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Topic: Lunch at desk etiquette
| Author | Message |
| . | Posted – 2/28/2008 9:43:49 AM | show profile Thank you, Gogiants! You're so right!! :) |
| Printingman | Posted – 2/28/2008 10:17:08 AM | show profile | email poster Robin, dealing drugs and drinking vodka at your workplace. Are they having sex in the bathroom stalls as well? Man where do you work? Time to look for another job and open up this one to someone who appreciates it. |
| . | Posted – 2/28/2008 10:30:43 AM | show profile Those were two different jobs where people dealt drugs and drank vodka. Not my fault, only commenting on what I saw. |
| . | Posted – 2/28/2008 10:31:28 AM | show profile And those were not at my current job. |
| beenthere | Posted – 2/28/2008 10:50:57 PM | show profile One of the main issues here is to know what is acceptable behavior at your workplace. Different places have different rules, and like it or not, as employees you are subject to the rules. At my present employer, being on time is the rule. You can surf the net for hours, take 45 min cell phone calls in the parking lot, LEAVE for doctor's appointments without informing anyone, or IM all day long. As long as the boss sees you walk through the door on time. People work the system like you wouldn't believe. Ridiculous. I did have one job where the supervisor actually cared if you got your work done well. That was the priority above all else. Sigh. That was a looooong time ago. |
| intraining | Posted – 2/29/2008 2:18:44 PM | show profile Hey beenthere, is your job hiring? |
| jbgnyc | Posted – 4/1/2008 4:45:15 AM | show profile | email poster ~Lunch at desk One of the joys of working from home is never having anyone know you're eating leftovers in your PJs. East Coast companies still seem to want office workers "looking busy." I started my stay at home job with a Denver company that couldn't care less where we ate or what else we might be doing. All they cared about was meeting deadlines and we all did. That said: such freedom never exists when others, even one other soul, shares a space with you. So, if you want to lunch and DVD watch, work freelance, otherwise, play by the rules. |
| WordyBird | Posted – 4/1/2008 1:26:26 PM | show profile A. Your boss is unprofessional. It's never acceptable to scream at someone in the office. Does your boss think that's going to inspire you somehow? B. In some work places, lunch at your desk is fine. In others, it's not. In still others, people will approach you while you have your mouth full and your sandwich out on the desk and assume that because you are at your desk, you are working and therefore will stand there and discuss work with you. If I were you, I'd just get out of there entirely at lunch time. Preferably to an interview for a new job, if you can, because really, bosses who raise their voices suck. |
| westsidestory | Posted – 4/1/2008 6:39:14 PM | show profile my two cents I have worked in a few major media companies, and I've never gotten into the program that it's somehow virtuous or even time-efficient to eat lunch at your desk. It's got to be one of the biggest myths of the media biz, how "busy" you are that you can't take a break to renew and refresh yourself. I have looked around these offices and see it's only the pluggers and the peons who feel they are tied to their cubicles. Even if you only have a half hour, even if you just take your sandwich, go down to the corner, a park or nearby plaze (or your car in the parking lot) -- take your break. Make a lunch, make a plan, build it into your schedule. Let your co-workers wonder where you go. Let your manager geta clue that you have a life outside the cubicle. I expect I will get protestations from people who think that they especially have no downtime in their jobs. I am curious if anybody agrees with me, that if you make an hour for lunch, you'll discover how much energy you get away from the whirring cogs and wheels. |
| westsidestory | Posted – 4/1/2008 10:24:43 PM | show profile but, about the yelling I have to say your manager showed poor skills by yelling at you in front of your whole office. What should have been done was take you aside and quietly discuss what he/she found unprofessional. |
| cali1296 | Posted – 4/2/2008 12:39:17 AM | show profile I know this isn't relevant, but I'm wondering what DVD were you watching? I know it was PG and everything, but I'm just asking purely out of curiosity. Also, it sort of struck me as "different" that you were eating margarine on bread for lunch! Again, who cares, but still. I'm a quirky eater too, and that sort of added to the absurdity of the whole story. I think your manager was wrong in how she treated you, by the way. |
| . | Posted – 4/2/2008 9:09:44 AM | show profile I was watching a movie called "Burnt Offerings". It's from the 1970's, with Karen Black, Oliver Reed and Bette Davis. I had the sound down so low that even I couldn't hear it. I have seen it so many times before that I just thought I would enjoy watching it without much sound...I thought it would be relaxing for me to watch a movie I enjoy, that's all. Anyway, I was eating margarine on pumpernickel bread just because the bread was very fresh. A simple lunch is better than a heavy, creamy lunch. Thank you all for your input. I also think that my manager should not have yelled at me, especially in front of my co-workers. And to give you an update, my manager mentioned this to me again last week, saying how unprofessional of me it was to watch the DVD. She then said that she realizes that other people in my section do also watch movies at their desks during lunch but that "their doors are closed so it's different". P.S., there are windows beside those doors so you can see inside anyway. |
| TheSecondShift | Posted – 4/3/2008 10:16:38 PM | show profile I hope you took that opportunity to tell your manager that you wouldn't watch DVD's at work again since it's a problem, and that you also hope she will discuss any issues she has with you in private. If you don't nip this in the bud now, it will happen again, I guarantee it. |
| Marie | Posted – 4/4/2008 2:42:13 AM | show profile I often eat at my desk, but I'll go out later if I do. But here's my pet peeve. I always eat quickly. What I can't stand is people who leave food around their desk, and eat slowly for hours. There's an intern who once sat and ate noisy pistachio nuts all afternoon next to me, and I nearly killed her. Eat and get it over with for God's sake. I had to go out to get away from those nuts. I came back an hour later and she's still eating them. She'll know who she is if she reads this. Do not sit and eat all day. It's annoying to people to people around you, and looks, smells and sounds awful. |
| Mag Girl | Posted – 4/4/2008 10:27:36 AM | show profile Marie- some people have health problems that require them to eat all day. They can definitely try to have less noisy/smelly stuff, but health issues can make someone have to be a grazer. |
| Notyet | Posted – 4/8/2008 9:50:05 PM | show profile Interesting post For all the things I did at my former employers (I did them on the sneak, and many of them were bad - including watching DVD's) I never openly did it in their face - even during lunchtime. |
| jseconds77 | Posted – 5/17/2008 9:47:47 PM | show profile my old supervisor used to nudge my old co-worker to buy lunch, so she could have some! what's all this etiquette non- sense? you work well, leave 'em alone during lunch hours! damn, we spend enough time there in the first place. honestly, this office stuff is really getting absurd. people make up subjective rules as they go along. said old supervisor used to: cry at work, complain about us on the telephone during work in front of us, come in late everyday, leave early, and even disappear(thank god). |
| Vox-o | Posted – 5/18/2008 11:09:08 AM | show profile You should be yelled at for eating margerine... that stuff is poisonous! |
