Where I work I see a lot of people eating breakfast at work. This is not a quick item like a donut, there are people who have oatmeal where they have to boil water or they have cereal with milk.
Is this a big trend now? I did not see this 10 years ago. I guess these people would claim they don’t have time to eat at home. Some of them do it a lot.
I eat oatmeal at work for breakfast. I do it because I don’t have time to sit and eat at home, and I would prefer a real breakfast to a donut or bar. In fact, we have a cafeteria in the building that makes real breakfasts, like bacon and eggs or an omelet.
I used to do it in my last job.
I used to get into work at 7.45am and have breakfast before my working day officially began at 8.30am. The reason was that I shared a car with my husband, who had further to travel, so he needed to drop me off at work that early. I’m not a morning person and preferred to have a leisurely breakfast whilst catching up on the news websites (which was allowed at my work) rather than trying to chug something down before jumping in the car.
Back when I was in corporate America I definitely noticed a trend towards eating breakfast at work. I think there was a combination of time concerns, and a substantial number of people just don’t like to cook.
The downside, of course, is people eating on the clock, when they should be working, the potential mess, and that some people have really obnoxious eating habits.
For a lot of us, ‘on the clock’ really isn’t a concept. I’m “at work” now because its eight. And I’ll be technically “at work” until 5. But I’m also “at work” checking my Blackberry on Sunday afternoon, answering the phone at 6pm at night when someone in California needs to speak to me, or on the phone at 11pm with China or 6am with Europe. So if some of my time at my desk is spent surfing the internet or eating breakfast, its part of the price of having the work/life lines severely blurred.
Which is part of the deal. With work life lines blurred and so many people trying to fit a ton in, if instant oatmeal can be consumed at your desk it makes for an efficient use of time. I know people who are getting up early to exercise, then they commute, then they run from meeting to meeting - grabbing breakfast and lunch on the run - commuting back to throw uncrustables at their kids in the backseat of the car on the way to the soccer game. They get home to eat something themselves before tackling their email until midnight. Not that I’m saying this is a GOOD way to live - but its reality for a bunch of people.
It was pretty common at my last job.
Of course, I do it every single day now - but then, I work from home… 
People work longer, earlier shifts these days. Sometimes they come in early to beat the rush hour traffic. A lot of companies have full service cafeterias so they can hold the worker bees captive that much longer.
I was a bagel ‘n’ cream cheese office breakfast kinda gal, myself.
If I wanted a job where I had to work nights and weekends I would have “MD” after my name. At least they get paid a lot in order to be on call all the time.
It’s amazing how some places have decided that low paid people have to be available 24/7 during some days or weeks.
I used to eat breakfast at work when I was commuting from New Jersey to Manhattan. In order to make it to work on time I would take a bus that dropped me off downtown about 30-40 min before my workday started. I would use that extra time to have some food and read news websites. When my coworkers showed up early, they would often do the same. It was just a lot more leisurely to do that instead of trying to cram something in my face on the way out the door.
At my last job, we had a cafeteria. I used to have a sausage and bacon bap in the morning. Very civilised.
I should have added that we don’t have a cafeteria here, it’s just people eating at their desk or cube.
I eat breakfast at work, have done so for at least 10 years. I HAVE to eat breakfast but am not a morning person, so getting up in time to eat before I leave home just isn’t something I’m fond of doing. I don’t “cook” anything, but some folks at my office do make instant oatmeal or microwave scrambled eggs. My routine these days is to have a high-protein cereal bar and a latte. The first thing I tackle in the morning is email, so I do that and eat at the same time.
(Written in the morning, after breakfast, on her day off)
Not to mention that a lot of work can be done – sometimes more effectively – when you’re also doing something mindless such as eating. This is the case with a lot of computer work, for example. I find that there are times when it’s best to hunker down and concentrate intensively, and there are times when it’s best to work in a more free-flowing manner so that ideas have a chance to percolate for a while.
I do it because I don’t really feel like eating anything until 90-120 minutes after I get up. Since I’m usually trying to watch my calories, I like to save them up for when I am actually hungry.
(Yes, I have heard the theories about how your metabolism is somehow dormant until you “kickstart” it with some food, but I’ve never seen any credible cites for it, just unsubstantiated claims on diet websites).
I have my breakfast at work. I find that if I wait quite awhile to have breakfast, I’m much less hungrier throughout the day. If I eat soon after waking, I get starrrrrrrrving just a couple of hours later. Plus, I generally work 4 days x 10 hours a week. 7:30am-6:30 pm.
So I could get up, eat breakfast at 6:45ish and be sitting at my desk, starving at 9am. Or I could get up, get ready, bring my breakfast (and lunch) with me to work, and wait until like, 10-11am to have my breakfast. For some reason, waiting awhile to have breakfast is much less hungry feeling.
Plus, having a desk job bores me and makes me have fake hunger feelings (I’m not actually hungry, probably bored, even if I’m working). Getting around and actually moving to do things makes me forget about the fake hunger, but I can’t do that a lot.
But I generally have a fruit and yogurt smoothie for breakfast that I make at home and just drink at my desk.
Yep. The workday starts at 7:30 a.m. Was there ever really a time when businesses actually ran from 9-to-5? Man, if I could come in at 9, I could actually do stuff in the mornings at home.
Lots of breakfast places nearby, catering to us early birds.
When I worked at a place with a company cafeteria, I took it to go and ate it in my office
You just don’t like people eating in their cubes, correct? C’mon, fess up – you’re among friends
I eat breakfast at my desk every day. I’m usually on campus a good 1.5 hours before classes start, so it really isn’t a problem. It gives me a chance to read my mail, finish any lesson plans, and generally gird my loins for the day.
I don’t have a problem with it, just think it’s a big change from the past.
BTW, I think people who say they don’t have time could just wake up 10 minutes earlier to eat at home. They would rather use the time to sleep.
I’ve always eaten breakfast at work. My stomach doesn’t “wake up” for 2 or 3 hours after I’ve gotten up. On a workday, if I eat before 9.30-10 I get terrible acid reflux. So I have a bowl of muesli at my desk. I start work at 9 - most UK businesses still do.