Do you go out to a restaurant for your work meal break?

[tvguy]

Do you go out to a restaurant for your work meal break meal?
I live in Sacramento, the state Capital, so lots of state workers. They announced today that they have pushed back the return to office for state workers from tomorrow, until July of NEXT year (2026).
Restaurants in the downtown area are disappointed. Not fast food restaurants, those left the downtown area years ago (maybe decades ago), but sit down full service restaurants.
I just don't see how people have the time, (or the money) to go out to lunch during the work day.
Do you go out for your work meal break? Is it hard getting to a restaurant severed and back to work on time?

As for me, I worked 8 straight with no meal break for the first 28 years of my career at three different companies. I ate at my desk while working, food I bought from home or bought from a vending machine. I only started taking a meal break when my last employer discovered, it is illegal in California not to give unpaid meal breaks, and it is illegal for an employee to waive a meal break. Even then I ate at my desk food I brought from home, or from the vending machine and used my break to walk. Sometimes I would walk to Target and pickup a premade sandwich in the grocery section, but then Target stopped selling them. No restaurant option within over a mile.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I do NOT eat at restaurants on my lunch break. I work from home a lot of times, so it is a non-issue. When I work "in office" I just bring lunch.

However, when I worked in the branch I did develop the bad habit of using that McDonalds or Wendys app too often.

 

[CynBeth]

Even when I worked in an office always brought lunch from home. Occasionally there would be a potluck or the company carried in lunch for us. Have been remote since Covid and also am bad I pretty much eat lunch at my desk while I work.

 

[BrianL]

Usually once a week I will step out to a nearby place, usually a fast-casual type of joint. Otherwise I eat in our cafe or bring my lunch. Then again, I often work from home these days, I eat here.

 

[soccerdad72]

I used to go out for lunch once or twice a week. There was a local bar that had a good burger deal one day a week (Tuesday, IIRC). And sometimes we’d go out on Fridays. Most places learned how to turn over a table in under an hour, or else they couldn’t do a lunch business.

These days, I’m only in office 2-3 days a week, so I pretty much never go out, unless it’s to get some take out to bring back to my office.

 

[White Cat]

No longer work but when I did I either ate fast food or went home to eat.

 

[CdnCarrie]

No I pack a lunch. Too expensive to buy lunch.

 

[Skywalker3]

No. Usually not. I’m surrounded by lots of options too, but I just like decompressing and bring a lunch almost every day . Much cheaper too.

 

[ncc1701]

Retired now , but when I worked & didn't bring it in, I'd do a sandwich shop to bring back, a fast food restaurant, Chinese restaurant or a pizza place when eat at ta restaurant. On Fridays at some of my jobs some of us would go to a local restaurant .

 

[PollyannaMom]

When I worked in an office in the city, maybe once a week - sometimes just a sandwich stand, but sometimes sit-down places. There were several really close, so I could easily get back in time.

When I worked in the schools, pretty much never. I usually packed, but would occasionally buy from the cafeteria - the pizza at one particular intermediate school was surprisingly good.

 

[Moliphino]

I only get a half hour lunch, no way could I fit in a table service meal. I do sometimes run out for fast food.

 

[Smugpugmug]

No, I always pack a lunch. It's too expensive to be doing that regularly. I remember at one of my former jobs, a coworker would order Uber Eats and have it delivered almost every day. The amount of money wasted on that made me shake my head.

 

[tvguy]

I only get a half hour lunch, no way could I fit in a table service meal. I do sometimes run out for fast food.

When we were first forced to take a meal break, they assigned us all an hour. That was horrible. I complained but ultimately what made them cut meal breaks to 30 minutes was the difficultly it was causing because the best time for the work flow for many workers like me to be on a break, was outside the time limits set by state law. California not only required a meal break, the law says it can not happen before you have been at work 3 hours, nor later than 5 hours after your shift started. In my case, the only slowdown in my work came 7 hours after I started my shift.

 

[ronandannette]

Almost never, unless it's a work-related obligation, which I have a few times a month. I go out personally with a colleague or a friend half-a-dozen times a year maybe. My days are really, really busy and breaking for lunch usually means staying later in the afternoon. The break time itself isn't an issue. I am the boss and none of us punch a clock at my company.

 

[Skippy918]

I used to, like 20 years ago when I commuted 5 days a week and going out was my only way to escape the office for a bit. We also had a cafeteria so me and my coworkers would mix it up each week. Back in those days we were able to eat out at a sit down restaurant for less than $10. Average spend was $8 on sit down and around 5-6 for fast food or cafeteria.
Now, forget about it. Too $$$$$. I bring lunch from home and it’s usually a frozen tv dinner plus some fruit. I’m only at the office twice a week. I can walk to about half a dozen restaurants from my office building though. On telecommute days, I eat leftovers or a frozen entree and once in awhile I will meet up with a friend or grab takeout.

 

[barkley]

retired now but I worked in very large civil service offices in california and the restaurants near the office that got regular employee buisness were those that knew we were on tight timelines and we could count on being in/out or have our to-go order within our allocated time. I had some co-workers that bought lunch every day (esp. after a really good quality food truck started coming by) but most primarily packed b/c the majority of us opted for 30 minute lunch breaks and it just was not enough time to go out*.



* I had one employee I supervised who would adjust her lunch hour from 30 minutes to 1 hour and much earlier in the day (sorry california labor laws ) on whatever days of the month mcdonalds released their new beanie baby happy meals

 

[disykat]

I mostly taught elementary school and it wasn't an option so I picked no. I did work one year in an office and there was a cafeteria in the building and some fast food close by. I purchased something once or twice a month as a treat. My DH worked in a large industrial yard that had some cafeterias and food trucks, etc. I always thought he was nuts that he didn't pick something up every once in a while. My guess is he bought a sandwich or something like that probably five or ten times in his entire career, generally only in his last few years of work if a coworker who had moved to a different area of the complex asked him to meet up.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

I do, but rarely. I work at elementary schools and my previous campus had a 55 minute lunch break. I could run out for a sandwich, or my husband or son could pick me up if they had a day off. I’m switching to a different campus in our district in August and I think lunch is only 45 minutes. There aren’t as many food places nearby, so I’ll bring my lunch everyday.

 

[auntfrannie]

Nope. With companies forcing back-to-office, I refuse to give the city any of my money unless I have to...like for parking. I think covid has proven that there is no need to be in an office for a lot of job functions. Add to that the number of global companies where we still have to use technology to run meetings and it makes even less sense to be in an office.

Companies always do employee surveys and talk about work-life balance and with a 2 hour daily commute, anything resembling work-life balance was thrown out the window.

 

[buzzrelly]

As a nurse, I'm lucky if I get a break! Plus it's only 30 minutes long so there's no way I'd go out to a restaurant. There are some quick service places in the hospital plus the cafeteria, but overpriced and not anything I couldn't make at home. I bring my lunch food from home.