We have just been informed that the main food source for call center workers can lead to buttered popcorn lung disease or whatever they call it. They won't call it black lung disease - that occupational hazard is already taken. Maybe yellow lung disease? This threat comes courtesy of Con-Agra, the massive US food producer who has also been the subject of ground beef recalls.I can't count the times that someone (usually Lady Margarita) has left a bag of buttery microwave popcorn next to my desk. This has always happened without my permission. I don't like microwave popcorn. Anything that resembles a packing material should not be eaten by humans. Strangely though, I find actual biodegradable grain-based "packing peanuts" rather tasty - like toasted rice cakes.
And it's not reassuring that the disease has only been found among those who eat massive amounts of Act I and Orville Redenbacher popcorn. Many reps that I know eat massive amounts of popcorn. Chinese eat rice, the Irish eat oats, US telephone workers eat popcorn.
You may wonder how people who talk for a living, and aren't allowed to have food while they're working, could become so addicted to munchies. Me too. And why their industry coined the term "fat day" for their frequent departmental potluck lunches.
Health and weight is an important consideration for call center workers. After all, we not only talk for a living, we sit for a living. One co-worker proposed that we each be given an exercise treadmill. But some of us couldn't have handled it. "Thank you... gasp... for calling... gasp.... MegaCorp Enterprises.... gasp.... How may I help you?"
If you want to preserve your health, fight back. Spend your breaks and your lunches taking a walk. Then you won't have time to eat junk food. And beware of co-workers bearing gifts. Especially microwave popcorn.
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