Let's Take a Break

Admin Gal once had a boss who once had the gall to say, "I own your time, you don't get a lunch break."

I worked on an hourly model, the boss was reluctant to pay for the time I worked 'off the clock'. (We won't get into legalities here.)

The boss was surprised at my response of 'Until you actually pay for the overtime you owe me, you don't get more than the 40 hours a week that you pay me for.'

No, that particular employer and I did not have a long nor fruitful relationship.

It is a myth that says we need to put all of our time into the job.  CNN had a great article about the productivity of a lunch break. Taking a break rests the mind, allowing opportunity for insight, rest and decompression when the environment is stressful.

Take a look around you, those who never step back to get a fresh perspective find themselves stuck in professional holes of their own making.  While those who take breaks, tend to be creative, innovative and energized.

Personally, everyday I take my lunch hour.  The result is a happy, well balanced employee who looks favorably on her work situation.

Admin Gal is NOT Pleased!

Today started out high octane, just the way Admin Gal likes it.  Lots to do, people to coordinate, mountains to climbs and oceans to swim.  All this before noon. 

The lunch hour arrives. Admin Gal goes into the floor kitchenette to retrieve her lunch.  (After all, in these trying times being frugal is the new sign of prosperity.) To her dismay, her lunch is gone!  The space where her lunch inhabited is empty. Zip, nada, zilch. 

Now, her lunchtime offerings were not any gastronomic delicacy.  Lunch was simply a frozen dinner.  The point is that Admin Gal purchased said dinner with her hard earned money.  Having purchased it, expected it to be where she put it!

So now a note, vetted by the HR representative on the floor adorns the refrigerator:

“If you did NOT BRING the FOOD in the REFRIGERATOR,

DO NOT EAT THE FOOD!

THEFT IS NOT LOOKED KINDLY UPON”

Admin Gal was asked to remove all references to quartering, maiming and humiliation. She thought it would make the point more valid.  Some people have no sense of drama.