I have a thirty minute lunch break (I take the other thirty minutes off the top of the day). I almost always bring my own lunch and eat at my desk while I surf the web. We have a break room, but it isn’t very big. Plus that’s where the Mansplainer talks about how stupid his wife is, the New Daddy corners you with video of his Wonder Baby, and the table i call Ten People Shouting; No one Listening all hang out.
My co-workers in our particular office interact all day long, plus we talk on the phone a lot. So i like a lunch break where i I can zone out and not pay attention to anyone.
About 5 minutes from my office is a park that has some covered picnic tables, every day I go there to get some fresh air, warm up (god is it cold in my office) and to read. Although I say that, we are starting to eat lunch together (we’re a small office) more and more. It kind of annoys me because it’s severely inhibits my reading time, but the camaraderie is fun too I guess.
It depends on the where, what and who of the day. If I’m working in the warehouse I might bring a lunch, eat in the dispatch office/driver’s room/break room and converse with my co-workers, or if the weather is nice enough, eat outside at the gazebo next to the gate. After that we all converge at the gazebo, which doubles as the smoking area and either continue chatting, or delve deep into our phones. Some days I don’t bring lunch if I know I’m going to be working in the warehouse, instead I’ll run down to the fast food place that’s nearby and grab a couple corndogs and a soda, sit in my car reading and listening to the radio while eating. When out on a job, you either bring your lunch or have lunch brought to you, using company trucks for lunch runs is strictly forbidden. These lunch periods almost never have anyone looking at their phones. Usually, we all just want to get the job done for the day so typically wolf down our food along with some small talk or job discussion and get back to work as quickly as possible.
Regarding your lunch Nava, I used to work at a place that was vaguely somewhat similar but not really. Because we shipped product all over the country and world, our Boss claimed that we fell under Federal Safety Regulations™ 15 minute break at 10am and 3pm and 1 hour lunch from 12 to 1, mandatory, and in fact the shop was closed and locked during the lunch hour unless you had special dispensation from the Boss to work on a project that was coming due. Overtime was very strictly frowned upon and you had to have God Himself as your advocate with the Boss if you had a project that you needed to work late or on the weekend to complete on time. The Boss expected better project planning from his workers.
That’s similar to mine. Take whichever grade is in the library to cafeteria at 12:30. Wait for teachers in lunch duty to arrive. Make my way back to library for lunch, hopefully arriving by 12:45. Get interrupted a couple of times unless I lock the door. Go outside for recess duty at 1:10.
This seems to be a consistent “consulting firm” cultural phenomenon in New York. If I’m in the office, around noon, people will begin thinking about where they want to go for lunch. There will be a bunch of conversations and “give me a minute to finish this” or “let me go to the bathroom”. Eventually, people will settle into groups of 1 to 5 or so to venture out. Depending on how busy, they might just run across the street to a Pret A Manger or they might go on a 20 minute excursion to find a food cart someone kind of thought they remembered where it usually sat. Everyone then returns to the office to eat at their desk or in the all-purpose conference room.
We rarely do sit down lunches at my current firm (unless I’m taking a client out or something). Other places I’ve worked, they were a lot more common.
My husband and I work in the same building close to home, so we go home together and let the dogs out, feed the cat, and watch Who Wants to Be a Millionaire while we eat lunch.
I leave the office around 11:30 am and do a 2-mile walk. When weather permits, I walk outside along the Lake Superior waterfront and surrounding area. If the weather is crummy I walk the skywalks. When I get back to the office, I eat (usually something from home - once in awhile a Subway sandwich) and I watch something on Netflix or Amazon. I just finished Detectorists and am now watching Poldark.
Some summer days are just too hot and humid to walk outside or inside. Those days I go home, let the dogs out and sit out on the deck, read and eat. Those days are glorious!
I work about five minutes from home, so I usually just go home for lunch. Once a week or so I go out for lunch with some co-workers, or get together with my former boss from my previous job. If I’ve got errands I need to run, I’ll just grab something while I’m out and eat at my desk when I get back.
I work HR in a warehouse/factory setting. My typical shift is 6:30-3:30. Production workers have their lunch at 11, so during that hour we have to be available to answer any questions or take care of any issues that need to be resolved with them. I generally take my lunch around 12:15. Most days, I bring my lunch from home (it’s basically just fast food within walking or short driving distance, so I try not to indulge too often) and will surf the web while I’m eating. Sometimes I like to sneak in a quick little nap at my desk. The cool thing about this setup is after lunch is over, it’s usually only another two hours until I get to go home.
We don’t have a dedicated lunch room so while some people take over a conference room at noon, I eat later so I eat at my desk. I usually look at the Dope to keep me company, unless I need to do any on-line shopping and check personal email. At my last job many moons ago, we had a lunch room and had to take lunch 1-2 to watch All My Children.
I hit the salad bar at the office cafeteria and take it out to my car, where I eat and read the newspaper. It’s the only place I can be assured no one will interrupt my eating/reading time. As I explained to a former boss who asked why I (almost) always took a lunch break, “Time at work is yours, time at home is my family’s, time at lunch is mine and often the only time I get to myself. I intend to take it whenever possible”.
I’m a teacher and I have a 30 minute lunch break. I typically pack my own lunch and eat in my classroom while listening to a podcast and browsing the web.
There’s no cafeteria/deli in my building (we’re surrounded by restaurants and walking distance from a fancy mall), so I bring my lunch every day and eat at my desk in my private office. My days are always a mix of working and surfing the 'net, so there’s no real “lunch break.” Every now and then my small team will go out for lunch, but it’s rare. I try to meet friends/former co-workers for lunch every couple of months.
There is a break room where some people eat, and if I ever used the fridge/freezer/microwave I might sit in there for lunch sometimes. But everything I bring from home is in a small cooler, so I only need to go to the break room if I want to grab a soda or a snack. Also, sometimes I’m super hungry and I eat everything in my cooler very quickly, but other times “lunch” can last most of the afternoon.
I don’t really have a lunch hour per se. I teach in a university so I just take a break between classes whenever that happens to be. This semester it’s 12:00 on MWF. I usually bring something from home and eat in my office on those days. If the weather is nice, I might walk around campus and occasionally have coffee at a local cafe. On Tuesdays and Thursdays my last class ends at 1:45 so I go home and have lunch there.
I never have lunch with my colleagues. The idea of an hour each day chatting or playing trivia games with them is my idea of hell (sorry!). My colleagues are perfectly nice people but I’m something of an introvert. After all the interaction in the classroom and during office hours, I crave solitude.
