Having people visit from the home office can be nice.  Our local contingent is still pretty small, so having a few more personalities around can really liven up the place.  But with that, of course, comes the obligation of entertaining the guests.  And in the office environment, this usually comes in the form of going out to dinner.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the people I work with well enough.  But having to go out to dinner every night and make small talk with people you don’t know that well can be quite draining.  Oh, and there’s of course the issue of spending time outside of traditional work hours on work-related activities.  At the expense of one’s own private hobbies or need for down time.

Because I treasure my down time.  I’ve been lamenting for a while how little I have, and it’s often planned out in such a way to allow me to accomplish everything I want to before whatever deadline I have.  Too many hiccups from my (admittedly loose) plan, and things begin to trudge inexorably towards failure.

Am I the only one that feels this way?  On the one hand, I feel like I should get to know the people I work with.  On the other hand, I really resent work life infringing on my personal time.  Maybe there are some people that enjoy it, but I really need to keep work and home life separate.  I don’t live to work, I work to live.  I work so that I can enjoy my hobbies.  And when work means that I have to miss fencing practice or that I don’t have the time I thought I did to finish my sewing project, I get upset.   Especially since I can’t comfortably say no.