If anyone from the new employer should stumble across this bullshit,
they are likely to only shrug, scratch their heads and pronounce me
"Queen of the Dorks."

Dork? Because yet again, I must comment on free food. (You would
think from reading the posts these weeks I just left a workhouse where
orphans subsisted on gruel.)

On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays lunch is served in the cafeteria.

(Here’s something I never saw in the east — imagine a basic
corporate-like lunchroom, OK, they have them in Boston. But, there
are NO cash registers. No signs at all of life transacted in the
commerce sphere.)

At my old place of employ, there was "Baked Potato Bar," where you
could decorate a spud however you liked. It was sold by weight, and
taters being weighty tubers, I could easily smack down a 5-spot or
more.

Today, I am eating "Baked Potato Bar" in a parallel universe. Beyond
the main event of a hearty baked potato with stewed tomatoes and
sausage and a little cheese, my plate overflows. There is green salad
with romaine, not iceberg, and your basic salad veggies. In addition,
there’s freshly steamed asparagus with a light vinagrette.

A varietable feast of vegetables, and it doesn’t end there.

There is also the ubiquitous for Northern Cali, sourdough bread.=20
(Honestly, while sourdough bread is edible, I really can’t fathom it’s
cache. It is everywhere here, however, and Pepperidge Farm is no
where to be found. I do suffer my little hardships.)

Finally, I decided I needed to toss in a little sweetness to the mix.=20
Remembering that California has a whole lot of sunshine and
agriculture, for today there are lusciously red strawberries, neat
slices of perfectly ripe mango and a small corner of lemon square,
just because it was there.

And, this plate that would certainly have exceeded $5 and may have hit
double digits in my old world cost me what?

Nada. Bubkis. No thin dimes at all.

Stranger still, the HR woman who welcomed me on Monday spotted and
greeted me. As I commented on the unusual sight of free food, she
explained that among the reasons for its existence was to lessen the
environmental impact of the assembled staff driving out for lunch.

Cynically, I had been assuming free lunch only equated with keeping
you at your desk toiling. But, the gas emissions thing makes sense if
you factor in that I’m sitting in a room dedicated to good works.=20
Among their missions, and one for which they are willing to write
really big checks, is to help solve pollution.