I agree with the premise, but this rub me the wrong way:
“$16 on lunch, $13 on breakfast and coffee.”
It sounds like entitlement if you think someone should be paying for something you already do at home (eat), but choose to do it in the most expensive way possible.
Make food and coffee at home and bring it to work. And if you’re already buying expensive shop meals to eat at home, why complain about spending that outrageous amount of money when you’re outside the home?
I totally agree. There’s no reason anyone needs to consistently purchase breakfast and lunch if they work in an office.
If you don’t do it at home, why would you do it at the office?
You can make food at home as a part of your lunch break. If you make food and bring it in, you need to spend extra non paid time to do that.
That’s fair to say for lunch. Not for breakfast though, unless one makes the argument there should also be a breakfast break.
Regardless, with the existing status quo it’s not a good financial decision to eat out for breakfast and lunch everyday.
I feel this has to be pointed out to young people: it used to be possible to eat out every day, go to the movies, drink in a bar after work, see a live band on the weekend, and still buy a home and save for the future. This was possible in major cities around the country. This was taken from you.
It is not outrageous for single people living in a city to buy food outside the house. I believe prices have clearly skyrocketed because fewer people know how to make their own food. In the 50s everyone had grown up during the depression, so if something was even a little expensive you made it yourself.
P.S. Not only did many workplaces provide free or discounted cafeterias to eat in, they paid you during your lunch hour! That’s where the phrase " working 9:00 to 5:00" comes from.
This is why so many apartments have kitchens that look like they were recent ideas squeezed into the space, or tiny “kitchenettes”.
Reading older literature I’ve noticed how in older books the main character’s living arrangements often just doesn’t have any place to prepare or store food. They’ll reference street carts, open markets, pubs, etc as where they get food from. Or maybe a meal included with the rent in a boarding house.
Medieval peasants in pre-industrial Europe expected their employer to provide at least one, if not two meals during work. Three during long hours, like harvest season.
I suspect people are not spending as much on nonessentials and businesses are seeing this as their workplaces being empty and not spending. But something tells me it’s a nationwide thing, people are thinking twice due to inflation and I doubt bringing people back is gonna make them want to spend money the way they used to. My claim is based on layoffs and stocking issues.
that is the entire point of the commercial real estate excuse: that was your labor and money that was supporting it not the bosses.
the bosses don’t care about commercial real estate, either. They care about being able to use their status to bully people in person in front of others.
it is a garbage barge with lipstick on the front.
I am happy to make this concession provided I can either start making my lunch on company time, and then commute after I have finished making my lunch, or be allowed to fully go home, make and prepare lunch, dine, and commute back to work.
Oh, is that unproductive, a waste of time, money and energy, and massively impairs my ability to get work done?
Someone should draw some kind of conclusion from that, it seems.
How much was electricity when you were working at home? Air conditioning? Are you buying more alcohol? If you are complaining that you are buying lunch more thats your problem… you can pack a cooler and bring that shit to work.
It’s all personal. But for me I only run the air conditioner for 3 months and normally not every day. I also run the heat for four. But all that plus electricity costs less than gas, tolls , car payment and car maintenance.
Yeah, I think its all relative and depends on where you live. If you live in the south you can probably expect to pay for AC all day, probably 6-8 months of the year. As for car related, this is also all relative. If you have a car and it isnt used much for 15 months then I would expect the car to not start when you try.
Expect a lot of the usual punching-down in response to this. “Carpool. Brown bag your lunch.” and so on.
How to save money when working in-person:
- Instead of buying lunch, just steal it.
- Dont go drinking with your coworkers. Day drink so you’re too drunk when you drive home.
- Make your own alcohol under your desk.
- Save money that you’ll be forced to spend at the tiddy bar by oogling Nancy, the 60 yo HR gal with the nice taa taas.
- Bike to work.
Why is suggesting making your own lunch a “bad” thing though? I’ve been doing it for years to save money and eat better. Food is absolutely on “us” I would be eating whether I’m home or at work, but then again I’m a US born Stockholm syndrome slavelord that’s just used to the shit system we have here. Do other countries require their companies to pay for lunches?
Exactly.
3.25$ X 2 for the metro fare. Approx 5$ for a cup of coffee 25-30$ for lunch. A few bucks more on maybe a drink or a snack.
This adds up.
I guess this is going to depend heavily on the kind of job you have.
My workplace provides coffee of the highest quality, breakfast, snacks and all kinds of drinks. I also get access to ~$10 per day to spend on lunch - which to be fair doesn’t really cover the whole cost any more - but still, it helps. I also bike to work, so there’s not really any cost there to speak of.
Depending on how creatively you decide to do your accounting, I arguably gain from going to the office. Then again, I could spend 5 days at home if I wanted without any problems. I’m choosing to go in anyways though
The people at the top like that, because they have the disposable income to dress better than the office drones.
My clothes from before the pandemic still fit at least. But I had to buy new socks because the elastics were all dried up.
just make sure it doesn’t smell, stain, is difficult to eat, is easy to prepare, easy to clean and you’ve measured out the right amount to prevent wastage.
or just let me work from home?! which is better in every way?! for everyone involved?!
That’s in CAD. Our dollar isn’t as strong as the EUR. Also everything is more expensive in Canada.
Spending $30 on lunch in Canada is still absurd. The food court near where I work:
$15 for iranian meat + rice (i forget what it’s called sorry, best option by far though)
$12 for a japadog
$8 for two slices of pizza
Are you going to earls or some shit for lunch?
In most of the US that’s a crazy amount to spend on lunch, but this hypothetical also included public transit so we’re not talking about most of the US
Just a fast food hamburger and fries is $9-something where I live. The yellow curry at my favorite Thai restaurant is $12-something, plus a tip. Add a soda to either one and it’s another $2-3.
Yea 25-30 is a sit down meal somewhere, in reality most office drones are picking up something quick from fast food or a convenience store for >$15 a day.
Still a waste of money though
You’d be surprised. I was busy at work one day and starving. Almost doordashed a burrito and chips from Chipotle till I saw it’d be almost $25 before tip.
In order to update these spreadsheets and email some fuckers, society must allow for 200lbs of meat to be moved fifty miles per day. Because someone has to stare at me. The meat.
“How strangely appropriate, that we be meats’ dream.”
Goddammit I love that.
society must allow for 200lbs of meat to be moved fifty miles per day
And in the US, said transportation will likely make even less sense (in terms of weight, cost, and health/comfort).
Yes, you put 200 lb of meat into a 2,000 metal box with climate control, a couch, and sound system, then burn 1-3 gallons of gasoline.
This is required for efficient spreadsheets.
2,000Lbs is a low estimate. 2,500Lbs assumes they drive a subcompact, 4,100Lbs is the current average weight (and 2004 was already at 4K so I’m not sure if this statistic counts SUVs/trucks or not). Even Kei cars are 1500-2500Lbs (ICE versions being lighter, though there are smaller and lighter cars including 2-person EVs that are under 1K*.
I would also add the time spent in a car (particularly in slow/jammed traffic) is also sedentary time (which an office job also likely is) and thus a health issue. So some people buy gym memberships which they must also drive to. If they even have the time/money/energy.
Also lots of bad things to be said about roads(/stroads) and parking lots etc. But the short of it is, they aren’t places hospitable for living. Particularly on a hot day.
*=Though this lower-size vehicle may be legally classified as something else, such a a “covered motorcycle”/autocycle (or from what I’m seeing, some other close-enough category) which may be an issue or a boon with laws, and may even depend on local laws.