People who work through unpaid breaks annoy me.

I tend not to take breaks but if I want to go and have a cig I go, so swings and roundabouts also working in a customer driven envireoment I find that having exact timed brakes dosent work so we take 5 mins here and there at slack times so I suppose I probably do take my breaks but throughout the day
 
It's all about give and take :shrug:

Yes, I frequently work through my lunch, do unpaid overtime or take work home with me - but there are also odd occasions when I may want to finish early; take a 2 hour lunch break or work from home (for example : if I'm expecting a delivery and don't want to take a day's holiday . . . and for me, working from home really does mean working :p)

OK on balance I put in far more hours than I get back.
But does that make me a mug?
There's plenty in it for me - I'm very well paid for what I do, so a certain amount of inconvenience is expected; I enjoy my job; and in 18 years of working the longest I've been in the same role before getting a promotion is 2 years.
 
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Where needs must!

I work in the motor industry where we are open 7 days a week, me and my team have no set lunch times and don't take an hour during the day, as it's the busiest period of the year we're lucky to get a day of in the week!

My team know what the hours and the fact that I do not expect them nor would ask them to come in their days off which they are entitled to and work bloody hard for but they come in which I there choic if they have a customer who wants their car or there is something to do.

I'll often work 7 days to ensure we're selling as many cars as we can so your comment about lunch breaks is unfounded if you want your break take it but some of enjoy our jobs and what comes around goes around.
 
Ian D J said:
Hi Lawrie :) Actually, I'm not sure if it applies to every tomato greenhouse in the UK but in my place the migrants got paid by the hour (at minimum rate) but only the straight eight hours a day doing just the picking, so they can - and usually do - go slow!
Us local workers (and there wasn't that many of us wanting to take on the job, so you're right when we have had so many Brits turning up and lasting only for a few days before saying they had enough - amazing I lasted out 17 years looking back!) where there were 6 local and up to 8 imported from other EU countries. The locals (including me) got to be allocated our own plot during the summer season and got paid according to the size of the plot. In other words, the bigger the plot, the bigger the wages and when you become as proficent as me after a few years of it, it actually was a very good deal. Except I had to work 6 days a week solid for 8 months. Our migrants only filled in the gaps left by unwilling local workers and they worked the flat weekly 39 hour on basic minimum hourly rate - like I'm on in the winter months - but they provided cover for sickness leaves and got paid extra for that.
If anything, towards the end the boss wouldn't pay out overtime, just hoped everyone did the work - and generally we all did. That was until the firm folded up due to massive overheads (we're one of the very few greenhouses to use heavy oil purely for heating) and poor fruit prices along with severe competition from Thanet Earth located some 25 miles away.

The greenhouse industry is quite fascinating - even has it's own charm - but when you're like me and have been involved in it for nearly two decades, it does get a little tiresome. And I don't even like tomatoes.
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The green house I went round were growing vine tomatoes (I'm guessing same as you) and had the whole feeding system fully computerised, so every drop of nutrition and water was calculated. The plants were trimmed to 5 flower buds so that they were cut in bunches of 5 fruits for the supermarkets, and had cardboard bee hives for the pollination. The heating system was linked into a generator and as well as heating the houses plumbed a load of Leccy back into the grid, so extra income.

They were also looking at using the plant waste as source of heat through biodigestion.

They had a load of static caravans which they would put the foreign workers in, which they had on site. And like I said, the workforce they had was mainly imported and were wanting to work every hour god sends (though like your place, don't think they were allowed) but the owner was very positive about the foreign workforce and really criticised the local one (though considering the location of the greenhouses geographically that is not surprising - can;t say any more without really giving them away).

It just tied into this thread because of the very positive attitude to work that the foreign workers had compared to the local workforce which took all the breaks they could and wanted to leave as soon as poss every day.

Though to the OP, please don't think I am comparing you to the lazy workshy lot who this guy was referring to, because I am not suggesting in the slightest you are. I have also been through frustrating periods when you seem to be working eveyr hour god sends and not getting recognised for it.
 
lawrie29 said:
The green house I went round were growing vine tomatoes (I'm guessing same as you) and had the whole feeding system fully computerised, so every drop of nutrition and water was calculated. The plants were trimmed to 5 flower buds so that they were cut in bunches of 5 fruits for the supermarkets, and had cardboard bee hives for the pollination. The heating system was linked into a generator and as well as heating the houses plumbed a load of Leccy back into the grid, so extra income.

They were also looking at using the plant waste as source of heat through biodigestion.

They had a load of static caravans which they would put the foreign workers in, which they had on site. And like I said, the workforce they had was mainly imported and were wanting to work every hour god sends (though like your place, don't think they were allowed) but the owner was very positive about the foreign workforce and really criticised the local one (though considering the location of the greenhouses geographically that is not surprising - can;t say any more without really giving them away).

It just tied into this thread because of the very positive attitude to work that the foreign workers had compared to the local workforce which took all the breaks they could and wanted to leave as soon as poss every day.

Though to the OP, please don't think I am comparing you to the lazy workshy lot who this guy was referring to, because I am not suggesting in the slightest you are. I have also been through frustrating periods when you seem to be working eveyr hour god sends and not getting recognised for it.
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That's EAXCTLY what I used to do, pinch the flowers back to five or six (depending how good the "truss set" are) while I'm at the top half "trimming" the plants. I actually became quite the master at that as I bombed along the bottom half, snicking the complete ripened truss set off (reds only - not just turning as they often got sold on the same day) and straight into their cardboard packages (less handling and damage that way).

Here's a photo taken a couple of years ago. This is from my own plot, quite proud of it, even though I absolutely hate the fruit! Haha.

ripetoms3.jpg


Aaaaaanyway, sorry for steering this thread off topic, I'll leave it at that now. :D :D :D :naughty: :bonk:
 
My last job was paid 8 hours but job n finish, work hard and thru lunch and home by 2pm, i was also a keyholder, called to turn alarm off anytime they paid 8 hours and only 5 min drive, sweet.
 
Hmmm, what about the ambulance guy in Tomintoul who was on an UNPAID break and was asked to go out to deal with a cardiac arrest? How does that concile with your theory? Sending him was not legal as he was not in paid employ at the time (it was also not legal as he was also an unqualifed trainee). The press and community vilified that boy for sticking by his rights. So what? Shoud we deny emergency services breaks and force them to work 8-12 hours without stopping?I have many a&e nurse friends who routinely work through their unpaid breaks. But then how do you tell someone "I'm sorry your elderly mum lay in bed covered in urine but I was going on my break and couldn't deal with it"?

Sadly the issue just isn't as simple as "'ou must not forfeit your unpaid time'. Sometimes others suffer if you do. But knowing that, is it then wrong to take your rightful time? Do those who deal with vulnerable people and situations not deserve, nay NEED, a break too?
 
I don't see why you would bother what other people do..... You obviously feel guilty about taking an hour.......
 
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In my line of work, not only do I not get a "lunch break" (or any other breaks rostered), I am also subject to being forced to stay on past my working hours, to be recalled from annual leave and to be made to work on rest days with little or no notice. I am also expected to act when "off duty" as well - which effectively means that, in some ways, I am never "off duty". One of the only ways this has ever been held together - because we simply have far more work than we can actually cope with - is through overtime payments.

While there has been some comment in the press regarding police overtime, much of it is laughable - nobody I know has ever received 4hrs O/T for picking up the phone when off-duty (I've had two calls at home this week on my leave). On the other hand, I can well recall the double shifts, the cancelled rest days to go to court (often for suspects to plead "guilty" at the last minute) and regularly staying on well past the end of my shift and missing the last train home in order to see a case through properly. I'm not even going to try and count the number of days when we come in early and don't claim at all.

Overtime payments, shift allowances and location allowances (namely London weighting) are about to be thrown out the window with next week's Winsor Review of pay & conditions. My pension scheme, which I pay 11.5% of salary for, is expected to rise by approximately 3.5%.

My working conditions, in wiping society's metaphorical backside, are getting worse all the time. All I want is to be treated fairly, but I can point to whole swathes of the organisations that are doing b****r all worthwhile. It aggrieves me that they get paid exactly the same as I do to churn out posters for [insert minority group] History Month. I have never known morale to be worse, and it's a significant contributor into the (often) unimpressive service provided by the police all over the country. We're like salmon swimming against the tide.

Anyway, I know this is taking things a bit O/T - I guess what I was trying to say was, "I would love a lunch break".
 
Can't abide the people who work through their lunch to curry favour! Never liked suck ups and never will.

On the other hand your job, sometimes, even all the time, requires you to work through. And often I'm glad that I worked through to complete a project. It gives me a sense of accomplishment. I think in this day n' age most of us live in an 'eat as you go' working environment. I certainly do as do my colleagues.

But also having a break can have an extremely positive effect. On numerous occasions I've taken a small break to relieve the strain a little on stressful projects and more often than not in that free time a solution has presented itself to a problem. (You never really do take a break:))
 
Photo Plod said:
In my line of work, not only do I not get a "lunch break" (or any other breaks rostered), I am also subject to being forced to stay on past my working hours, to be recalled from annual leave and to be made to work on rest days with little or no notice. I am also expected to act when "off duty" as well - which effectively means that, in some ways, I am never "off duty". One of the only ways this has ever been held together - because we simply have far more work than we can actually cope with - is through overtime payments.

While there has been some comment in the press regarding police overtime, much of it is laughable - nobody I know has ever received 4hrs O/T for picking up the phone when off-duty (I've had two calls at home this week on my leave). On the other hand, I can well recall the double shifts, the cancelled rest days to go to court (often for suspects to plead "guilty" at the last minute) and regularly staying on well past the end of my shift and missing the last train home in order to see a case through properly. I'm not even going to try and count the number of days when we come in early and don't claim at all.

Overtime payments, shift allowances and location allowances (namely London weighting) are about to be thrown out the window with next week's Winsor Review of pay & conditions. My pension scheme, which I pay 11.5% of salary for, is expected to rise by approximately 3.5%.

My working conditions, in wiping society's metaphorical backside, are getting worse all the time. All I want is to be treated fairly, but I can point to whole swathes of the organisations that are doing b****r all worthwhile. It aggrieves me that they get paid exactly the same as I do to churn out posters for [insert minority group] History Month. I have never known morale to be worse, and it's a significant contributor into the (often) unimpressive service provided by the police all over the country. We're like salmon swimming against the tide.

Anyway, I know this is taking things a bit O/T - I guess what I was trying to say was, "I would love a lunch break".
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Sorry to hear it plod... you guys get dragged through the crap whenever the daily mail can't think of anything better to bitch and moan about, and yet you do one hell of a job, all while faced with beauracratic ******** from the powers that be.


Re: OP.... it's threads like that this that make me love being self employed...

but then again, I've had two finishes after midnight so far this week....and it's only wednesday...
 
KIPAX said:
what an unbelievable bunch of whimpy whiney lot you are....:)

the answer to your problems is so simple...
just mind you own sodding business and let others lead there life how they want..


just IMHO :)
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Couldn't agree more.
 
EOS_JD said:
I don't see why you would bother what other people do..... You obviously feel guilty about taking an hour.......
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My thoughts exactly.
 
The last time I had a teabreak at work, must be about 20yrs ago. I get one lunch break a year and use that to meet up with my accountant. I make a point of getting to work at least half an hour before the staff to prepare for the day.
My staff sometimes choose to work through breaks and I appreciate it when they do.I thank them if they do.They are all in well paid secure jobs because we pull together when we need to.
That's how this country used to be. Muck in when the going gets tough enjoy the security of employment as the reward.
Too many people have too much time to worry about what others do.
I do know one thing. It's never gone unnoticed by me when staff do give extra. There are always times when I can return the favour.
When was the last time your employer took the cash out of his pocket to give you your spending money for the holiday you're about to go on, because you spent your own money on a weekend out?
It's a two way thing you know?


Kev.
 
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vixmix said:
Hmmm, what about the ambulance guy in Tomintoul who was on an UNPAID break and was asked to go out to deal with a cardiac arrest? How does that concile with your theory? Sending him was not legal as he was not in paid employ at the time (it was also not legal as he was also an unqualifed trainee). The press and community vilified that boy for sticking by his rights. So what? Shoud we deny emergency services breaks and force them to work 8-12 hours without stopping?I have many a&e nurse friends who routinely work through their unpaid breaks. But then how do you tell someone "I'm sorry your elderly mum lay in bed covered in urine but I was going on my break and couldn't deal with it"?

Sadly the issue just isn't as simple as "'ou must not forfeit your unpaid time'. Sometimes others suffer if you do. But knowing that, is it then wrong to take your rightful time? Do those who deal with vulnerable people and situations not deserve, nay NEED, a break too?
Click to expand...

:thumbs:
 
trencheel303 said:
Sorry, I didn't make my OP clear. I'm mainly talking about desk jockeys who do more than they have to to either suck up to the boss or make those who take their breaks look bad. My point was, people who do that make the rest of us who actually have a life look bad. of course I don't expect emergency services to not answer a call because they are on a break - the nature of the job is entirely different.
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But many of us "desk jockeys" just want to get on with the job at hand. If somebody is popping out to grab a sandwich I ask them to pick one up for me so I can continue what I'm doing. In my last job I was paid very well to run a team of 7 sales guys that needed me there. OK, so once a week I'd do the sandwich run, or sometimes I'd have lunch with one of my guys so we could do his 1-2-1 off site.

I believe in work hard play hard. They can have me 10 hours a day, as long as I have my weekends and holidays with my family.

They are not doing it to make you look bad, they are doing it so they can get through their work load. Maybe you work more efficiently than them, or perhaps they are more conscientious than you. Either way it's their decision and you just need to make sure you're own house is in order.

Steve
 
I'll pop out to get a sandwich - eat it at my desk - carry on working.

The flip side of this is that if I want to go early one day, or take a 2 hour lunch break for some reason, no eyebrows are raised, and its the extra effort that is rewarded at the end of the year come bonus and payrise time.
 
Lynton said:
bloody hell, i used to get up half an hour before i went to bed work 25 hours a day down mill 8 days a week and pay mill owner 6pence for the privilege.

You had it lucky.
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PMSL thats some tough job right there :D

I often dont get a break as im usually doing something i cant stop and i always go in early and have been known to go home as much as 3 hrs late. But i LOVE my job :love: and with the current economical climate it aint gonna change soon or more likely to get worse..... ah well man it up :thumbs:
 
blimey don't think about a career in Teaching anytime soon..

jobs are so different, you can be in one job and it might be classed as unpaid working through a lunch or staying on of an evening but that particular employment might provide free gym membership and you get to have 2 hour paid business lunches... wheras another type of job may have you clocking in/out to make sure you do dead on 8 hours a day or whatever but come with absolutely no perks whatsoever..

horses for courses IMO, its just what you are used to.

trencheel303 said:
I know it sounds like such a petty thing to say, but it does... You're not proving anything except that you're prepared to be a doormat and work for free. In other words, a mug.

People who work through an entire unpaid lunchbreak, for instance, is the exact kind of thing that makes management's heads grow bigger. What is wrong with people?!?! Take breaks!
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trencheel303 said:
Putting the extra in is fine if you get recognised and rewarded for it. It's when you don't that it becomes tiring. I am in this position myself, and I know lots of others who are. It bugs me that people all around me aren't realising that the extra effort and stress they're putting in really isn't getting 'em anywhere. No actually, what really annoys me, is that management lets it happen in so many places, while quietly laughing their way to the bank. That's all I'm saying.

Oh and, what's a bonus?
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But in your original post you say anyone working through unpaid breaks is a Mug. Thats not the case - just the way you feel.

As for a bonus, its part of the remuneration package where I work, and is based on performance and extra effort throughout the year. Also dependant on the company making money, but thats never been a problem as yet.
 
I work in what you might call a 'professional' position, except that the professions were defined before computers were invented ;). I'm salaried (so no overtime) and my contract of employment says seven hours a day, five days a week. Consequently I normally do 35 hours a week.

If it's lunchtime, I'm not at work. Even if I'm sat at my desk. If I'm out playing snooker I can't talk to a customer, just because I'm here doesn't mean that I can. I have TP to read.

If we have a problem that needs solving or something that has to be sorted out urgently, I will stay late or work through and I get all the server alerts duplicated to my personal email so SSH in from home if there's a problem, but I will not routinely work through lunch or stay late. If this is expected routinely in order to get everything done and overtime not paid then the employer does not have enough staff and should hire more, rather than exploiting the ones they already have.
 
onomatopoeia said:
I work in what you might call a 'professional' position, except that the professions were defined before computers were invented ;). I'm salaried (so no overtime) and my contract of employment says seven hours a day, five days a week. Consequently I normally do 35 hours a week.

If it's lunchtime, I'm not at work. Even if I'm sat at my desk. If I'm out playing snooker I can't talk to a customer, just because I'm here doesn't mean that I can. I have TP to read.

If we have a problem that needs solving or something that has to be sorted out urgently, I will stay late or work through and I get all the server alerts duplicated to my personal email so SSH in from home if there's a problem, but I will not routinely work through lunch or stay late. If this is expected routinely in order to get everything done and overtime not paid then the employer does not have enough staff and should hire more, rather than exploiting the ones they already have.
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Agreed.
 
onomatopoeia said:
I work in what you might call a 'professional' position, except that the professions were defined before computers were invented ;). I'm salaried (so no overtime) and my contract of employment says seven hours a day, five days a week. Consequently I normally do 35 hours a week.

If it's lunchtime, I'm not at work. Even if I'm sat at my desk. If I'm out playing snooker I can't talk to a customer, just because I'm here doesn't mean that I can. I have TP to read.

If we have a problem that needs solving or something that has to be sorted out urgently, I will stay late or work through and I get all the server alerts duplicated to my personal email so SSH in from home if there's a problem, but I will not routinely work through lunch or stay late. If this is expected routinely in order to get everything done and overtime not paid then the employer does not have enough staff and should hire more, rather than exploiting the ones they already have.
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this is very different to a worker choosing to do their work in the lunch hour - your describing an employer who requires it. Many people do so from their own choice.
 
trencheel303 said:
I know it sounds like such a petty thing to say, but it does... You're not proving anything except that you're prepared to be a doormat and work for free. In other words, a mug.

People who work through an entire unpaid lunchbreak, for instance, is the exact kind of thing that makes management's heads grow bigger. What is wrong with people?!?! Take breaks!
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Easy to say when you don't have tons of work to do and looming deadline thanks to a dumbass manager... then guess who gets it in the neck for not getting the work done? That's right, us :thumbsdown:
 
Horses for courses. You can only speak about your own workplace. Personally I have pride in the job I do and my clients appreciate it.
 
Dealing with dumb ass managers involves demanding a clear set of priorities on what order tasks need to be done in. You also have to communicate clearly that if work load is excessive then there will be tasks that won't be finished and it is tough s*** if it isn't. It all needs to be in writing. It gets the wind up them like nothing else as the buck has to stop with them when you have warned them in advance important things won't get done as there isn't the staff time. You generally find the dumb ass ones are completely unable to prioritise and will start jumping up and down demanding everything is done. Stick to your guns. Keep asking 'which is the most important, I'll do that now. What is the next most important, I'll do that next'. It kind of forces their hand into actually making a decision which is what dumb ass managers really hate doing.

There's this brilliant guy ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Pausch ) that did a load of stuff on time management. Think he worked for Carnegie Melon in their computing division. Divide all tasks into 'important - due soon' and important - due later. Any tasks which are due soon and are not important, forget them. Don't waste any time on them. This is where a lot of people make mistakes with priorities. They do the due soon, not important things before the important due later things. His videos are well worth watching.

If someone is always staying late and working through lunch it makes me wonder whether they're very organised! Presenteesim is not the same as effectiveness.
 
I think in today's society it is more difficult to define breaks. When most people worked in large groups it was easier and to a point more enjoyable to have a break with your workmates. I used to work in a factory and the process went on constantly, but we all took our breaks.
Nowadays more people work by themselves or in smaller groups and breaks get harder to define. Most of the people I work with do not "stop" for lunch. That does not mean though that they don't get time to eat or go to the toilet or even look through a newspaper etc. Just that there is no defined time when they are not available to work.
 
I did that all my working life... From slave to manager.
I was also able to take time off when I needed it.
when I stopped enjoying a Job, It was time to move on.

I realise not all jobs are amenable to that practise, nor are all bosses... but most see the benefit of this to both parties.


Far more managers work extra hours than do "Workers" Nor do they get paid overtime.
 
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trencheel303 said:
Requiring an employee to work through unpaid breaks is breaking the law.

It's not a case of requirement, it's a case of people doing it and the manager letting it happen, instead of addressing the issue at hand like employing an extra bod just to help things a bit. Oh no we can't have that; cos it means less cash lining management's pockets.
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so managers all over the world should physically stop an employee work during their breaks. I like working during my break, if my manager did that to me it would **** me off, we aren't all like you - some of us actually enjoy what we do and want to do more of it.
 
I work through my lunch breaks quite often, other times I can take upto a 2 hour lunch - either way I am not concious of sucking up or taking the mick as how it should be. I guess some people are too focused on what other people are doing and how they should behave.

Sad really.
 
As a cafe owner i did consider closing for lunch but decide its best if we worked through.
 
Those that skive and F... about.
Get to see the whole job out.

Those that work and do their best.
Go down the road with all the rest. :thumbs:
 
We have a pretty simple rule. When the work needs doing it gets done, if that means we work through lunch or don't have tea breaks thats how it is. I work 84hrs a week minimum, at times its nearer to 100.
 
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