Cafeteria Cliques

I have several "pillar" goals I set for myself in this fellowship. Many of them are professional in nature but I have one that is a little less concrete. I am trying to become more relationship-oriented. I learned, early on, that the secret to being an executive is to relate well to people. Executives are relationship-builders. It's as basic as that.

As one of my relational goals, I decided to have lunch in the cafeteria every Friday. I love their soups (call me crazy) and it's actually less expensive than buying cans of soup at the store and heating it up at work. So I have my soup and eat it, too. In the beginning, the cafeteria was intimidating to me. It's just like high school, where the nurses sit with the nurses, the surgeons sit together, the resident physicians huddle in their corner, and even the environmental services staff stays in one area. It's very segregated. I kept thinking back to my high school days when it would have been absolutely mortifying to join a new table, especially one of the uber- popular ones. I forced myself to get over this. On my first Friday at Fozzie's and I plopped down with other folks from senior administration. Oooh. What a challenge. I *knew* those guys.

The next week, I was at the other campus and joined a group of residents. The following week, I sat down with a lonely-looking volunteer (they wear the maroon jackets). I ended up talking to Gladys for 45 minutes and was in awe of her life experience. She was fabulous and we laughed like old friends. She told me that she eats every Friday at 1:30 and I had an open invite to join her.

The next few Friday's, I joined folks in Housekeeping, the OB nurses, and even a couple people from Risk Management. I'm getting around and it's not so daunting to pick up a tray of food and join any table. Plus, they all know me now so that makes it easier, too.

This week, I wasn't going to eat in the cafeteria. I have a habit of walking the halls when I get antsy, buzzing the ER on the way back to my office. Instead of buzzing the ER, I buzzed the cafeteria…and through the window, I spied Gladys! Glancing at my watch, I saw it was 1:30. I felt so great to be able to honor our lunch date. I got my soup and talked to Gladys for another half hour. She's a phenomenal person and I learn so much from her unabashed optimism. As our conversation wound down, I realized she's truly the face of Fozzie's. She represents our diverse, economically-challenged patient base and yet, she serves the same people I do. It was humbling for me and it helped soften my heart a little bit.