To think it's pretty normal not to have a lunch break?

[IdaClair]

I work for myself at the moment, and most days the first chance I have to eat is dinner time. Sometimes I have breakfast, sometimes I don't. Friends and family have said to me that I should have a 'lunch break ' and seem appalled by the idea that I don't have one, saying I should 'make sure' I do.

I have what is essentially a shop and there is maybe 5 minutes a day where I am not serving customers directly, and there is often a queue. Breaking for lunch is not an option! To me it seems perfectly normal not to have a lunch break, I have only ever had one in an office job. Every other job I have had in customer facing stuff like event management, catering, customer service, caring roles, even waitstaff and barwork -there wasn't a lunch break. There were a few that did a strict 15 mins every 4 hours type of system, but nothing longer than that and most things were on a 'grab two minutes if you can where there is time ' basis - and there was never normally any time! I would often do a 12 hour shift doing something like a wedding and no-one would stop the proceedings so the staff could have a break, and in some remote country hotel you've never been to before with a kitchen busy with 200 guests, unless you brought a pack up there isn't exactly any food available even if you wanted it.

I am sure there are many professions which are so busy and unpredictable you don't get a 'lunch hour'.

AIBU to think that there is no such thing as a lunch break in many roles and it's not exactly a shocking thing or some kind of deprivation?

Employed here, always take my tea break, lunch is hit and miss lately as deadline to meet each weekend at 3, means I work through lunch regularly to meet deadline then take a break at 3, I claim time off for every minute I work over and through lunch, but only since work became a pain amd reduced wages, increased hours and messed with pensions,

I think it's quite normal. In the office I am in now, none of the senior staff regularly take lunch breaks - 5 mins to grab a sandwich at most.

The people who leave their desks at 12.01 and return at 12.59 every single day not just here, but most places I've worked will never get anywhere. Fine if you're not ambitious.

Sometimes there simply isn't time - my manager was in a 7 hour meeting yesterday - started just before 10, finished at 5. We have quite a few of those - or meetings overrun, one into the other. Some days I am so busy (like today) it was 4pm before I even had time to go to the loo!

The compulsory lunch break is part of the Health and Safety at Work Act.

Exactly. Own business working excessive hours, with no part-time help?! If the answer is "I can't afford it" then, your business isn't yielding enough to make it worthwhile putting in all those hours. If answer is "I prefer to go it alone" then that's just sad

OP I was going to ask how you have a wee

It's such a crap attitude to equate taking a lunch break with lack of ambition. People work a lot better after a short break and something to eat. I'm a teacher, our lunch breaks are rushed but we make sure we stop and eat even if only for ten minutes or so. A few weeks ago I was too rushed and didn't have time to stop and eat - I'm heavily pregnant. My afternoon lessons were shit and when I got home I was exhausted, ill and tearful. It's bad for your health and it makes you a worse employee if you don't take care of yourself.

I often want to eat but literally no chance unless I start eating whilst speaking to customers
I do hope you never need a poo

Work/Life Balance - not.

I don't always get a lunch break.

It is no biggy, humans are very resilient and need way less food than we generally get in the western world.

What I didn't like though was sitting down all the time, much happier in my current job which involves lots of movement (even though it is still office based).

If I was feeling faint and hungry I would take the time to break though, but it doesn't really bother me so I don't worry about it.

I do drink shedloads of water though.

"The people who leave their desks at 12.01 and return at 12.59 every single day not just here, but most places I've worked will never get anywhere. Fine if you're not ambitious"

This is total bollocks.

And I speak as someone who has run their own business and is now a director of another.

I take a lunch break nearly every day - the only times I don't are when things have gone very wrong, and fortunately, those are rare events.

I've had some jolly useful conversations over lunch though - "Oh, you're working on that? We really need to catch up, we've got a project going on which will be affected." So I'm away from my desk and getting a break and food, but it's not always completely non-work time.

People who take their full lunch break every day without fail (and who also tend to be the ones who never come in early or stay late. Ever) will never get anywhere in my field, and I don't think that's unusual. Clockwatchers aren't usually the best or most productive employees, and don't make good team players.

That said, I don't subscribe to the theory you should 'never' take lunch - but the reality is in many roles taking an hour to wander round the shops or read the paper is a luxury, rather than a daily necessity.

I'm a chef and in virtually every kitchen I've ever worked in it is totally normal if not expected for you not to take a lunch break - for obvious reasons lunch time tends to be one of the busiest times and when it goes quieter afte lunch you are often working on your own so have no one to cover you so you can take a break.

Not unusual to do a 12-14hr shift and not have a break or anything to eat, I remember working over the summer in the kitchen in about 35 degree heat, the front of house staff were so busy they didn't have time to bring us drinks for several hours and we weren't allowed to get them ourselves. Not very nice at all, but it is expected of you when you do that job :(

It is normal not to have a break but it really shouldn't be.

Studies have shown that taking a break improves concentration and productivity.

I was given an unofficial warning in my current job. I was told if I didn't start taking breaks I'd be disciplined for endangering patient safety . I'd stopped taking my breaks in response to being called a skiver, lazy and stupid by the full timers. I know some will take this as proof that I am lazy but I do work very hard, my stats are consistently excellent.

I guess the worker's rights many fought so hard for long ago are eroded and simply accepted as the norm nowadays.

Or that people own, or have shares in the companies theyre talking about hence dont mind slogging their guts out for it as standard.

If you are not going to eat lunch, then I think you really should try and find a way to have a half decent breakfast.

It might be normal, but it is illegal not to allow workers to have at least 20 mins uninterrupted break during the working day. Working straight through is not associated with productivity, and presenteeism should not be the sign of a good worker, rather they should be judged on what they actually produce. When I have had employees that have worked long hours I have tended to assume that they weren't very good at managing their time, and I've had 'clock watchers' who were excellent.

I've never had a lunch break since qualifying.

I eat a decent breakfast, try and grab water throughout the day (not always possible) and eat a decent evening meal.

And it's not "not wanting" to find the time. It's not being able to find the time. Arrive at work 0800, list starts 0830. Finishes at 1230-1300. Afternoon list starts at 1300, finishes at 1800. There is no time between dropping the last patient of the morning in recovery at 1230 and the afternoon list starting at 1300 for lunch - the half hour is when I get to see and assess my afternoon patients.

Sometimes I'm lucky and the assistant I'm working with will grab me a coffee half way through the list.

If I need the loo I text a colleague to see if someone can come in to let me out for 5 mins. If they can, fine. If they can't, I hang on. Can't leave a patient once we've started.

I've only ever had lunch breaks when I was temping in the holidays before my clinical training and I had a desk based job.

Looking through some of the presenteeism posts, unless you're busy running a country I'm sceptical that there is absolutely no time whatsoever to take a lunch break, even if 30 minutes or a bit less than that.

Id say some employers aren't employing enough staff and can easily rely upon the present at all costs crew to suck up all the extra work, thus saving employers a good deal of money. I wonder if upon applying for jobs, prospective employees are told 'no lunch break provided' and then say, 'ok then'. If in terms & conditions given to employee a lunch break is mentioned then I feel its entirely possible and theyre just being taken for mugs. Making it easy for managers, who then don't have to bother their heads arranging cover/rota. In current climate though, its easy for employers to exploit. I understand it. I just don't see this kind of presenteeism as something to be lauded.

For self-employment if working from home yes, you can easily take breaks. No-one's around, so you'll do it. If self-employment is outside the home working long hours daily with no breaks smacks of being a bit mean to oneself in not hiring someone for at least a couple of hours daily so you can have a break, stocktake, deal with suppliers associated with business, etc. No man/woman is an island, generally if people are pushing themselves so hard then the un-productiveness of health and stress problems will become even more of a scourge. & again, for those in more sedentary jobs..the chair is our biggest killer.

In the UK it's not uncommon but that doesn't make it right, sensible, advisable or admirable.

I'm a manager. I insist my team take a lunch break. I have a duty of care towards them and ensuring they have the opportunity to have a break from their screens and get some nutrition is towards the basic bottom end of that duty of care. I don't want them burning out, I don't want them ending up ill, I don't want them perpetuating the myth that the one who consistently works through lunch is a "better" employee than the one who doesn't, and from a personal perspective, I don't want to end up in an ET defending a constructive dismissal case and trying to justify why Claimant X felt they could never take a lunch break.

Currently sat having my lunch break, quite typical for me and my British colleague to grab a salad/sandwich and have it at our desk.

Most Singaporean colleagues feel completely entitled to taking their entire one hour lunch break.

Different cultures, but then again I don't tend to arrive at 10am, fanny about for a couple of hours, take a full hour lunch and then leave at 6pm.

I work in an office and always take an hour for lunch, even if I'm really busy. I use it to go to the gym, a walk or a cycle. I find I feel so much more refreshed and ready to work again afterwards. If I have to stay a bit later because of it so be it, but it's very important to me to take it and I think makes me a better employee.

There are 4 of us in our office, we all eat lunch at our desks, but we all have a break as well. We take half hour each to walk the dogs, two from 12-1230, two from 1230-1300. We need to stay open because most of our 'customers' can only come and see us when they have a lunch break.

When one of us is off then one person stays in the office and the other two walks that dog(s) as well - I hate it when it's my turn because I need that 30 mins to stretch, take a breather and generally have a moan about work!

The bosses tend to go to the gym or for a run for an hour. I'm glad that we have the attitude we do, personally I think it's healthier.

Doing this occasionally might be ok, though it always made me feel rough, but surely if you never eat between breakfast and dinner those two meals have to be about 1000 calories each? Which is pretty hard to achieve.

If I was not able to eat during the day I would get dizzy and irritable. If I also was unable to use the loo then I would start to feel very sick. This is not how to get the best out of people and I think it's concerning how many of the 'I can never take a break' people are working in healthcare settings as it's not just productivity that gets affected but also patient safety.

I used to work with a surgeon who didn't really believe in sleep (he'd ring me up at silly hours and expect me to be thinking about work) once I got a lift from him in the middle of the afternoon and he almost nodded off at the wheel. It was scary to think that's the time he was usually operating!

There are good reasons why rest breaks are a part of health and safety regulations. I know it can be hard to take a break if it's not the prevailing culture, but it really is a good idea.