I miss all the fun

I miss all the fun - Peter Hentges

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October 21st, 2005

02:39 am - I miss all the fun
Seems that last night, my night off from work, quite a bit of fun was had. By fun, of course, I mean "gnashing of the teeth and heated discussion among the co-workers." Seems we are taking another step in managements Grand Lunch Scheme.

You see, a while ago, they told us that it'd be really nice if we took a lunch during our shift. Most everyone ignored the idea and kept on doing what we were doing.

Then they said, no, really, you have to take a lunch during your shift. Again, we mostly ignored them.

The third time, they said, look: if you don't take a lunch during your shift, we're going to have to Do Something.

Well, it looks like we ignored them that time too. Now they are, indeed, Doing Something.

They put out a three-page FAQ about us taking lunch. They had everyone come in and see the manager individually to schedule the half-hour block for when they will take their lunch. Skipping lunch is not a decision the worker can make (per the FAQ), only the manager can decide that. Failure to take a lunch break will be deal with as a "performance issue."

I think

fredcritter had it right, didn't we graduate from kindergarten a while ago?

My main question here is, what problem existed that this is attempting to fix? Initially, I figured it for a ploy to cut our hours by 5% but they've gone out of their way to make sure everyone's schedule has been increased to 8.5 hours in order to make time for the lunch break.
Current Mood:

confused

Tags: idiocy, work

(5 comments | Leave a comment)

Comments:

From:	ktynes
Date:	October 21st, 2005 08:07 am (UTC)

Lunch...mandated

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Last time I paid attention to this stuff, lunch breaks,etc, were required by law. At any time, a company's records may be reviewed for their level of compliance. Of course, they are not required to pay you, but certain categories of employees are required to take it.

Your managers are not reguired to take a lunch, paid or unpaid. That's why mid level management are the true slaves of industry. They can work GAWD awful hours, with no overtime and they are not protected by wage and hour laws.

(Reply) (Thread)

From:	jbru
Date:	October 21st, 2005 09:25 am (UTC)

Re: Lunch...mandated

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Minnesota law requires that they provide us with the time off if we want a lunch. It doesn't require us to take it. Overall, I think we're adult enough to handle the decision. If they've been burned, though, I suppose it could be a preventative measure. I imagine it'll get back to "normal" after a while.

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

From:	sraun
Date:	October 21st, 2005 02:53 pm (UTC)

Re: Lunch...mandated

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I thought there was an applicable Federal law that applied to hourly workers? Something about 'must provide one 15 minute break per four hours, plus one half-hour lunch per eight hours'? I could believe that OSHA was much more ... demanding about the exact letter being followed.

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