now I am going home. Maybe I will stop for un aperitivo on the way home.

Do you see the pattern?

- Ciao.