What people so often forget is that food is not just for survival - it's for bonding, relaxing, thinking etc. When I was a lowly post-doc in Cambridge, we had a very nice canteen on top of the 'Titanic' with great views toward Trumpington - and the daily lunch break was where we usually had the best ideas.
Now, we have an SCR with a very nice selection of beer (and a big wine cellar) - but somehow almost everyone prefers a sandwich at their desk.
Every now and then, I think it would be really nice to have a proper lunch - but then there is another form to fill or email to reply to ... and multitasking it is.
Incidentally: what I really miss are the dinners where one is seated next to someone from a completely different subject; one of my pet research projects started that way. Lunch and dinner are ideal to promote such scary collaborations.
Having worked in a large London advertising agency in the 80s, I can assure you that even then lunch was often the opportunity for significant expense claims. Indeed, lunch would sometimes extend to pub opening times, and then on to pub closing time… Very silly in retrospect, though we’d argue the creative process is not conducive to being surrounded by the same environment all the time…
On lunchtime drinking - in the 1970’s I can remember the shipyard’s opening the gates at 1200 (start of 30 minute lunchtime), hoards of men dashing out to the pubs. The pubs were ready with pints already pulled - the guys would grab however many beers they wanted, with the barmaids then going round to collect the money. Then back to work after a liquid lunch, walking along hatch coamings (8” wide) with a 70 ft drop on one side - the Health & Safety at Act gradually saw the end of that.
2. And “creating a workplace culture where good ideas mattered and not the pay grade of the person who proposed them”. Sounds fine in theory. But have you ever seen a corporate structure where this flowed through to remuneration?
I was part of an engineering group at the late great DEC in the early 80's that mixed the styles. There was an informal team lunch table at the company cafeteria every day, where all sorts of stuff, sometimes work related was discussed. And then Friday after work, often at "Tiny's,"where pitchers of 3-4$ beer (in my muddled memory) were vanquished, and we really held forth. Good times, great co-workers, IMHO.
Great post. The social aspects of lunch are interesting too, with opportunities to chat and build rapport with colleagues but can also get a bit cliquey. Probably offset by the open-plan / cubicle / water-cooler type environment.
Very minor nit-pick - Moore's Law pre-dates Intel. Intel certainly built their business and strategy on Moore's Law though.
In the late 90s when I worked at the Isaac Newton Institute in Cambridge, a little group of us used to go out for lunch nearly every day. We were allowed a full hour, which was just enough time to walk into town for a half of real ale and a bowl of soup at the Mitre. I'm still lucky enough to get a proper lunch hour, and keep the tradition alive by going out regularly (albeit on my own to a coffee shop), but I miss those glory days!
That does sound great. I was in the first group of people who moved out to the new CMS site on Wilberforce Road (when it was only half finished), but I did like coming back into town for lunch in college most days. I think it was partly the fact that it was a mixture of subjects, so you could be next to historians, classicists or scientists, but whoever it was you'd learn something interesting. I do miss that ...
"exponential growth is the Real Deal, because it blows everything else out of the water"
I'm offended on behalf of factorials
Ok, sure, but in terms of types of processes you tend to see in the wild ...
What people so often forget is that food is not just for survival - it's for bonding, relaxing, thinking etc. When I was a lowly post-doc in Cambridge, we had a very nice canteen on top of the 'Titanic' with great views toward Trumpington - and the daily lunch break was where we usually had the best ideas.
Now, we have an SCR with a very nice selection of beer (and a big wine cellar) - but somehow almost everyone prefers a sandwich at their desk.
That's true. And to be honest, I'm a complete hypocrite here, because I'm just as likely to be eating and typing as anyone
Every now and then, I think it would be really nice to have a proper lunch - but then there is another form to fill or email to reply to ... and multitasking it is.
Incidentally: what I really miss are the dinners where one is seated next to someone from a completely different subject; one of my pet research projects started that way. Lunch and dinner are ideal to promote such scary collaborations.
Yes, as I said elsewhere in the comments, I think this is what Oxbridge colleges are good for (among things)
Having worked in a large London advertising agency in the 80s, I can assure you that even then lunch was often the opportunity for significant expense claims. Indeed, lunch would sometimes extend to pub opening times, and then on to pub closing time… Very silly in retrospect, though we’d argue the creative process is not conducive to being surrounded by the same environment all the time…
Ok, glad to hear it wasn't all fiction!
That would be the expenses…
On lunchtime drinking - in the 1970’s I can remember the shipyard’s opening the gates at 1200 (start of 30 minute lunchtime), hoards of men dashing out to the pubs. The pubs were ready with pints already pulled - the guys would grab however many beers they wanted, with the barmaids then going round to collect the money. Then back to work after a liquid lunch, walking along hatch coamings (8” wide) with a 70 ft drop on one side - the Health & Safety at Act gradually saw the end of that.
Prepared to add this to my list of "circumstances in which heavy lunchtime drinking may not be ideal"
Two comments:
1. Glenn’s flight was orbital.
2. And “creating a workplace culture where good ideas mattered and not the pay grade of the person who proposed them”. Sounds fine in theory. But have you ever seen a corporate structure where this flowed through to remuneration?
Sorry, yes 1. was a typo, I meant Grissom. I corrected it in the online version, but the mailout version can't be changed once it's gone out.
I was part of an engineering group at the late great DEC in the early 80's that mixed the styles. There was an informal team lunch table at the company cafeteria every day, where all sorts of stuff, sometimes work related was discussed. And then Friday after work, often at "Tiny's,"where pitchers of 3-4$ beer (in my muddled memory) were vanquished, and we really held forth. Good times, great co-workers, IMHO.
Got to say that does sound like the best of both worlds!
Great post. The social aspects of lunch are interesting too, with opportunities to chat and build rapport with colleagues but can also get a bit cliquey. Probably offset by the open-plan / cubicle / water-cooler type environment.
Very minor nit-pick - Moore's Law pre-dates Intel. Intel certainly built their business and strategy on Moore's Law though.
Thanks, and fair point about Moore's Law, sorry I got that detail wrong ..
In the late 90s when I worked at the Isaac Newton Institute in Cambridge, a little group of us used to go out for lunch nearly every day. We were allowed a full hour, which was just enough time to walk into town for a half of real ale and a bowl of soup at the Mitre. I'm still lucky enough to get a proper lunch hour, and keep the tradition alive by going out regularly (albeit on my own to a coffee shop), but I miss those glory days!
That does sound great. I was in the first group of people who moved out to the new CMS site on Wilberforce Road (when it was only half finished), but I did like coming back into town for lunch in college most days. I think it was partly the fact that it was a mixture of subjects, so you could be next to historians, classicists or scientists, but whoever it was you'd learn something interesting. I do miss that ...