I agree.
You may have not seen her “at lunch” placard, but she doesn’t know that. And, even if you did, I get the feeling that you still would’ve asked her anyway.
#1) I find it a bit bizarre that you find it normal for people to be playing solitaire while not on break, but surprised when they do it at lunch. 
Seems to me if they’re asserting the right to have an interruption-free lunch, the company has a right to expect them to be working steadily when they’re on the clock.
#3) And I think if I were taking a nap due to a horrible headache I’d be a little grumpy if someone walked in and giggled at me. Most people are not at their best when being awakened by surprise, and I suspect if she was sleeping in a room with no door (or open door) that she wasn’t doing anything considered forbidden. Unless you had just come from the sick room, you don’t know for sure it wasn’t full of sick people… Seems to me the appropriate response from you would have been (in a hushed voice) “oops I didn’t realize you were sleeping, when should I come back”. I don’t even really see where you’d have to think about that one…
However, in #2 “Joan” was totally out of line. If she’s the only receptionist (as you implied by not mentioning anyone else being present), sitting at the main desk to the area, she’s got no business refusing to simply say “fourth door on the right” - it’s not like she even has to move a muscle or even think about that level of a question. :rolleyes: What if a client or other stranger somehow managed to wander in and asked her for directions - do you folks who disagreed with the OP on this one really think it’s acceptable for her to refuse to help them? So what’s the difference? If she really doesn’t want any potential interaction with anyone at all, she should leave the office. There should be a relief receptionist to cover her at lunch and breaks. And if she’s not allowed to leave the area because there’s no relief available and the company expects her to sit there for her entire lunch hour unpaid because she’s the “guard” for the executive area, she should complain to HR (or the union or DOL). But even so, I think it’s just courtesy to give directions to anyone, anywhere, if you know the answer, unless you’re about to miss a bus or something.
I guess I’ve mostly had two kinds of jobs - professional, salaried (where almost everyone was salaried) so you were assumed to be available to work anytime you were on premises, yes even if you’re in the middle of lunch in the breakroom. Most of the time in such a circumstance the person invading your lunch would say, “can you come see me when you finish lunch?” or “I’m leaving for a meeting with a client in 3 minutes, could I go over this real fast with you so you can work on it after lunch this afternoon while I’m gone at the meeting?” That sort of thing. Yes, it invades your lunchtime a little, but it makes the whole office run more smoothly. The other jobs I’ve had were working as a veterinary technician - small staff, everyone but the docs are hourly paid. We staggered lunchtimes to make sure there was always a receptionist and a technician present (although many practices, in animal or human medicine, close the doors & the phones for a few hours, this is very annoying to clients/patients), but sometimes the phone goes crazy at lunch and if I was on site I was expected to at least pick it up and politely put them on hold after making sure it wasn’t an emergency. If too much of this happened in one day, I might come back 5-10 minutes late (or longer if necessary) or at very least adjust my time card to show I actually took only 45 minutes for lunch, but it was just understood that part of the job is being flexible. If it’s one of those days where you really need peace & quiet for that hour, you leave the building. Or if you have an office, close & lock the door. Simple.
ETA: Oh yeah, I agree with Red Skeezix - 3 incidents in 9 years does sound like occasional bad days, mostly. 3 incidents in 9 weeks could be a whole different story.
Then you’ve misunderstood something. Solitaire is something that appears on screens regardless of whether people are officially on break. It has no particular meaning to me.
A more effective solution than a hard-to-see sign is to place a chair in the door of the cubicle, back facing out (possibly with the sign attached). Creating even a minor physical barrier deters many people. A lot of the problem occurs when a person enters and asks a question, only to be rebuffed. It is human nature to take that as a personal insult – whereas a chair in the doorway is not personal.
Of course, it could be that the folks described in the OP enjoy insulting others, so they purposely write their “at lunch” sign on the back of a business card and tack it to the wall behind a potted plant… 
And this is why it takes a month for a simple form to typically pass through a department when it can pass through the whole system in a DAY when need be
You’re upset over three instances in nine years? Just wow.
The teachers’ lounge was located only a few steps from my classroom. Students felt free to come looking for me to get the keys so that they could get something out of their backpacks or purses. It disturbed my lunch and the other teachers. The contract is very clear about teachers having a duty free lunch. So I began turning them down.
They began to go to another teacher who held a supervisory position. That position was supposed to be supervising students, not teachers. So she would come to the teachers’ lounge and interrupt my lunch to get the key. She was rather taken back when I refused to budge. (There is a long background story and power struggle behind this.)
If acsenray is the only person disturbing these people on their lunch breaks, it wouldn’t be so terrible, I suppose. But what if everyone is as disrespectful of mandated break time (labor laws) as acsenray is. These people would not be able to distinguish between their breaks and their work time.
Entering a darkened room enough for the lights to automatically come on is suspicious. If the room was dark and you saw someone’s head down and you still went over to him, that is really pushy.
If there is no rule against taking a break at the desk, then assume that you have no right to interfere with that break to demand that people work. The only thing that they did wrong was to be rude. They should have all of this explained on the sign that says Out to Lunch. Please do not disturb.
I’m not used to rude behavior. I find it upsetting.
One instance in a lifetime would be enough to require disciplinary action. There’s no excuse for unprofessional behavior at the office.
A closed-door lounge is very different from your work station.
It’s very simple. If they don’t want to be disturbed, they can go somewhere that isn’t their work station. There are plenty of appropriate places.
Suspicious, my ass.
I didn’t “go over” to anybody. I stood rooted on the spot, in surprise and shock.
I never “demanded that people work.” I simply demand the common courtesy of human interaction. As I said, there would be no problem if they had simply interacted with me politely and then said, “Can I get back to you right after my break?”
Except for No. 2. There’s no excuse for not just saying “Her office is that way.”
I disagree. Regardless of whether they’re on their break, they should not expect that people will pretend they aren’t there. It’s up to them where they take their breaks. If it’s at their work stations, they should expect that people will talk to them and they should be expected to interact politely.
Just a reminder that in case No. 3, there was no “lunch” sign. Apparently, I was expected just to know when lunch time was and that she could only be spoken to before lunch.
Merely walking past the office is enough to trip the sensors in my building - you don’t even need to enter.
This is what’s rude, right here. It’s not your place to decide where someone can take their lunch break, and to suggest that if they don’t want to be disturbed on their break then they can go elsewhere is quite rude.
Those that take their lunch at their desks should post a placard to that effect, or be willing to answer politely “I’m sorry, I’m at lunch, but I’ll be happy to help when I return.”
But again, now that you’re aware that some people like to take their breaks at their desk, there’s no reason why you can’t start off the interaction with “hey Susan, are you busy?” rather than “hey Susan, I need you to do this.” To be honest, that’s how you should be starting every conversation at work, whether someone’s clearly at lunch or not. To start the conversation and request a task in the same sentence is, well, rude.
This is what they’re not doing. They should not be expecting that people won’t try to talk to them.
I never tell anyone “I need you to do this.” I’m nobody’s boss. I don’t give instructions. I don’t make work assignments. I merely ask questions.
I was referring to any work request, not just those of an instructional nature. When you start off with “hey Susan, could you help me out with…,” if Susan’s busy, I don’t think she’s necessarily in the wrong for replying in an equally rude way. There’s no reason you can’t say “hey Susan, are you busy?” This gives her a chance to tell you that she’s on lunch even before you make your request, and avoids the entire potential for rudeness.
Look, we can keep quibbling about exact wording, but ultimately that’s nonsense. Society doesn’t run by strict verbal formulations. The only rule is be polite and friendly, and that’s what I am. That’s what these people were not.
When I approach someone, all I say is “Hi” or “Hi, how are you doing?” Then I wait for a return greeting. If it’s someone I haven’t interacted with that day or for a while, I might then ask “How have you been? Haven’t seen you in a while.” That’s professional, polite, and friendly. There’s plenty of opportunity for that person to say, “Hey there, sorry, can I just back to you in a little bit?” Better yet, they should see why I’m there. If all I’m doing is asking a question or conveying information, then there’s no need for anything else. Just hear what I’ve got to say or answer my question and send me on my way. That’s not too much to expect. In fact, that’s the minimum. It doesn’t matter whether you are at work or at the park or at a sidewalk cafe or at the supermarket or at the ballpark. If you’re in a public place, then you should expect that people will try to interact with you. If interaction is too much for you, then you shouldn’t be in public.
That’s just plain bullshit. It’s never rude to seek to interact politely and professionally with someone in a public place. This is their work station. It’s not their bedroom or the toilet. If they don’t want to interact with people, they should remove themselves to a non-public place.
The same thing applies to cashiers, bank tellers, and post office employees. If the customers can see you, you should be taking their questions. If you are not working, then you should not be at a work station.
Even when the person has been in a darkened room with his head down on the desk? Is there anyway to interact politely with that person?
You have made a rule that you think everyone else should intuitively know. You can’t let them know that’s the rule because, after all, you don’t have the right to enforce it. On the other side, the have labor laws saying that they do have a right to a duty free lunch break. Unless the company has rules saying that they cannot take their lunch breaks at their desks, you are in the wrong.
What would you have done if they had taken their lunches in the cafeteria? Could you have survived without them for a little while longer or would you have tracked them down? Chances are that you would have waited.
I think that you were trying to be politely disrespectful in order to make your point. The title of this thread could just as easily be: “People on their lunch breaks who refuse to interact.”
This is not some mysterious code and it has nothing to do with labor laws. It’s a basic fact of social behavior. I didn’t say it’s wrong to say “Can I get back to you on that?” I said it’s anti-social to refuse to interact politely with someone who’s standing right in front of you. We’re humans before we’re anything else and it’s never okay to treat another human being like that regardless of who it is or where you are and it’s simply ludicrous to argue that being in an office on break can change that.
Oh, sorry, now I see your point. Most jobs I’ve worked strictly forbid games unless you’re off the clock, so to me, game=on break. I do see where if it’s normal for people to play throughout the day it would become just another piece of visual white noise. Sorry if I came across kinda snarky there, didn’t mean it that way.
It’s a very relaxed work atmosphere. We don’t punch clocks here and as long as our work is completed, we don’t get grief over surfing the Internet, playing computer games, or handling personal business. Nobody is forced to time their bathroom breaks or things like that. I’ve seen people hanging out in the corridors chatting for what seems like hours. That’s at least part of the reason why this kind of clock-watching seems so out of place.
Really? You’ve never been rude even once in your life? I basically agree with your points, I don’t think anyone would hold up these three people as shining examples of the most courteous behavior possible, but everyone has a bad day now and then, and while they may still be technically in the wrong it doesn’t necessarily warrant disciplinary action. Even #2. If she did it to you, she probably has done it to others and it will likely not go unnoticed at reviews and stuff, unless it was just her rare bad day, and if so big deal? Try to look at it from their point of view. Especially #3; the way you describe it, she immediately told you she was feeling unwell and asked you to come back after lunch. Maybe she failed to say please, but that doesn’t necessarily make it rude. Maybe she wasn’t as chipper and cheery about it as would have been preferred, but if you had a headache and were awakened by surprise don’t you think you might have been a little rude too, if only unintentionally? And she did continue and ask what you needed. It actually seems to me like she did ok under the circumstances. Maybe not perfect, but again, is anyone perfect 100% of the time? Sorry if that’s occasionally upsetting.