Who does the travelling when you meet up?

[AliceRR]

This is fairly lighthearted and I’m just interested in views. I think I know the answer!

If you were off work on maternity leave of long term sick and you lived in a different city from the one where your place of work was, would you expect to always be the one travelling (to city where place of work is) to meet friends for lunch, even if they’re the ones suggesting a meet up?

Put another way, would you text a friend who is off work and ask them if they’re “free for lunch next week” and automatically assume they’d just come to you or would it occur to you to go to where they live or meet half way, if that meant on a weekend or after work?

meant to say maternity leave or long term sick

I guess if you are off work then the assumption is that you have a bit more time to do the travelling, whereas if they were meeting you in their lunch break then they would not have the time to travel as well?

Probably would expect to meet up in the work location city if that’s where our previous interaction had take place exclusively.

That was my thinking - the person off work has more time if meeting in the week on a lunch break and they’d only be travelling to where the usual place of work is

On the other hand, that means the one on leave (who might not be earning as much due to being on leave) is easily spending, let’s say, £10 a time on top of the cost of lunch 🤷🏻‍♀️

If they’re work friends who invited me to lunch then yes I’d expect to travel to the city you all work in. Especially if the plans were over lunch, it would be ridiculous to ask them to travel to you in their break.

If you’re making plans for the weekend then that would different though.

if that’s where our previous interaction had take place exclusively

Not exclusively but yes, mostly. They were both at work in the same place.

If you’re making plans for the weekend then that would different though.

I agree. If it’s a lunch break then the only way is to meet near work.

But if everyone wants to meet then it’s possible to meet on a weekend somewhere mutually suitable or alternate.

But then the work friends might not want to meet on a weekend and it might not occur to them.

I suppose it depends on how much effort they all want to make.

If it's a work day, then yes, the person off work should do the travelling. If the worker only has an hour for lunch, how much time can they spend eating/catching up/ordering once travel is taken into account? My guess would be very little.

When I worked from home I had a few friends who worked in the city. If we wanted to meet for lunch it would have been ridiculous for me to expect them to come to me, especially it was a 45 minute train ride each way.

Even on weekends we used to meet in the city as it was the mid way point for everyone.

Ditto with friends who work at the local shopping centre. I still went into them during the day as faffing around getting to the car, driving ten minutes to my place, driving back again, finding a carpark etc all eats into the limited time available. Besides, the shopping centre food courts have a much better array of food options than I can offer at home.

If it's a work day, then yes, the person off work should do the travelling. If the worker only has an hour for lunch, how much time can they spend eating/catching up/ordering once travel is taken into account?

Well, yes, I think this is a given. Those at work wouldn’t be able to travel very far for lunch in their lunch hour.

Even on weekends we used to meet in the city as it was the mid way point for everyone.

Yes I would agree if it’s a group meeting but if one on one then maybe they’d alternate. It’s not just about travel time but it’s travel cost too.

Also I kind of think if I was suggesting lunch it should be within my contemplation that I’m prepared to travel too, even on a weekend.