| Lunch is quite a variable thing in the US workplace. I've had all sorts: 1: Got takeout lunch and came back to eat it at my desk. Would get griped at by boss for eating at desk because it seems like I am available to work (between 12pm-1pm hours?). I was told to "eat somewhere out" except the only place to get internet was at my desk. Maybe I should have had a neon sign to indicate it was my lunch hour. This was ~2003 so I guess my only option for killing an hour out at a restaurant at the time would have been some kind of portable gaming system. 2: Work provided lunch, some people ate in the break room, I brought back to desk, worked while eating (not much work to be done in 10 minutes really), then left to go home for ~45 minutes to play on computer there. Free lunch and still an appreciable break! 3: Since I drove 75 miles one way to work, I came in an hour later and ate lunch at desk. I can admit I was less productive during this time. Not to mention, I did have to drive out for lunch which cost ~10-15 minutes. Oversight was low, however, and I felt owed a bit by the huge delays on the promised opening of a new office nearby my house. 4: Lunch hour is mandatory between 12pm-1pm. Made lunch in break room, ate at desk to play on computer for my mandatory 1 hour. I had to start wearing headphones because bosses (same bosses who made mandatory lunch) would try to talk work during 12pm-1pm hours since they never ate lunch or went anywhere for lunch. I wish they had stuck to their own rule. Eventually started going to Chinese restaurant nearby for the hour to escape, made friends with order taker there, watched tv shows on iPad or read books on e-reader. You could say I did learn my lesson from #1 here and the advent of portable tech kept me satisfied. Was less happy when lunch was reduced to 1/2 hour since it made my Chinese trip impossible. Had to stick to faster food and eat in my truck, with tethered iPad or e-reader of course. 5: Currently, my office is 5 minutes from my house as is my wife's, so we meet up at home. My lunch hour is flexible whereas hers is not, so I wait for a text that she is leaving first. In conclusion, lunch time usage greatly depends on what the employer will allow. However attempting to eat at my desk has either upset my employer by making it seem like I am available to work when I am taking an hour break, or else it probably was not productive time which my employer was probably not aware of but still wouldn't have been thrilled about. |