Where I work, if you want an uninterrupted lunch break, you have to leave your desk and go elsewhere. Otherwise you’re fair game.
To be fair, my boss always apologises if she comes to ask for something while I’m obviously eating my lunch but her requests are usually pretty easy to deal with so I don’t mind. Also, we deal with students so they often pop into the office on their way to and from lectures - they don’t have the opportunity to come back after my lunch break, whenever I decide that’s going to be.
If I want to be unavailable, I’ll go down to the common room or just get out of the building, otherwise people will come by and interrupt because I’m still here. If I need to, I can tell them I’m taking a break and ask them to come back later but that’s always done politely, there’s absolutley no excuse for being rude to anyone.
This is just human nature. If someone’s sitting right in front of you, it’s a perfectly ordinary impulse to want to interact. Sitting where anyone can see you and expecting them to pretend you aren’t there is just not going to work.
No starting or ending time posted.
It’s a big company and a big building. It’s unreasonable to expect people to (a) know everyone’s inviolable lunch time and (b) to make a second trip.
I agree, it doesn’t matter where you do your lunch. But if you do it at your desk, it’s unreasonable to expect that no one will try to interact with you. That’s the compromise.
Even if you aren’t going to do any work, you should politely and professionally answer questions from people who approach you. If the request involves a task that must be completed, then a simple “Sorry, can I get back to you after my break?” is appropriate.
See above. It’s rude to expect people not to talk to you when you’re sitting right in front of them.
Actually, this is simply a matter of human courtesy. If someone stops you on the street on “your own time,” to ask for directions, it’s rude to refuse to respond. Same if they’re standing in front of your desk. A courteous response is appropriate regardless of whether the person is on the street or in front of your desk, a stranger or a colleague, or the time of day. It’s rude to refuse to respond to such a simple question.
Just to see if I was completely out of left field on this, I discussed this matter with my union shop steward, and she agreed that this it’s unreasonable and unprofessional to be sitting at your desk and expecting that people won’t try to talk to you about work matters. She said that all three of the people involved have pretty good reputations for being difficult to work with and she said if this had happened to her, she would file a complaint with H.R. So I don’t think I’m out of line here.
I had to stop taking my lunch anywhere in the damn office because people would track me down and make me work. I’m serious. I was once sitting in the Break Room at Lunchtime with my large fries, salad and coffee and my Boss came in to go over a list of items. Shit!
I’m with you on this one. Especially since it seems like it wasn’t really clear most of the people in your OP were on their lunch break.
I eat lunch at my desk most of the time, but I’m not going to refuse to talk to somebody if they need something, or be rude to them. They have no idea if I’m taking an actual break, or if I’m just working & eating at the same time.
At the very least, if you were handing them actual work, they can just so “ok, I can do that after I have lunch”. Rudeness isn’t necessary.
The personality traits that these people exhibit are the reason they are in the positions they are in. And their bitterness over being in what is basically a dead-end low-level administrative support job just reinforces those negative personality traits.
It is not only unprofessional to sit at your desk playing solitare and ignoring someone who asks you to hand them something that it is your job to hand them, it is socially unacceptable as well. If I’m sitting at my desk and my boss comes over and asks me if I can hand her my TPS report, I don’t say “No, you’ll have to wait until I’m done with ‘lunch’. I just take 2 seconds out of my busy schedule to hand it to her.”
It’s hella unprofessional (and actually pretty ghetto) to sleep at your desk, break or not.
Since the OP didn’t see it, maybe it wasn’t that visible. On a desk full of papers, a small sign might not be noticeable unless you’re looking for it - and I wouldn’t be looking for it, because I’ve never seen an “at lunch” sign on a desk that someone was still sitting at.
Their rudeness is uncalled for. He wasn’t even giving them work - are you not allowed to even talk to people when they’re at lunch?
I once had a co-worker get pulled out of the BATHROOM for an emergency of some sort. “Hurry! Hurry! The sky is falling! We need you back at your desk right away!”
But the point is that this is a situation where you can be rude and remain on break, or be polite and work. There’s a direct conflict between politeness and your “right” to have your lunch time. It’s an interesting dilemma, and as this thread proves, it has no clear correct answer.
I don’t think you have to be rude to remain on your break. I think “I’m on my lunch break right now, but I can take care of that later” is polite whereas barking “I’m on lunch!” or completely ignoring someone.
I think this is a huge point. There’s never any good reason to stop treating other people like human beings. I can’t stand the “that’s our policy” or “that’s against the rules” lines. People need to stop acting like robots and show a little empathy, courtesy, and responsibility.
Sure, Jean didn’t have to respond rudely, but whether one believes Jean should or shouldn’t have been napping at her desk standing there giggling is pretty much the opposite of empathy and courtesy. A more appropriate response might have been to leave quietly so as not to disturb her, or to politely say excuse me and ask when a better time to come back would be, or to apologize for interrupting her and ask if she could possibly help.
Yeah, that might have been a better response. But when encountered with something so unexpected – a person sleeping at his desk, or a person who refuses to speak – I tend to have a lag in reaction. I’m sure a lot of people do. That’s within the normal range of human responses.
In any case, there’s no reason to suspect I didn’t apologize or speak politely. I always apologize, regardless of the situation. Whenever I make a request of anyone, for any reason, under any circumstances, my first instinct is to apologize before saying anything else.
And I’ll thank people not to try to instruct me on being courteous and polite. That’s my standard policy. When faced with blatantly unprofessional or anti-social behavior though, I tend to freeze up for a few seconds.
It is if you’re a receptionist; in fact part of the job description would be directing folks.
And ascenray, maybe she hoped the “lag” you experienced would give you time to notice the frigging sign she put up–she was probably playing solitaire thinking, man I hope he notices the sign, and she was pissed that for the nth time someone disturbed her on lunch. When someone wanders by my office and my face is full of food I am thinking, man I hope they wave and move on to come back later, don’t come in and ask for something.
I agree that people shouldn’t be rude, but after the nth time…
Agreed. Lunch is when I can catch up on Hulu, and it’s a lot more comfortable in there than our cold, cramped breakroom.
Lunchtime, IMO, is fairly sacred. It is the worker’s time and nothing short of a bona fide emergency should take that away, assuming that’s how it’s set up at your company. Sure, it might be rude to dismiss someone when you’re at lunch, but it is also rude to ask them to do work during their lunch in the first place. Especially when it’s clear they’re at lunch (which a sign and a game of solitaire are both evidence of).
I’m lucky enough to have an office with a locking door, and on rare occasions I’ll use it if I’m particularly cranky or tired, or catching up on It’s Always Sunny, but my door’s usually open, and around lunchtime the first question anyone will ask is “are you at lunch?” Simple, quick, and everyone is happy.