Everyone at Strathcom is Out to Lunch – A Closer Look Into Strathcom Culture

Now I’ve set foot in a lot of lunchrooms over the course of my life. In fact, at school, the lunchroom was where I did some of my best work. Now, I’ve been in lunchrooms where the fluorescent lights were so bright they could blind a man. I’ve been in lunchrooms so clean that even mentioning the ten-second rule was akin to handing out fascist propaganda. Conversely, I’ve been in lunchrooms so dirty I’d rather sneak off and eat my lunch in the bathroom. But I’ve never been in a lunchroom quite like the one at Strathcom… 

Overly Social Workers

Let’s back up a moment, shall we? The energy at the Strathcom office is always, oh, lets say frenetic. The moment you walk in, voices boom and conversations crackle. I’ve barely had a chance to put a dent in my coffee (and become remotely close to a social human) before being dragged into a conversation about anything from political probes, hot-button issues, religion, or raisins. And that pace doesn’t really let up through the early portion of the morning once the coffee kicks in, or in the afternoon when everyone is riding the wave of an extreme sugar high thanks to the snack wall stocked with everything from granola bars to nostalgic favourites like Fruit By The Foot (sweet, sweet, diabetes-inducing memories). But if it were to reach a peak, as all things must, that peak would be lunch.

Raisin’ The Roof

Imagine, for a moment, all that energy. Just a bunch of crazed molecules, bouncing around and colliding off of one another. That’s how conversation works in the Strathcom lunchroom. If you aren’t focused, and listening carefully, all you’ll hear is fractions; bits and pieces of rants and anecdotes. The lunchroom is where the staff go to escape their brightly lit screens and socialize — even with all those good-for-nothing millennials in the room, they tend to keep their phones holstered. Recipes are recounted, war stories are traded, roasts are microwaved, microwave dinners are roasted, and the literal stand-up comedians sit and workshop their new material on an unsuspecting audience.

And That Doesn’t Even Take Into Account the Foosball…

The team at Strathcom takes its Foosball seriously. I mean, not European, chain link-fence-separated, flare-throwing, fire-starting, riot-inciting serious, but pretty damn serious nonetheless. Ignoring all of the surgeon general’s warnings to not engage in strenuous activity within thirty minutes of eating, the first four to finish their food will hop up and get behind the sticks for the type of game that makes an Oilers vs. Flames grudge match look like your 90-year-old grandma playing Bridge with her oldest friends. Those eating the more portable of foods will stand at attention and provide moral support to the inevitable loser. Shots are fired, literally and figuratively, while friendships are put to an unflinching test.

If all of that sounds, uh, intense or overwhelming, it certainly can be. But that is the type of passion that the Strathcom lunchroom incites. Nay, that’s the type of passion that Strathcom incites. We all bring something different to the table, whether that be a passion for photography, or tacos. And we bring a lot of tacos.

So are you passionate about food? Are you passionate about Foosball? Are you passionate about working in a passionate environment? If the answer to any of those questions is yes, then bring what you’re passionate about into your social environment or, better yet, bring yourself into ours; our wacky and wild office may just be the place you want to work — reach out to us to make that happen! Just make sure you’re prepared for the day, especially the lunch hour.