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Eating at your desk is banned in France

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Re: Eating at your desk is banned in France

#21

Post by throwaway193948 »

causality0 wrote: post #15

Ninety minutes, free-flowing conversation, perhaps a glass of wine Yuck. Of course it creates more productivity, they're sucking free time out of my evening and injecting into my work day. Screw that. I'm eating a sandwich at my desk in peace and then I'm going home an hour earlier than these shmucks.

if you were in france you’d probably be taking the long lunch and still going home early

Re: Eating at your desk is banned in France

#22

Post by wutbrodo »

thenerdhead wrote: post #7

We need more of this in America. Perhaps we just need to take the time ourselves and leave no apologies. Too many meetings get scheduled over lunch and people lose their windows of opportunity. This has somewhat shifted with remote work too and when one decides to take their lunch. I’ve started to do that at the beginning or end of the day because I know I won’t have a chance midday.

> Too many meetings get scheduled over lunch and people lose their windows of opportunity.

Why not just put a daily block on your calendar during your lunch hour? It seems pretty bizarre to require everyone to take their break at the exact same time, instead of when it makes the most sense for them

Re: Eating at your desk is banned in France

#23

Post by martin8412 »

twistedcheeslet wrote: post #16

As someone who regularly works 10-12 hours a day, shifting the end of the work day a further 1.5hrs sounds like a special kind of hell. I'll be sticking to my hasty desk-lunch thank you very much.

You don't understand the point.. They don't work those hours.

Re: Eating at your desk is banned in France

#24

Post by pacaro »

My sister worked at a bank in northern France in the mid nineties, she found it hard that all her coworkers went home for lunch, and her apartment was too far from the office and on her income eating at a bistro couldn't be a daily thing. So the rosy picture of amiable lunches doesn't always apply

Re: Eating at your desk is banned in France

#25

Post by achenet »

causality0 wrote: post #15

Ninety minutes, free-flowing conversation, perhaps a glass of wine Yuck. Of course it creates more productivity, they're sucking free time out of my evening and injecting into my work day. Screw that. I'm eating a sandwich at my desk in peace and then I'm going home an hour earlier than these shmucks.

Frenchman here. I leave the office at 6pm at the latest, and I take 2 hour lunch breaks everyday. :)

Re: Eating at your desk is banned in France

#26

Post by toomuchtodo »

causality0 wrote: post #15

Ninety minutes, free-flowing conversation, perhaps a glass of wine Yuck. Of course it creates more productivity, they're sucking free time out of my evening and injecting into my work day. Screw that. I'm eating a sandwich at my desk in peace and then I'm going home an hour earlier than these shmucks.

France is more productive per capita (edit: the reference I found was from 2009, France is currently slightly less productive than the US per capita[1]) and has a higher quality of life than the US. Consider improving your mental model and recognizing you are not as well off and productive as you believe. Japanese workers spend a lot of time at their desks too, but not that productive! Data > emotions, work to live don’t live to work, all that jazz.

Recent on topic thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31690239

[1] https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2013/02/25/french-workers...

Re: Eating at your desk is banned in France

#27

Post by goodpoint »

greatgib wrote: post #5

Article that deform the reality to be more clickbaity. Yes it is forbidden to eat 'at your desk', for obvious sanitary reasons, but I never seen it enforced. But it is ok to eat in the workplace. More than that, company are supposed to provide a dedicated 'break' space with tap water access. The root of the sanitary reason is obvious, you just have to see the regulation about restaurant and food serving places in Fra…

"it is forbidden to eat at your desk" is phrased as clickbait.

Nobody is sending the lunch police to target employees.

This is about requiring employers to provide proper canteens and respecting employees basic needs.

Re: Eating at your desk is banned in France

#28

Post by jchanimal »

twistedcheeslet wrote: post #16

As someone who regularly works 10-12 hours a day, shifting the end of the work day a further 1.5hrs sounds like a special kind of hell. I'll be sticking to my hasty desk-lunch thank you very much.

If you cut your work hours in half, I'd guess your remaining work hours would be more productive on an hourly basis. There are probably all sorts of things making that a challenge to accomplish, but we shouldn't be surprised we see those results in a context that encourages it.

Re: Eating at your desk is banned in France

#29

Post by balfirevic »

achenet wrote: post #25
causality0 wrote: post #15

Ninety minutes, free-flowing conversation, perhaps a glass of wine Yuck. Of course it creates more productivity, they're sucking free time out of my evening and injecting into my work day. Screw that. I'm eating a sandwich at my desk in peace and then I'm going home an hour earlier than these shmucks.

Frenchman here. I leave the office at 6pm at the latest, and I take 2 hour lunch breaks everyday. :)

That's not informative at all without knowing when you arrive.

Re: Eating at your desk is banned in France

#30

Post by achenet »

balfirevic wrote: post #29
achenet wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Frenchman here. I leave the office at 6pm at the latest, and I take 2 hour lunch breaks everyday. :)

That's not informative at all without knowing when you arrive.

Daily meeting is at 9h30. I generally show up a bit before that if in office, or log on a bit before that if WFH. 9 at the earliest, generally closer to 9h15, 9h20. :)
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