Some idiot new project manager booked a meeting tomorrow during luch time. I didn't just reply "no", I went to her desk and explained to her why it's no, and why it will always be no unless it's because I have to speak to a client/partner in a very different time zone or some exceptional event like that. You can't just start booking meetings during lunch because that's the only time when everyone is free. Duh! Why do you think everyone is free?

She told me it won't really be work, there will be free chicken and we'll be talking about ... I interrupted her, and repeated thet by principle I do not work during lunch, and wish everyone else would do like me as that would definitely have more of an impact.

People here have zero qualms about booking meetings during lunchtime.

Basically why I work for the federal government although it also feels nice to have the US as my client instead of a whiny little bitch. Oh wait.

Suddenly, I have three meetings tomorrow.  Apparently, I'm baboon now.

 People here have zero qualms about booking meetings during lunchtime.

The project I've been on for the past two years has had so many meetings with so many people, that lunch meetings are a regular thing.  It's expected and accepted that some people will be eating lunch during meetings at any point during the day, and nobody thinks twice about it.  There is no such thing as a calendar block for lunch.  Getting the right people together in the same room is too difficult so you book them when you can, including early in the morning and after hours.

 

I choose to work in the public sector. It's not because I feel altruistic and want to leave more money for everyone else. I could earn $20K more doing pretty much the same thing in a private company right off the bat, probably more with the experience I have. But I like my weekends, my holidays, my 35 hours/week, PTO,... and my lunch breaks. That new project manager comes from the private sector. She's not a bad person or nothing, but thanks to people like me, people like her lose their private sector habits after a while.

Also, I'd recommend booking lunchtime on your calendar every day, so it looks like you are not free.

ran 6 this morning in humid 70 degrees weather. But, that was about the high for the day; 64 now...Did some relatively intense foam rolling after and my legs feel like sore mush now!

As far as lunch goes, I eat at my desk pretty much every day. On a conference call now while I eat...unfortunately, nature of the job. Prior job had a gym that a few of us could use at lunch.  That was a really nice perk.

 

As far as lunch goes, I eat at my desk pretty much every day. On a conference call now while I eat...unfortunately, nature of the job. 

yep.

Certainly no qualms about eating while on conf calls. We had a discussion here about eating during physical meetings; I try to avoid that, but it's been known to happen.

I work in a school setting, so a lot of staff don't really get a lunch break (those working in a classroom eat when the kids eat), so I definitely don't reject meetings because they fall when I like to eat. There are also some perks that I get for working in the school that other employees in the organization do not get (such as snow days). When I've had meetings scheduled (usually conference calls) on a snow day, I call in even though technically I have the day off. The "big" employer is a hospital, so there is no such thing as a snow day.