LPT: Eat with your coworkers, even if you don't really like them.

Yesterday while eating lunch at work, I Choked. Lips turned blue, tunnel vision, the whole thing. As soon as I realized I was in trouble, and couldn't make sound out of my mouth, I stood up, knocked my chair over, and made as much commotion as I could while doing the "Universal 'I'm Choking'" signal.

Two coworkers rushed in to perform the heimlich maneuver, and very literally saved my life.

The Internal First Responders and Safety Manager remarked that I usually eat alone at my desk, and that I was lucky that today I didn't, and I was in the communal Break Room.

I wasn't able to breathe for anywhere between 10 and 15 seconds; long enough that, with panic and my body's natural reaction to choking, I would not have made it to the nearest person to perform the Heimlich in time.

As a cautionary tale, eat around your coworkers, even if you eat alone.