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Say Goodbye to Spain's Three-Hour Lunch Break

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

#81
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…

> Why not 8-6 Monday-Thursday with a three day weekend? You're making the mistake that 40 hours is just 40 hours. Business work schedules are about being available during the week, not about working for a fixed amount of time.

Right, but what I'm saying is that if everyone agreed that "the week" is Monday - Thursday instead of Monday - Friday, things would be different.

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

#83
post #67

Literally nobody here takes 3 hour lunch breaks. A lot of offices have 2 hours, yeah, but this is becoming less and less common regardless. Small shops do close for 3 hours in the middle of the day, but they are open till about 9pm which is a lot more useful than being open in the middle of the day. It also should be noted that there are actually 5 meals in a spaniard's day. There's a mid-morning and late-afternoon s…

> It gets dark at 6pm in the winter and 10pm in the summer I dont think its natural anywhere in the world. What time is sunrise during winter?

http://www.gaisma.com/en/location/madrid.html

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

#84
post #68
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Literally nobody here takes 3 hour lunch breaks. [...] Small shops do close for 3 hours in the middle of the day Doesn't anybody work in those small shops? > There's a mid-morning and late-afternoon snack The mid-morning snack is not generalised and the late-afternoon snack is mostly for kids (after-school "merienda").

>Doesn't anybody work in those small shops? It's not a break if they make up that time later. Sounds more like working a shift, and then starting a second shift later.

I can assure you that working 4 hours, taking 3 off, then working 4 again, is most definitely a break.

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

#85
post #67

Literally nobody here takes 3 hour lunch breaks. A lot of offices have 2 hours, yeah, but this is becoming less and less common regardless. Small shops do close for 3 hours in the middle of the day, but they are open till about 9pm which is a lot more useful than being open in the middle of the day. It also should be noted that there are actually 5 meals in a spaniard's day. There's a mid-morning and late-afternoon s…

> It gets dark at 6pm in the winter and 10pm in the summer I dont think its natural anywhere in the world. What time is sunrise during winter?

Matches pretty well with the data on https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/spain/madrid.

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

#86
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.

Until recently, most Arizonans also grew English-style grass lawns, with water that had to be piped in and species that are certainly not native. Apparently that's rapidly ending, so maybe the standard schedule will change as well someday.

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 like anything else.

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

#87
post #78
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spaniard; can confirm. 3 hour breaks are simply mandatory for small shops. In the south of the country during summer there is literally no way you can go out until... 19 or so if you don't want to die. So if shops closed then, there would be no business.

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.

I always thought the Carolinas should do the same thing--no reason to be out doing things in that brutal, mid-day humidity in the summer.

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

#88
post #67

Literally nobody here takes 3 hour lunch breaks. A lot of offices have 2 hours, yeah, but this is becoming less and less common regardless. Small shops do close for 3 hours in the middle of the day, but they are open till about 9pm which is a lot more useful than being open in the middle of the day. It also should be noted that there are actually 5 meals in a spaniard's day. There's a mid-morning and late-afternoon s…

> It gets dark at 6pm in the winter and 10pm in the summer I dont think its natural anywhere in the world. What time is sunrise during winter?

Check out any place towards the northern end of the US at the west edge of its time zone. (e.g Kalispell, MT). Exactly the same.

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

#89
post #78
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spaniard; can confirm. 3 hour breaks are simply mandatory for small shops. In the south of the country during summer there is literally no way you can go out until... 19 or so if you don't want to die. So if shops closed then, there would be no business.

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.

My guess would be that Spaniards are more likely to travel on foot or bicycle than Arizonans.

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

#90
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Until recently, most Arizonans also grew English-style grass lawns, with water that had to be piped in and species that are certainly not native. Apparently that's rapidly ending, so maybe the standard schedule will change as well someday.

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…

You're comparing 2 different things though. Heating/AC is required for people's survival whereas green lawns in the middle of an arid desert... not so much.
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