Going out for lunch

[ladyofastolat]

(Ow. Typing is hard. I've managed to slice my thumb on some rose-scented shower gel, thus confirming my belief that Lush is a shop that come with a health warning. I'd previously wanted one on the grounds of its extremely potent smell, but now I realise that for all their happy, fluffy, "I am natural!" labelling, their products have TEETH.)

Anyway... I'm reading a book at the moment (the brand new Dresden Files novel, but that's probably not important, unless it turns out that we're talking about a UK/US difference here) and at some point, some people are trying to grab someone who's currently at work. For various reasons, going into his office is not advisable. Not to worry, they say. He's bound to leave the office to have lunch.

I don't think I've ever left my work place in order to have lunch - i.e. to eat lunch in a cafe, restaurant, bar or similar. If I'm out and about over lunch time, I will buy a sandwich and look for a pretty park bench or car park to eat it in. None of my colleagues ever go out for lunch, either. Perhaps once every fortnight or so, one or other of them will have forgotten to bring any lunch, and will pop out to the Co-op to buy a sandwich, which they will then bring back to eat, but that's it.

To me, eating out at lunch is an extravagent thing that only happens on holidays or rare special occasions. It's definitely not something that gets done on a normal work day - or indeed a normal weekend day, when at home. So what's more unusual here: my feeling that eating out at lunch is extravagent and unusual, or the book's assumption that going out for lunch is normal, expected behaviour?

Comments

[queenofattolia.livejournal.com]

Agree. In the US most people who work in business offices go out to lunch at least once or twice a week. My husband, who works for an internet company, either goes out two or three times a week or eats the catered lunch brought in by the company every day (he doesn't always like their choices, so that's why he goes out). The only time he takes lunch from home is when he's trying to restrict his calorie intake.

I used to work as a pastry chef for some years and there was always family meal between shifts, or, as a sous chef-level chef, I was allowed to order off the menu at will or make my own lunch from the pantry/walk-in. The only time I had lunches out while working as a chef was in New York City, where we were often commanded to "order out" from the surrounding restaurants and cafes, or at the end of my shift (3pm) when I had a late lunch while doing grocery shopping.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that for many working people in the US, having lunch out of the office is common.