Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Say Goodbye to Spain's Three-Hour Lunch Break

citylab.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 233 posts

Re: Say Goodbye to Spain's Three-Hour Lunch Break

#141

Post by magic_beans »

jorgemf wrote: post #135
magic_beans wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the people that eat lunch for 2 hours... do they go out to lunch every single day?? No one brings lunch from home?

It depends. Some people bring food some go out. But for 10€ is not worth for everybody to wake up earlier to prepare the meal and later have to warm it up in the microwave. You just go out and lunch. Some companies also have a special compensation for this, they give lunch tickets that you can spend in a lot of restaurants. Those tickets are like real money and are part of your salary but you don't pay taxes for them…

10 euros a day, 5 days a week, is 2,400 euros a year...

The meal ticket thing I understand.

Re: Say Goodbye to Spain's Three-Hour Lunch Break

#142

Post by Aloha »

mrkrabo wrote: post #94
hueving wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With the invention of air conditioning and an abundance of solar power during the desert day, it's pretty stupid to let the weather dictate your behavior. People exist in Chicago despite the fact that it would be completely inhospitable without heating sources. The only difference is that air conditioning is a newer invention so people like you view it as some kind of opulent luxury rather than a technological tool l…

Try to go out with 45 degrees, with direct sunlight, etc. Some people will even faint within minutes. Because remember you don't get teleported to the shop, you have to walk.

have spent much time in 110+ degree weather - you just have to hydrate.

Re: Say Goodbye to Spain's Three-Hour Lunch Break

#143

Post by wang_li »

FullMtlAlcoholc wrote: post #110
hueving wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With the invention of air conditioning and an abundance of solar power during the desert day, it's pretty stupid to let the weather dictate your behavior. People exist in Chicago despite the fact that it would be completely inhospitable without heating sources. The only difference is that air conditioning is a newer invention so people like you view it as some kind of opulent luxury rather than a technological tool l…

> With the invention of air conditioning and an abundance of solar power during the desert day, it's pretty stupid to let the weather dictate your behavior. You do have to go outside to get anywhere. We don't have completely domed cities yet.

We sort of do. My 20 mile commute in Seattle involves about 100 feet of walking outside the "dome". I go from my house to my attached garage into my car. To the park-n-ride. From there I walk to the bus. Then ride the bus downtown, where i then walk half a block to my office.

Re: Say Goodbye to Spain's Three-Hour Lunch Break

#144

Post by dghughes »

eloff wrote: post #116
davidw wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Small shops manage to operate in, say, Arizona during those hours. That said, I think Spain's hours are a more natural adaptation to the climate than Arizona's.

Arizona is in the car-centric USA. You walk straight from your car with AC into a shop with AC via the shortest path possible. Spain, like most Europe is a lot more pedestrian/cyclist friendly and I'd imagine that traffic drops off a lot during the heat of the day. I live in Canada which isn't anything near as hot as Arizona or Spain and I walk/cycle everywhere and I specifically avoid going anywhere from 11am-2pm in…

Yet another Canadian here yeah we grind to a halt at anything near 30C.

I'm in the humid Maritimes it's 28C but with the humidity it feels like 40C.

Re: Say Goodbye to Spain's Three-Hour Lunch Break

#145

Post by anigbrowl »

readhn wrote: post #14

In the startup arena im in (USA) folks often work 8-9am till 7-8pm with half hour to hour MAX lunches. No one complains, people just burnout and move on in 1-2-3 years. No one gets overtime. It would be nice to have an open discussion with HR or whoever but its a sensitive topic, in this culture you are not "allowed" to tell how much you actually work... I guess its a "dirty little secret" but 9-5 does not exist anym…

It depends on the origin of the firm (both geographic and industrial). SWIM recently transitioned from a very 'competitively minded' data processing firm where >50 hour weeks and working every 4rd or 4th weekend were the norm for salaried staff to the buyer side in the same industry, and is now getting paid 30%, with a 27.5 workweek, and overtime. Plus a well-stocked break room and Thursday happy hours.

There's some value to both approaches, but a lot of startups rely on young people being willing to buy into an endurance culture and just working them into the ground, while (as you say) exhorting them to keep their salary details secret so they feel like they're beating the market or on a fast track to success. This secrecy doesn't benefit anyone except the employer.

Re: Say Goodbye to Spain's Three-Hour Lunch Break

#146

Post by tremendo »

anigbrowl wrote: post #131
davidw wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Small shops manage to operate in, say, Arizona during those hours. That said, I think Spain's hours are a more natural adaptation to the climate than Arizona's.

Yes, but at the cost of running crazy air conditioning. The only time I visited Phoenix I arrived near lunchtime and was baffled to be wandering around a seemingly modern city where the streets were entirely free of people. I felt like it I was in the opening scene of a zombie movie or something. Personally speaking I've never seen much value in living by the clock if it puts you in conflict with the seasons. The not…

Sadly in Phoenix you'll find the streets entirely free of people year-round. Even when the weather is nice (Oct-Apr). I am one who walks, and often wonder if I'm just crazy when I notice I'm pretty much the only human not inside a car just walking about. I also not wonder but know it's true when I realize that hey, it really is too damn hot some days and being outside is just nuts.

Re: Say Goodbye to Spain's Three-Hour Lunch Break

#147

Post by anigbrowl »

treehau5 wrote: post #9
untog wrote: post #3

Hardly surprising, and probably positive for many Spaniards, but it still makes me a little sad that every country is converging on a very similar way of working. Globalisation makes it inevitable, of course, but does Monday-Friday, 9-5 really make sense? Why not 8-6 Monday-Thursday with a three day weekend? We developers are often lucky that we can dictate our own hours and experiment with this, but I'd be fascinate…

> Globalisation makes it inevitable, of course, I would push back on this thinking that Globalization itself is inevitable. We have seen the reaction to this thinking in recent years -- you end up with Trumps, and Mays, and (almost) Le Pen's. Greeks are a prime example -- despite the intense crisis and austerity measures, the country still values its lunch and coffee breaks, despite how much we here in the west criti…

Globalization is inevitable in that we're not going to un-invent or abandon use of the internet, containerization, or any of the other technological things that allow the existence of global supply chains. Technologies are sometimes lost as a result of social collapse (eg Damascus steel) but they're never willingly decommissioned.

Globalization doesn't have to mean homogenization, though. It's interesting to think about alternative possibilities that are not bound up with the centralization of wealth as a condition of production.

Re: Say Goodbye to Spain's Three-Hour Lunch Break

#148

Post by bdamm »

eloff wrote: post #116
davidw wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Small shops manage to operate in, say, Arizona during those hours. That said, I think Spain's hours are a more natural adaptation to the climate than Arizona's.

Arizona is in the car-centric USA. You walk straight from your car with AC into a shop with AC via the shortest path possible. Spain, like most Europe is a lot more pedestrian/cyclist friendly and I'd imagine that traffic drops off a lot during the heat of the day. I live in Canada which isn't anything near as hot as Arizona or Spain and I walk/cycle everywhere and I specifically avoid going anywhere from 11am-2pm in…

Often I think of Canada having the same problems as Arizona, but in reverse (cold instead of hot). Except it sure is convenient that the coldest part of the day is when everyone is asleep.

Re: Say Goodbye to Spain's Three-Hour Lunch Break

#149

Post by jorgemf »

magic_beans wrote: post #141
jorgemf wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends. Some people bring food some go out. But for 10€ is not worth for everybody to wake up earlier to prepare the meal and later have to warm it up in the microwave. You just go out and lunch. Some companies also have a special compensation for this, they give lunch tickets that you can spend in a lot of restaurants. Those tickets are like real money and are part of your salary but you don't pay taxes for them…

10 euros a day, 5 days a week, is 2,400 euros a year... The meal ticket thing I understand.

It depends on the company, they usually don't pay the full meal price. Probably is less and it should be around 1000-1500 a year. I have no idea how are things now with the tickets. (For most people in spain 1000-1500€ is a month salary)
Post reply on HN