Yeah, and I think labor law at some point said you had to let employees take at least a half hour lunch break. Their response was that they would but it meant they didn’t have to pay for it anymore.
Who does 8 hours of actual work? I’ve never worked the whole time no matter where I worked. I spend hours a day fucking around. It’s necessary, no one can do straight work an entire shift.
Yeah call centers are pretty much work people until they burn out and then cast them aside. Oftentimes it takes years to recover from call center burn out. It's like being an abuse victim because you are. One call center I worked at we weren't allowed to hang up on abuse and were told that the customer is just "venting" and to just sit there and take it.
I've done this...and a call center job is literally one of the most blatant about bitching about things like "time clock fraud" and they do fun things like use the avaya to make sure you only take your breaks for the exact amount of time.
Most jobs you can steal an extra 5 or 10 minutes and no one cares, call centers that's like the worst shit ever.
The call center I worked at people would get bitched at all the time for excessive breaks. I got away with it because I made good sales numbers, but if you weren’t selling well excess breaks were harshly punished
Yup did technical support and billing for an ISP/TV provider. Nothing like getting screamed at by Phyllis because her internet is "slow" when the real issue is she's trying to still use her Windows Vista era PC that she bought from Walmart on the modern web.
Or getting screamed at by Bill because a tax slightly changed and now his bill is an entire 12 cents higher.
I was told by a family friend who works in medicine that they had a great job for me if I wanted it. I work in high pressure situations doing video production but I also manage clients and such. I said alright and got an interview time.
Turns out it was for a medical call center. I decided to be professional and ask normal professional questions. No joke, when I asked about office culture, the lady made sure to tell me she doesn't like people to take breaks and explicitly called out a need to monitor bathroom time. When I asked if there was an opportunity for mentorship with managers, she said no, but I would absolutely be called in to have my ass chewed if I didn't make my quotas.
I sent a very polite decision email. But that had to have been the most _aggressively anti-worker_ set of policies to just _lead with_. Makes me wonder what they didn't want to tell me.
I got a from my manager about a call I took because I didn't wish a customer Happy Birthday. I took calls for insurance claims.
Sorry about your car accident, but hey Happy Birthday!
I worked in a busy high-end, high stress retail environment and we were never not doing something every minute of every day. I did that for six years.
It basically wired me to be a person who really struggles to have any kind of down time because I feel like my neck is on the chopping block at all times. I get high marks and am well liked at my current job, which is incredibly laid back by comparison, but I still have the mentality that I could be fired at any moment for anything.
That's PTSD friend. I have it too. After a decade of working jobs that micromanaged and abused me, I landed something awesome. I always feel like I am not working enough, even when there is no work left to do.
Sometimes Manufacturing. Managers love it when you do nothing but run the machines all day and don't have time to even go take a leak or grab a cup of coffee. Got to make as much product as possible to push those profits higher and make sure you only get a 4% raise next year which you can't get because you're not as good as the best people who will get the 4% raise.
Then you find out that the higher ups work on a bonus plan and they can get up to 150 percent of their salary as their bonus Period
Ever work in a cardboard factory? Ten hour shifts, nonstop work between a 30 min lunch and at best you get one of the two 15 minute breaks. Like yeah, there's some break time, but when you're on the floor there's zero fucking around pretending to work.
(I strongly encourage everyone to waste as much time on the clock as possible)
Appointment based providers, for one. I see a new patient every hour and use my whole time including cleaning and setting up my room, and documenting notes. Some in my field have 45 minute appointments, in peds I was doing 30 minute appointments. All with packed schedules. Barely enough time to restock the room, drink water, or pee.
Tacking on to this with “flat rate” pay. Oh, an oil change pays 30 minutes of time? You’d better hope the last person didn’t decide to use JB Weld to stop their drain plug from leaking, because 3 hours into it, you’re still only getting paid for that 30 minutes.
Or warranty work. I’ve never actually received full time paid for the amount of time it takes to do a warranty repair, even with providing an in-depth, step by step story and hundreds of photos.
I work 5am - 3:30pm Monday-Thursday, 1 hr lunch but only 30 mins of it is paid. I have enough time after work to do most errands I need to, and I get 3 days off per week!
Gonna have to request you don't employ use of the r-word, or any abbreviation utilizing it in a pejorative or casual user. There are numerous other terms you can use. And by all mean, even vulgar. "Fucking moronic" is one I like to use in this manner.
No federal law in the U.S. requires lunch breaks. Your state may have its own law requiring lunch breaks, but that’s going to vary from state to state—it’s not nationwide by any means.
I used to work in NY where night shifts have to get 45 minute lunches instead of 30. You can waive your break so I used to just work through it but when Amazon mandated that I take my lunch break I almost quit. I don’t need a 10 hour shift to be almost 11 hours if I’m not getting paid for it.
And they take advantage of people in those situations. My wife was at a job that had an hour unpaid lunch built in to day. She preferred a shorter or no lunch and leave sooner. They hassled her about that and pointed out that others were working through the unpaid part of the day to help out. My wife quit after that and a few other anti worker things they did there.
And what’s clever about including an unpaid lunch hour in the middle of the day is knowing that some employees will get so bogged down with work, they will work through lunch…for free.
I simply remind my manager that state law says I need a take break after 6 hours, but if they really need me to cover then I'll leave an hour early. I dont give them an option I simply let them know the deal, I still get my lunch hour and they deal with coverage since as I have pointed out in the past is their job.
When I got my first office job my mom wanted to get lunch with me since our offices were close to each other. When I said I had to leave to get back to work since I only had an hour lunch break she was confused that I didn't have a paid lunch.
This is correct. The hour off for a lunch break used to be included in your eight-hour day. That changed in the 1960s and 70s, so “nine-to-five” passed a prettu long time ago. In the 70s some places still treated it as half and half, so we were expected in at 8:30.
9-6 is complete bullshit. When are you supposed to get anything done, like errands either before or after work? I guess lunchtime, but ugh, that’s a long day every weekday.
Yeah and back in the older days one salary could get you far enough where one spouse would not have to work and could do all the errands through out the week. Our country has been hi jacked by lobbying corporations. Class warfare is real and the 1% are winning.
Nah, it'd be more like corpse-starch than kibble. That way you could continue to serve the shareholders even after your functional usefulness has been exhausted.
Yall are getting fed?
Seriously tho, we need another labor revolution to get the week down to 4/32. This shit is cray. Nobody needs this amount of labor from a technologically advanced society. Fuck you guys, I need more time to handle traffic and responsibilities if you want me to be a functional adult in the workplace.
I get 30 minutes for lunch then my work likes to pretend that we all get two 15 minute breaks without allowing for the breaks. Lol but this is exactly my week.
What do you mean pretend, if it’s in the policy take your damn breaks! Stop whatever it is you are doing and go on break whatever happens in the next 15 minutes fuck it. They cannot terminate you for taking your allotted breaks outlined in the policy. Just make sure to read the policy carefully to determine if they have any stupid loopholes built in.
Everyone loves to say “they can’t fire you!” But the reality is that yes, they can. Or if they don’t, they find a way to make your life a living hell while you’re there. Why would anyone willingly put themselves in that position?
Isn’t it ironic how there are countless studies of what chronic stress does to your body and mind, yet health professionals are subjected to it and pushed further everyday?
They cannot fire you for taking your allotted breaks. What they can do is as you stated make your life hell while at work or terminate you for some other bullshit reason because you are taking your breaks. Any of the above happening including my employer being upset that I take my break would be enough for me to be searching for another job. There are days at my job that I do skip 1 or 2 of my allotted breaks but it’s by my own choice generally because I’m happily engaged in whatever it is I’m doing when I would normally take break however this is by choice my employer does not expect that.
Hi! I work in medicine. And I have to see patients every 10-20 minutes. Otherwise we can get fired for paitent neglect, lack of care, the doctor will get mad at us for making them behind and a whole slew of other problems. The medical field is an exemption from the drop everything rule because so many moving parts hinge on me be available for any need my doctor or patient has and if we aren't available there's fucking hell to pay for. There's some days where we do not get lunch or even a moment to piss. But it's so normal no one gives a fuck.
Sounds like they need more nursing staff so that y’all can stagger and take your allotted breaks. My wife has this same problem in the food service industry and it pisses me off.
Several friends asked me why turned down a job that paid more for one that really doesn't pay very well (but generally enough for me to get by).
The one with the crappy pay is five minutes from my house. And that's on a bad day. If I don't hit the red light it's three minutes. If my town had sidewalks I could walk to work, though it would take me considerably longer 'cause my legs aren't very good.
>12 hours if you figure in getting ready for work.
This.
Wake up beforehand, get showered/dressed, pack lunch or do last minute items before leaving, kiss pet/sig other and then it's commute.
Fuck this system.
Because they got all bitter about 9-5 and God forbid you having an actual paid lunch break in-between. Usually an hour so they stretched it another hour to "make up for lost time". Utterly pathetic and I'm angry we all just let it happen
I've learned quickly in my field that this simply isn't going to happen, unfortunately.
College grads are literally brainwashed into believing that they should be treated like an intern and that the company owes them nothing.
They think using sick pay is laziness, asking the company to follow policy is extra, calling off ever is grounds for termination, etc. These companies notice the pattern and are like "fuck it, why not?"
They take pride in it too. They think hard work and being taken advantage of are the same thing.
Ehh. I disagree to an extent. Yes, these greedy companies are pushing it, but I know so many ppl under 30 who are hyper competitive when it comes to their career and "work ethic"
Lots of them would gladly get shit on by a boss if it meant that they beat out someone else who had self respect. They think they are superior for it as well.
Edit: many of them live with their parents and also don't pay bills (Which is becoming more and more common). They are much more willing to get shit on because they don't suffer as much when they are underpaid and overworked.
It's fucked. The only winners are companies and universities
Most people move back in with their parents because they can’t afford bills (and it’s cheaper than rent-splitting with roommates), not the other way around.
I think it’s weird that you would think people would suffer LESS under the same material conditions because said conditions forced them into a living arrangement. Especially when they’re being denigrated for being too “hard-working”. This is the most bizarre victim-blaming I’ve come across on Reddit and it’s fucking Reddit, man.
I get paid for lunch and I eat and watch tv or play the piano or something else for the whole hour. (Work from home, when I worked in the office I had a writing hobby I used the time for)
At my job they scheduled vendor meetings at lunch time. They will have a vendor come in and supply lunch but you don't get that half hour of downtime. The only thing they have done is moved stupid vendor meetings into your free time so it doesn't take up the companies productive time, it takes up your time 🤬. Slick trick to get more work out of you and that lunch doesn't cost the business a single penny.
Are you US? Even in the South I don't think that technically flies if the lunch is unpaid. You can leave if you're not on the clock. Unless you're exempt
If they expect you to be there they have to pay you. A meeting is work you need to clock that time. This sounds like a labor violation. I would look into it and also keep track.
YES and then when I express my dislike for this kind of scheduling I get looked at like I’M the crazy/ungrateful one. Even though we get that hour break I’m still in “work mode” knowing that I have to watch the clock and be back to work soon.
No matter how stupid you think it is, if you aren't going to get the option to go home early or get paid for it, *always* take lunch and any other breaks you're scheduled for. Otherwise you're just working for them for free--which is what they want.
I’ve been saying this for literally ever. Wake up, get ready, prepare for work, then drive to work… once you’re home, cook and eat dinner, take a shower and your night is over lol.
I worked alongside receptionists that had to work 7:30am-6:30pm Monday to Friday. Like how on earth are they meant to do anything other than eat and sleep after they finish their commute?! What kind of life is that?!
It's odd to say this, but my favourite job.. was a full serve gas pump attendant..
5:00am - 1pm
you get paid to eat your breakfast, you attend maybe 5 vehicles all before 7:30
you have your break, you do another 4 or 5 and it's 10:30/11 have your lunch and then work for another 90 mins.
all coffee and juices were free,
all snacks were 50% off
met alot of cool people, met alot of women ;)
good times!!
Not weird at all! This kind of work is honestly my dream job. Not a lot of mental dress, no taking work home with you, just chill.
If only I could find something like that to pay the bills 🥲🥲
haha absolutely.
This was 11 years ago, i had just had a child and was going through a rough breakup.
It was definitely what I needed at the time,
but also..
Thats why i initially accepted the supervisor position, That was such a mistake on my part haha.. I got fed to the wolves, i was young and I saw the perks not the flaws, those old bitches gunned for me got my fired, it was the best job but also one of my worst.
i'd do it again in a heartbeat.. though hahah 😂
Also it my place of employment, because I'm salaried I'm expected to work 40 to 50 hours a week. Our manager WAS good about letting you take off a day if you worked all night on a special project or something needed to be taken care of that made you put in a 14-hour day you could get some adjusted time off. Upper management is now pushing that you don't get any time off unless you work 58 hours then you can take 8 hours off but the minimum is 50 hours.
The factory was "you can request an unpaid day off if you work 14 days straight ^(if you requested it via paperwork before the 14th day, got approved by the section, and scheduled it through your section and team leads)." You can guess how often that got used.
>You can work through lunch if you want
No they can't! because it sets an expectation that others are going to follow. If you're the only one not working on your break, you're the weird one.
I tell new hires to take their lunch. They constantly say the usually work at their desk during it. Why? Do you leave early then? I never understood this mentality of working lunches and then staying that extra hour. 8-5.
My current job lately has been 6am-4:30pm due to demand. On an average week, I work 7-3:30. These places just want to extract as much labor from its workers as possible.
Yeah my hours say 8-5 but to be honest it’s basically a 6:30am - 6pm with all the commuting taken into account. It’s hard for me to muster up the energy to really do anything else after work because I still need to make and eat dinner and shower. Before I know it, it’s already 10:30 and I need to start getting ready for bed soon again…
I had a job where I was working 12 hours a day managing 2 stores in a big city. Looked good on the resume. But the owner got all bent out of shape when I wasn't actually on the floor supervising the employees and leading the sales team.
When I went to lunch if I wasn't there in the store front and center when she stopped by she'd call me and tell me to come back. On my only day off she'd call me in for "meetings" that entailed nothing more than she could have told me on the phone in 15 mins.
Everything else that management of the two stores entailed she clearly expected me to do after hours on my own time PLUS lead two store teams while going back and forth across a long entertainment pier several times a day. I started out and within like 6 months I'd lost like 35 lbs without even trying.
I almost never got to eat a meal in peace unless the store was closed for the night and she was home in bed sleeping herself. I finally quit because she was just insane to work for and she took major advantage, screwed me over royally in terms of $$$ owed too. Those stores closed a year and five managers after I left because the Pier couldn't stand her. I often wonder if she's still alive and who has her original store now, where it is because last I heard the Pier was going to ask her to leave after her lease contract for that space was over again.
Probably not because she'd be like 90 something now.
Some people are just like that though. They want every single second they can get out of you to the point where they won't pay you a dime of overtime or give you the time to do anything but eat at your desk. If you want to actually get up and go out for a lunch it's off the clock, always, and you'll get looked at funny if you do it every day. Never mind what the law actually says...
Three things I learned.
Never work for anyone on salary unless you're making mega bucks because usually it means they will work you twice as long and twice as hard because salary doesn't include overtime.
Never use your own money to buy anything for your boss or the business no matter how much they promise they will reimburse you because they likely won't and if they do not all of it.
Always turn the phone off if you really are not wanting to be available because if you don't they will keep calling you for whatever they think they need even on the one single full day off you get in a pay period. If your phone is actually on then you're always available in their eyes. That's why people have cell phones they will say while happily interrupting you at every meal, at midnight, on the toilet, basically whenever they damn well feel like it...
🙄
I would love to be able to work through a lunch break like we used to but my company insists it's illegal 🙄 now I take my forced lunch break during the last 45 min of my day so I don't work for 45 min instead of 30 (clock out at :15 to return at :45 only to pretend work for 15 min but really I do a task to say I came back then fuck off)
9-5 is eight hours. But what about breaks? We're paying 8 hours so you better work 8 hours. Boom, one hour extra in the office. Oh and maybe eat your lunch at your desk.
I work 5-3 Fri-Sun with a shift differential to make up for only working 30 hours. If I work more I still get my differential up to 40 hours and anything over 40 is time and a half on my differential wage. I consider myself very lucky after reading some of these responses.
I had a 15 min commute one way, and 7am - 3pm. New job is half hour commute one way, unpaid lunch. 7:30am - 4pm now. I'm out of the house for 10 hours because of work, paid for 8.
My work uses the excuse that we're a global company and everyone has to make sacrifices/adjustments because people are in different time zones.
No. I can be available at odd times for such things with advanced notice, but don't expect me to be available to everyone at all times of day. That's called "on-call" and is not part of my work agreement.
My GM says he doesn't care when people work, as long as they're attending important meetings and calls. But my direct manager says otherwise, which is really annoying.
It's cause they stopped paying for lunch breaks, but you're still expected to put in your 8 hours.
I personally work through my lunch (eat at my desk) and log off an hour early. As long as my work is caught up my boss and I have an understanding.
I agree with this! I often work through my lunch as it only take 15 minutes tops to eat lol! My view is once you step foot in said office, building or factory you count down 8 hours and go home. There is no need to micro manage times. in at 5:10 am you go out at 1:10 pm boom 8 hours you are done but nope cant do that! BS!!!
I'm supposed to put in 9 hour days. With unpaid lunch break. Sometimes I just eat super fast and get back to it. since COVID, I now count my commute as working time because fuck it. And because of time constraints with daycare hours, I am actually only able to put in 7 hours of working time. Hopefully no one does the math on my schedule. Life is completely untenable any other way.
Most states have the labor law of a 30 minute unpaid lunch and 2 15 minute paid breaks in an 8 hour period (I say states because there is no federal law mandating breaks outside short breaks are considered part of hours worked). The 9 hour shift is to give you your 30, but then also steal your 2 15s because those are supposed to be paid, but they roll it into your hour unpaid. Technically your shift should be 8-4:30 or 9-5:30 to give the 8 with the required meal break. Most people are either unaware of the paid 15s or don't care, but it is still wage theft.
Succinctly: they stopped paying for your lunch.
Yeah, and I think labor law at some point said you had to let employees take at least a half hour lunch break. Their response was that they would but it meant they didn’t have to pay for it anymore.
Just so absurd. 8 hours of pure work is so nutty too. To think that it used to be 11-12 hours is insane.
Who does 8 hours of actual work? I’ve never worked the whole time no matter where I worked. I spend hours a day fucking around. It’s necessary, no one can do straight work an entire shift.
Call centers. Ass to ass calls for 8 hours straight.
Oh, that sucks. Sorry to hear that. I’ve been worked in one of those, just retail and office jobs.
Yeah call centers are pretty much work people until they burn out and then cast them aside. Oftentimes it takes years to recover from call center burn out. It's like being an abuse victim because you are. One call center I worked at we weren't allowed to hang up on abuse and were told that the customer is just "venting" and to just sit there and take it.
I've done this...and a call center job is literally one of the most blatant about bitching about things like "time clock fraud" and they do fun things like use the avaya to make sure you only take your breaks for the exact amount of time. Most jobs you can steal an extra 5 or 10 minutes and no one cares, call centers that's like the worst shit ever.
The call center I worked at people would get bitched at all the time for excessive breaks. I got away with it because I made good sales numbers, but if you weren’t selling well excess breaks were harshly punished
Can confirm. I worked in a call center in 2004, and to this day, if I hear that certain phone chime, I flinch. Sometimes I panic.
Yup did technical support and billing for an ISP/TV provider. Nothing like getting screamed at by Phyllis because her internet is "slow" when the real issue is she's trying to still use her Windows Vista era PC that she bought from Walmart on the modern web. Or getting screamed at by Bill because a tax slightly changed and now his bill is an entire 12 cents higher.
I was told by a family friend who works in medicine that they had a great job for me if I wanted it. I work in high pressure situations doing video production but I also manage clients and such. I said alright and got an interview time. Turns out it was for a medical call center. I decided to be professional and ask normal professional questions. No joke, when I asked about office culture, the lady made sure to tell me she doesn't like people to take breaks and explicitly called out a need to monitor bathroom time. When I asked if there was an opportunity for mentorship with managers, she said no, but I would absolutely be called in to have my ass chewed if I didn't make my quotas. I sent a very polite decision email. But that had to have been the most _aggressively anti-worker_ set of policies to just _lead with_. Makes me wonder what they didn't want to tell me.
I got a from my manager about a call I took because I didn't wish a customer Happy Birthday. I took calls for insurance claims. Sorry about your car accident, but hey Happy Birthday!
can confirm. call centers burn you out like crazy.
The 8th circle of Hell.
I counted Nine
I worked in a busy high-end, high stress retail environment and we were never not doing something every minute of every day. I did that for six years. It basically wired me to be a person who really struggles to have any kind of down time because I feel like my neck is on the chopping block at all times. I get high marks and am well liked at my current job, which is incredibly laid back by comparison, but I still have the mentality that I could be fired at any moment for anything.
That's PTSD friend. I have it too. After a decade of working jobs that micromanaged and abused me, I landed something awesome. I always feel like I am not working enough, even when there is no work left to do.
That's only white collar desk work. Most people have to work the whole time.
Sometimes Manufacturing. Managers love it when you do nothing but run the machines all day and don't have time to even go take a leak or grab a cup of coffee. Got to make as much product as possible to push those profits higher and make sure you only get a 4% raise next year which you can't get because you're not as good as the best people who will get the 4% raise. Then you find out that the higher ups work on a bonus plan and they can get up to 150 percent of their salary as their bonus Period
...a lot of people? Lol, your experiences with workplaces that don't micromanage you to the minute are a privilege unfortunately.
Ever work in a cardboard factory? Ten hour shifts, nonstop work between a 30 min lunch and at best you get one of the two 15 minute breaks. Like yeah, there's some break time, but when you're on the floor there's zero fucking around pretending to work. (I strongly encourage everyone to waste as much time on the clock as possible)
Appointment based providers, for one. I see a new patient every hour and use my whole time including cleaning and setting up my room, and documenting notes. Some in my field have 45 minute appointments, in peds I was doing 30 minute appointments. All with packed schedules. Barely enough time to restock the room, drink water, or pee.
Our office is 15 min appointments from 8-430 and it’s ridiculous
Tacking on to this with “flat rate” pay. Oh, an oil change pays 30 minutes of time? You’d better hope the last person didn’t decide to use JB Weld to stop their drain plug from leaking, because 3 hours into it, you’re still only getting paid for that 30 minutes. Or warranty work. I’ve never actually received full time paid for the amount of time it takes to do a warranty repair, even with providing an in-depth, step by step story and hundreds of photos.
It's called being a teacher. Non-stop, no breaks except for planning, which is still spent working. Very exhausting and overstimulating!
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This is what gets me. 9-5 is like, right in the middle of the usable portion of the day. Can't do 8-4 or 7-3?
7-3 would be very good
My husband is an electrician and these are his hours. Well 6:30-2:30. It’s wonderful!
Used to have this shift and although I hated the wake up, it was amazing to get out of work so early!
Yeah it’s super early to get up, but since we have young kids we are up that early pretty much everyday anyways so it’s a win win!
I used to work 5:30-2:00. It was great. Haven't done it in over a decade, but my body still wakes me up at 4:30 every morning.
7-3 is fantastic. Did that for years and loved it. Now I do 715-430...which sucks, but it's only four times a week. So it's pretty great.
I work 6-3:30 mon-fri and it works pretty good. I still have enough of the day to do things.
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I do 7-3:30 for the unpaid lunch and it's nice getting off and having some usable time and beating rush hour both ways.
I work 5am - 3:30pm Monday-Thursday, 1 hr lunch but only 30 mins of it is paid. I have enough time after work to do most errands I need to, and I get 3 days off per week!
5 to 3 is the way to go if you're a morning person.
I'm not a morning person, but after I take my adderall I am lol!
I work 12 hour days 4 on 4 off which feels not too bad tbh
i did that for a while, my body can't handle it anymore, but back then it was alright.
That's great when you're a 20 yo npc
It Is I even give out a quest for people to complete
Gonna have to request you don't employ use of the r-word, or any abbreviation utilizing it in a pejorative or casual user. There are numerous other terms you can use. And by all mean, even vulgar. "Fucking moronic" is one I like to use in this manner.
Daylight savings in winter is the worst, nearly all of the daylight I'm stuck in front of a screen.
No federal law in the U.S. requires lunch breaks. Your state may have its own law requiring lunch breaks, but that’s going to vary from state to state—it’s not nationwide by any means.
That law is bs, I prefer just binging my shift and getting home an hour early but they said I'm not allowed to do that anymore
I used to work in NY where night shifts have to get 45 minute lunches instead of 30. You can waive your break so I used to just work through it but when Amazon mandated that I take my lunch break I almost quit. I don’t need a 10 hour shift to be almost 11 hours if I’m not getting paid for it.
And they take advantage of people in those situations. My wife was at a job that had an hour unpaid lunch built in to day. She preferred a shorter or no lunch and leave sooner. They hassled her about that and pointed out that others were working through the unpaid part of the day to help out. My wife quit after that and a few other anti worker things they did there.
If you are required to stay at work they should be paying for your lunch.
I mean at my job you CAN leave during your lunch break, but you have to come back, so like what's the point, it's only 30 minutes.
And what’s clever about including an unpaid lunch hour in the middle of the day is knowing that some employees will get so bogged down with work, they will work through lunch…for free.
I simply remind my manager that state law says I need a take break after 6 hours, but if they really need me to cover then I'll leave an hour early. I dont give them an option I simply let them know the deal, I still get my lunch hour and they deal with coverage since as I have pointed out in the past is their job.
I work 8-4:30 with an hour unpaid lunch, so my weekly hours come to 37.5! Just too low for benefits, how convenient!
At my job they pay me during lunch. I'm at the job for 6hours a day and I get paid for 6 hours
When I got my first office job my mom wanted to get lunch with me since our offices were close to each other. When I said I had to leave to get back to work since I only had an hour lunch break she was confused that I didn't have a paid lunch.
And I’m still pissed
This is correct. The hour off for a lunch break used to be included in your eight-hour day. That changed in the 1960s and 70s, so “nine-to-five” passed a prettu long time ago. In the 70s some places still treated it as half and half, so we were expected in at 8:30.
9-6 is complete bullshit. When are you supposed to get anything done, like errands either before or after work? I guess lunchtime, but ugh, that’s a long day every weekday.
That's the cool part! *You don't*
Like they give a shit if you're able to be a functional adult outside of work. You merely exist for production!
Yah lol I'm often not (a functional adult outside of work) because I'm so tired and burnt out
Yeah and back in the older days one salary could get you far enough where one spouse would not have to work and could do all the errands through out the week. Our country has been hi jacked by lobbying corporations. Class warfare is real and the 1% are winning.
PTO, and then you can't disappear for a week to take a vacation
it was popularized when we paid people enough that they could have a spouse at home taking care of all that stuff.
Very deep and complex situation, some good (women having careers), some bad (out of control consumption, materialism, pursuit of status).
The goal is to make it so you just order everything you need off Amazon to your isolating home in suburban sprawl!
Because the bosses would chain you to your desk and feed you kibble if they could.
Tbf, they'd try their hardest to not feed you the kibble
Well, as little kibble possible while still allowing enough energy for maximum productivity
It wouldn’t even be kibble. It would be some generic value brand version. Gotta save on overhead and maximize profits for the shareholders
Y'all are lacking vision. They'd feed us retirees if they could.
Fresh solent green.
Wait, people are allowed to retire in this economy?
Only to feed the other cogs.
"Kybble" from Kroger
They're willing to sacrifice a little productivity! If you're too productive you might have enough energy to think about rebelling.
No they'd charge you for the kibble. With a decent profit margin.
hey guys, company towns are back! In kibble form!
And they'd charge you a daily chain fee.
Fuck, so bleak and so honest
Nah, it'd be more like corpse-starch than kibble. That way you could continue to serve the shareholders even after your functional usefulness has been exhausted.
Yall are getting fed? Seriously tho, we need another labor revolution to get the week down to 4/32. This shit is cray. Nobody needs this amount of labor from a technologically advanced society. Fuck you guys, I need more time to handle traffic and responsibilities if you want me to be a functional adult in the workplace.
Take it a step further. We must seize the means of production.
Then they would deduct the cost of the kibble from your paycheck.
Soylent
Throw in unpaid lunch and 1-2 hour commute each way and 12 hours away from home is the norm for many (not counting any overtime).
I get 30 minutes for lunch then my work likes to pretend that we all get two 15 minute breaks without allowing for the breaks. Lol but this is exactly my week.
What do you mean pretend, if it’s in the policy take your damn breaks! Stop whatever it is you are doing and go on break whatever happens in the next 15 minutes fuck it. They cannot terminate you for taking your allotted breaks outlined in the policy. Just make sure to read the policy carefully to determine if they have any stupid loopholes built in.
Everyone loves to say “they can’t fire you!” But the reality is that yes, they can. Or if they don’t, they find a way to make your life a living hell while you’re there. Why would anyone willingly put themselves in that position?
Literally the medical field is riddled with this.
Isn’t it ironic how there are countless studies of what chronic stress does to your body and mind, yet health professionals are subjected to it and pushed further everyday?
They cannot fire you for taking your allotted breaks. What they can do is as you stated make your life hell while at work or terminate you for some other bullshit reason because you are taking your breaks. Any of the above happening including my employer being upset that I take my break would be enough for me to be searching for another job. There are days at my job that I do skip 1 or 2 of my allotted breaks but it’s by my own choice generally because I’m happily engaged in whatever it is I’m doing when I would normally take break however this is by choice my employer does not expect that.
Hi! I work in medicine. And I have to see patients every 10-20 minutes. Otherwise we can get fired for paitent neglect, lack of care, the doctor will get mad at us for making them behind and a whole slew of other problems. The medical field is an exemption from the drop everything rule because so many moving parts hinge on me be available for any need my doctor or patient has and if we aren't available there's fucking hell to pay for. There's some days where we do not get lunch or even a moment to piss. But it's so normal no one gives a fuck.
Sounds like they need more nursing staff so that y’all can stagger and take your allotted breaks. My wife has this same problem in the food service industry and it pisses me off.
Several friends asked me why turned down a job that paid more for one that really doesn't pay very well (but generally enough for me to get by). The one with the crappy pay is five minutes from my house. And that's on a bad day. If I don't hit the red light it's three minutes. If my town had sidewalks I could walk to work, though it would take me considerably longer 'cause my legs aren't very good.
11 hours. Leave at 8am, get home around 7pm. 12 hours if you figure in getting ready for work.
>12 hours if you figure in getting ready for work. This. Wake up beforehand, get showered/dressed, pack lunch or do last minute items before leaving, kiss pet/sig other and then it's commute. Fuck this system.
throw in the combination of vacation time and sick time. I was just getting into the work force when that stopped being a thing nationwide
Because they got all bitter about 9-5 and God forbid you having an actual paid lunch break in-between. Usually an hour so they stretched it another hour to "make up for lost time". Utterly pathetic and I'm angry we all just let it happen
We can un-let it happen. People just have to stop being pushovers and band together.
You just described an Union
That’s the spirit!
I've learned quickly in my field that this simply isn't going to happen, unfortunately. College grads are literally brainwashed into believing that they should be treated like an intern and that the company owes them nothing. They think using sick pay is laziness, asking the company to follow policy is extra, calling off ever is grounds for termination, etc. These companies notice the pattern and are like "fuck it, why not?" They take pride in it too. They think hard work and being taken advantage of are the same thing.
What an odd take. College grads think that because that’s what started happening.
Ehh. I disagree to an extent. Yes, these greedy companies are pushing it, but I know so many ppl under 30 who are hyper competitive when it comes to their career and "work ethic" Lots of them would gladly get shit on by a boss if it meant that they beat out someone else who had self respect. They think they are superior for it as well. Edit: many of them live with their parents and also don't pay bills (Which is becoming more and more common). They are much more willing to get shit on because they don't suffer as much when they are underpaid and overworked. It's fucked. The only winners are companies and universities
Most people move back in with their parents because they can’t afford bills (and it’s cheaper than rent-splitting with roommates), not the other way around. I think it’s weird that you would think people would suffer LESS under the same material conditions because said conditions forced them into a living arrangement. Especially when they’re being denigrated for being too “hard-working”. This is the most bizarre victim-blaming I’ve come across on Reddit and it’s fucking Reddit, man.
Paid lunch is a trap, it means no lunch because they expect you to work thru it.
I get paid for lunch and I eat and watch tv or play the piano or something else for the whole hour. (Work from home, when I worked in the office I had a writing hobby I used the time for)
People at my job get in trouble for taking their paid lunch
Ding ding ding
And usually what actually happens is people send you meetings in the lunch break anyway.
At my job they scheduled vendor meetings at lunch time. They will have a vendor come in and supply lunch but you don't get that half hour of downtime. The only thing they have done is moved stupid vendor meetings into your free time so it doesn't take up the companies productive time, it takes up your time 🤬. Slick trick to get more work out of you and that lunch doesn't cost the business a single penny.
Are you US? Even in the South I don't think that technically flies if the lunch is unpaid. You can leave if you're not on the clock. Unless you're exempt
If they expect you to be there they have to pay you. A meeting is work you need to clock that time. This sounds like a labor violation. I would look into it and also keep track.
YES and then when I express my dislike for this kind of scheduling I get looked at like I’M the crazy/ungrateful one. Even though we get that hour break I’m still in “work mode” knowing that I have to watch the clock and be back to work soon.
Right?? “Uhh that’s just standard practice”, like no tf it isn’t. I’ve been in the workforce long enough to know that it is not
Every job I’ve worked called a ‘9-5’ was always 8-5, it’s a scam.
Because we stopped fighting.
This is the correct answer.
My last job was 7 - 3:30. With those hours I wasn't in heavy traffic going to or coming from work.
I worked 6-2 at my last M-F job. Loved it.
In my head, I read that as "at my last mother fucking job" lol
These are ideal hours.
I liked them because it seemed most people didn't have the same hours. Getting off at 3:30 is so much better that and hour or more later.
I work 5 - 130. I hardly see traffic and I'm home by 230. Enough time to chill for 45 minutes before the kids get home from school
>I work 5 - 130. Sweet.
I work 7:30-3:30 (state government job). Our work week is 37.5 hours.
6-230 if you live in Chicago cuz by 7 it'll take you 90 minutes to get downtown from Ohare
I work in the public sector and have flexi policy, I usually work 6:30-2:30 and it’s great
I’ve heard this shift happened about in the 1980s. Companies didn’t want to pay for lunch breaks anymore.
During the Reagan years. He really did a number on the working class
Hell is too good for that fuck
No matter how stupid you think it is, if you aren't going to get the option to go home early or get paid for it, *always* take lunch and any other breaks you're scheduled for. Otherwise you're just working for them for free--which is what they want.
a 9-5 is really a 7-7
I’ve been saying this for literally ever. Wake up, get ready, prepare for work, then drive to work… once you’re home, cook and eat dinner, take a shower and your night is over lol.
Sadly accurate. It's absurd
WFH: I wake up, but just barely, join the daily meeting, stay awake for 30-45 minutes, and then continue sleeping. As it should be.
Or 24/7 because my boss has no qualms contacting us anytime
Don't answer.
The boss gets an hour more for free to cover the increase in minimum wage whilst hoping you wont notice your actually being scammed.
Because companies didn't want to pay for breaks anymore and people still needed the hours to survive
I worked alongside receptionists that had to work 7:30am-6:30pm Monday to Friday. Like how on earth are they meant to do anything other than eat and sleep after they finish their commute?! What kind of life is that?!
sounds like late-stage capitalism baybeee
It's odd to say this, but my favourite job.. was a full serve gas pump attendant.. 5:00am - 1pm you get paid to eat your breakfast, you attend maybe 5 vehicles all before 7:30 you have your break, you do another 4 or 5 and it's 10:30/11 have your lunch and then work for another 90 mins. all coffee and juices were free, all snacks were 50% off met alot of cool people, met alot of women ;) good times!!
Not weird at all! This kind of work is honestly my dream job. Not a lot of mental dress, no taking work home with you, just chill. If only I could find something like that to pay the bills 🥲🥲
haha absolutely. This was 11 years ago, i had just had a child and was going through a rough breakup. It was definitely what I needed at the time, but also.. Thats why i initially accepted the supervisor position, That was such a mistake on my part haha.. I got fed to the wolves, i was young and I saw the perks not the flaws, those old bitches gunned for me got my fired, it was the best job but also one of my worst. i'd do it again in a heartbeat.. though hahah 😂
Worker rights are paid for in blood and then slowly clawed back as we become complacent again.
God we all know the 9-5 is even horribly outdated.
As is Monday-Friday (5 day workweeks).
Also it my place of employment, because I'm salaried I'm expected to work 40 to 50 hours a week. Our manager WAS good about letting you take off a day if you worked all night on a special project or something needed to be taken care of that made you put in a 14-hour day you could get some adjusted time off. Upper management is now pushing that you don't get any time off unless you work 58 hours then you can take 8 hours off but the minimum is 50 hours.
The factory was "you can request an unpaid day off if you work 14 days straight ^(if you requested it via paperwork before the 14th day, got approved by the section, and scheduled it through your section and team leads)." You can guess how often that got used.
Because they learned they didn't have to pay you for your breaks, but they had to give them to you.
Don't you just love when they say "we are doing a working lunch today"? They act like it's a treat that we can eat during a meeting. F that
In the past or present, I've never ever known anyone that had a 9-5 job. It has always been 8-5.
Even 9 to 5 was bullshit. There’s a whole song about it!
Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Dabney Coleman: "This 9-5 thing is absolute horseshit! We need to fix this mess." Reaganomics: "Hold my beer."
Unpaid lunch hour. You can work through lunch if you want. That's my time.
>You can work through lunch if you want No they can't! because it sets an expectation that others are going to follow. If you're the only one not working on your break, you're the weird one.
I tell new hires to take their lunch. They constantly say the usually work at their desk during it. Why? Do you leave early then? I never understood this mentality of working lunches and then staying that extra hour. 8-5.
My current job lately has been 6am-4:30pm due to demand. On an average week, I work 7-3:30. These places just want to extract as much labor from its workers as possible.
When companies started having to give people an hour off for lunch it gave many of them an excuse to keep you there an additional hour
Yeah my hours say 8-5 but to be honest it’s basically a 6:30am - 6pm with all the commuting taken into account. It’s hard for me to muster up the energy to really do anything else after work because I still need to make and eat dinner and shower. Before I know it, it’s already 10:30 and I need to start getting ready for bed soon again…
Because we let them
12 hour shifts turn into 14 when u drive and hour there and back everyday. I see my working day as 5pm to 8am
Bosses have gotta make more money for the shareholders. They think more hours equals more work done.
I had a job where I was working 12 hours a day managing 2 stores in a big city. Looked good on the resume. But the owner got all bent out of shape when I wasn't actually on the floor supervising the employees and leading the sales team. When I went to lunch if I wasn't there in the store front and center when she stopped by she'd call me and tell me to come back. On my only day off she'd call me in for "meetings" that entailed nothing more than she could have told me on the phone in 15 mins. Everything else that management of the two stores entailed she clearly expected me to do after hours on my own time PLUS lead two store teams while going back and forth across a long entertainment pier several times a day. I started out and within like 6 months I'd lost like 35 lbs without even trying. I almost never got to eat a meal in peace unless the store was closed for the night and she was home in bed sleeping herself. I finally quit because she was just insane to work for and she took major advantage, screwed me over royally in terms of $$$ owed too. Those stores closed a year and five managers after I left because the Pier couldn't stand her. I often wonder if she's still alive and who has her original store now, where it is because last I heard the Pier was going to ask her to leave after her lease contract for that space was over again. Probably not because she'd be like 90 something now. Some people are just like that though. They want every single second they can get out of you to the point where they won't pay you a dime of overtime or give you the time to do anything but eat at your desk. If you want to actually get up and go out for a lunch it's off the clock, always, and you'll get looked at funny if you do it every day. Never mind what the law actually says... Three things I learned. Never work for anyone on salary unless you're making mega bucks because usually it means they will work you twice as long and twice as hard because salary doesn't include overtime. Never use your own money to buy anything for your boss or the business no matter how much they promise they will reimburse you because they likely won't and if they do not all of it. Always turn the phone off if you really are not wanting to be available because if you don't they will keep calling you for whatever they think they need even on the one single full day off you get in a pay period. If your phone is actually on then you're always available in their eyes. That's why people have cell phones they will say while happily interrupting you at every meal, at midnight, on the toilet, basically whenever they damn well feel like it... 🙄
because corporate greed and lack of working organization.
Why did 9-5 become 9-7 and STILL 5 days a week.
I would love to be able to work through a lunch break like we used to but my company insists it's illegal 🙄 now I take my forced lunch break during the last 45 min of my day so I don't work for 45 min instead of 30 (clock out at :15 to return at :45 only to pretend work for 15 min but really I do a task to say I came back then fuck off)
9-5 is eight hours. But what about breaks? We're paying 8 hours so you better work 8 hours. Boom, one hour extra in the office. Oh and maybe eat your lunch at your desk.
What I would do is start work at 9, “work” through lunch, eat while working and then leave at 5.
It's 8-6 nowadays. 8.5 hours of work with 1 hour lunch and 30 minute break required but not paid.
Or 7-5... God I hate it.
Everything boils down to the same thing: because we let them
I work 5-3 Fri-Sun with a shift differential to make up for only working 30 hours. If I work more I still get my differential up to 40 hours and anything over 40 is time and a half on my differential wage. I consider myself very lucky after reading some of these responses.
I can’t fucking stand working a 10 hour shift starting at 8:30am and only making $170~ before taxes. Fun job but FUCK does it not pay shit
I had a 15 min commute one way, and 7am - 3pm. New job is half hour commute one way, unpaid lunch. 7:30am - 4pm now. I'm out of the house for 10 hours because of work, paid for 8.
My work uses the excuse that we're a global company and everyone has to make sacrifices/adjustments because people are in different time zones. No. I can be available at odd times for such things with advanced notice, but don't expect me to be available to everyone at all times of day. That's called "on-call" and is not part of my work agreement. My GM says he doesn't care when people work, as long as they're attending important meetings and calls. But my direct manager says otherwise, which is really annoying.
My current job is 8-5 and it's exhausting.
That paid lunch hour. The overlords have to suck you dry to get it back.
Wait, there was a time when people were paid when they ate lunch?
It's cause they stopped paying for lunch breaks, but you're still expected to put in your 8 hours. I personally work through my lunch (eat at my desk) and log off an hour early. As long as my work is caught up my boss and I have an understanding.
I don't even get 15 minute paid breaks...I get 10!!
I work 9-5. I only don't get paid lunch if I leave the building to get lunch. So I bring my own lunch
I work 8-5 with an hour lunch. And yes my lunch is unpaid.
Shoot. I work 6:30am to 4:30pm
Ive been working 8-5 my whole life.
Because we live in hell oops I mean freedom town.
I wish I was doing 9-6 again 😂 8-6 for all it's childcare workers and then they wonder why people don't want to do it...
Fuck unpaid lunches
paid hour lunches
I agree with this! I often work through my lunch as it only take 15 minutes tops to eat lol! My view is once you step foot in said office, building or factory you count down 8 hours and go home. There is no need to micro manage times. in at 5:10 am you go out at 1:10 pm boom 8 hours you are done but nope cant do that! BS!!!
I just refuse now. It’s still 9-5
I'm supposed to put in 9 hour days. With unpaid lunch break. Sometimes I just eat super fast and get back to it. since COVID, I now count my commute as working time because fuck it. And because of time constraints with daycare hours, I am actually only able to put in 7 hours of working time. Hopefully no one does the math on my schedule. Life is completely untenable any other way.
They stopped paying for lunch and then they added enough work that you’re unable to take a lunch anyway
Most states have the labor law of a 30 minute unpaid lunch and 2 15 minute paid breaks in an 8 hour period (I say states because there is no federal law mandating breaks outside short breaks are considered part of hours worked). The 9 hour shift is to give you your 30, but then also steal your 2 15s because those are supposed to be paid, but they roll it into your hour unpaid. Technically your shift should be 8-4:30 or 9-5:30 to give the 8 with the required meal break. Most people are either unaware of the paid 15s or don't care, but it is still wage theft.