Desktop Dining Dilemmas: 8 Etiquette Faux Pas
By: Janet Adetu Date: 6 years agoComment: 0 Category: Articles
Lunch time break in the office, the moment to unwind, relax and stretch your feet or so we think. Do you welcome your lunch break or simply take a sneak peak and barely give yourself the time to look up from your desk?
Research has told us that there is great value added when an individual deliberately takes that lunch break, in fact by purposely leaving the desk and or at times the office, will help restore energy, reasoning and motivation. It has also been identified that a period of 15minutes to one hour or slightly more as lunch break away from the desk encourages the brain to relax, restore and reactivate.
Unfortunately what we find today is that the desk has become a quick fix break table or believe it or not a full-fledged dining table. It is nice to know that work is important to you to do and must be done by all means. However there are drawbacks and dilemmas to eating in the same place as where you are proposedly productive. The law of diminishing returns is said to set in when you function nonstop.
It is true that not many offices actually have an office kitchen or dining area for staff to take a break. As a decision maker in the work place it is an important topic for discussion officially if this indeed absent.
Read on as I share my etiquette faux pas regarding desktop dining dilemmas:
- Brain Relaxation
Dining at your desk may be fast, easy and less cumbersome than having to go to the office kitchen o dining room. You may be bugged down with so much work that a few n=minutes break will affect your delivery time, or so you think. When you eventually get worked up, pressured and anxious will come across grudging, grumpy and greedy. Ou then become a diifcukt colleague and disrupt the team spirit ultimately.
- Attracting the Aroma
Now eating is a moment of privacy, some people have no issues bringing foo to the office that has all manner of aromas be it from the spices or ingredients used. Dining at your table will attract all forms of smells the good, bad and ugly. You will automatically inconvenience those around you who will have to bear the repercussions. Neutral foods are recommended even when eating in the correct confined area. Where food is provided in house it is recommended that conditions for food preparation are controlled
- Bring on the bugs
No matter how cautious you maybe while eating at your desk your bits and pieces along with crumbs will secretly furnish tiny areas around you. No doubt even though you cannot see them the bugs are feeling free in their new territory. The impact is when you place your bag or belongings on the desk it carries these bugs of bacteria all round. Regular cleaning and continued desk top dining will make no difference.
- Your Desktop Image
Image we say time and time again is everything. Your personality is clear to all just by visualizing you at you scruffy desk. It is quite a habit of a few to eat and leave leftovers and used utensils, plastic containers , mugs and glasses all around A picture does paint a thousand words, what we see is what we get. Your image will continue to be tarnished when you make cleanliness and hygiene secondary. Working among clutter will negate all efforts of efficiency and or increased productivity.
- Rollicking Risks
A quick bite at a sandwich with a cup of coffee or a cold drink may take seconds, however it takes the same amount of time to damage files, phones and equipment from a mere spillage. The tendency that you may feel the need to multitask and work while eating. Now we all know that where mindfulness sets in acts of carelessness will become unavoidable and the risks of ruining important confidential documents will be high.
- Space Control
There is never usually enough space on your desk if you are a workaholic. Managing your space to accommodate your lunch time must be cautioned. You do not want to miss that important feel call but why not capitalize on the latest technology of the smartphone and carry your office in your hand.
- Lazy Eyes
You have just had a great meal or sumptuous snack it is a matter of time when you begin to feel the impact when the body begins to wind down lazy eyes are evident. It is not unusual to see the odd staff lying with their head down taking an afternoon nap.
- Unhealthy Eating
Quick snacks often times encourage binging and unhealthy snacking. You tend to wonder why the weight gain or fluctuation. As lunch break is on the desk it has no timing therefore the break is usually at odd times of the day. It can set in distractions and obstacles to overall performance. Desktop dining encourages binging regularly instead of a decent healthy meal.
How are lunch breaks in your office? Why not assess and see if you fall victim of any of these dilemmas.
Goodluck!