Add ‘Lunch Shaming’ To The List of Stressers at Work
If you feel guilty for getting out of the office and taking an actual lunch break, you're facing "lunch-shaming" on the job. This is why you're eating noodles at your desk for the fifth day in a row.
There are plenty of reasons for choosing to stay at the office rather than go out to lunch, and not the least of which is saving money! Bringing a salad to work is a lot cheaper than going out for one, and that's a legit reason to invest in one of those insulated lunch bags with a cool design that speaks to you and keep bringing the salads in mason jars every day.
Another good reason to skip going out to lunch boils down to time management. You might be running late working on a project and you've got thirty minutes until the next meeting starts, and there's just no time to go out for a leisurely lunch at a bistro. Apples dipped in a jar of peanut butter are faster.
Yahoo News said Millenials (18 to 35) fear lunch-shaming more than any other age group, and the fear of a negative stigma attached to going out to lunch leads to salads in the breakroom most days. Is this the way it is in East Texas?
Here's the kicker. If you've got a Millennial for a boss, he or she is about twice as likely as an older Gen X boss to look down on employees who take lunch breaks, according to Yahoo News. When did lunch breaks become a bad thing?
It probably all depends on what you've got going on that day, whether you're meeting a client for lunch at a restaurant, taking off early and working through lunch as a trade-off, or just feeling like saving fifteen or twenty bucks by eating lunch in. It's all relative. And your business.
For most of my career, I've had a show that runs right through the lunch hour and leaving in the middle of it has never been a good idea, so I've gotten used to watching co-workers leave and come back smelling like burgers. And it's okay.
However you do it, lunch is something to look forward to, right? If nothing else, it's a good time to catch up on emails, phone calls, and social media posts. And we can always have the good stuff delivered.