I’ve been working a boring office job nearby a Dunkin Donuts for the past year, which has given me plenty of opportunity to explore the menu for the first time in a long time. I am not really someone that regularly eats fast food, at least not at this point in my life. While of course it has its undeniable pleasures here and there, it’s not really my thing in the sense that I don’t crave it on a deep level. I’m much more likely to go to a 7 Eleven and grab chips or ramen if I want something sodium-dense, immediate, and comforting.

But at work, I’m a captive audience for eight hours a day. My workplace is old school and stubbornly traditional in most of their policies. This means, among other unpleasant things, that work from home is a strict no-no. And the work itself is dull, repetitive, mindless and strictly rule-based. The fellow staff are mostly people who I have nothing in common with but need to keep the appearance of being semi-personable with.

So that leads me looking for distractions and little ways to bring any element of joy into my day. Plus, food is often used to way as a bond on the job and ordering Dunkin with coworkers is a nice neutral way to give the appearance of connecting with someone while also revealing nothing of yourself. Which keeps people at the exact kind of distance I would like to my co-workers at – it’s safe and isn’t going to get me called into HR.

All this means that when my coworkers asked if I wanted Dunkin with them, I began to say yes. At first my commitment was just lattes (with extra shots) to get me through the day. I was disappointed to see that they had removed coconut milk from the menu as that had been my go-to five years before when I last went to their stores regularly. This had been my move to get me through a tough day when I was a prisoner in my own studio apartment during the pandemic. Back in those days I was perpetually looking for a little boost, so I would order two espresso drinks for myself and lounge in my bed sipping both alternatively.

But back in the office in present day, I began to not want to be the person that never ate with my coworkers. After all, they still gossiped about the lady who had quit months earlier, who they claimed never ate but only ever drank coffee. They utterly pathologized her for this and other things. While there’s no reasoning with fools, and I don’t recommend trying to do so, the least I could do was not hand them ammunition.

Thus, I went off my normal script. I tried their sandwiches. The bread was a lot to chew through – it was alternatively fluffy and dry. Though I am otherwise an omnivore with carnivorous tendencies, their processed meat (sausages etc) was so bad it made me wonder if I should take up veganism. This spark didn’t last and I was having carne asada tacos the next week and loving my life. But I had the thought and I think that counts for something.

I eventually settled on their wraps. They weren’t great in a normal sense; their tortillas were slightly plasticine and the wrap itself rather squat and oddly shaped. But they were tolerable and pleasant enough, especially when doused in a liberal amount of hot sauce, to allow me to grab a breakfast I didn’t hate with a group of people I barely tolerate. And while it’s not an exciting win, I consider it a win nonetheless.