# Long lunch break



## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Here it is again, the long lunch break debate
Lunch at 3pm | In English | EL PAÍS
Please note, the article is not about siestas, but about the practice of having more than an hour for lunch and also the incredibly long day that many Spanish people work.



> In essence, the Spanish day consists of getting up very early, working a very long morning – which inevitably has to be interrupted to satisfy a rumbling stomach – having a long lunch, and then returning to work – without a siesta – to finish a long afternoon that will mean no chance of being home by 6pm, and thus being able to get enough sleep to properly recharge our batteries. The figures are spectacular: in Spain, by 8pm, only 50 percent of people are back home, and by 10pm, more than 20 percent still haven’t got away from work.


Personally I think it's more what the author says at the end of the article


> But the reality is that habits have changed. People no longer enjoy the long lunches of old. But most working hours have not been adapted, and primetime television doesn’t begin until 10.30pm. The state broadcaster has the obligation to take the first step, and is a place where the health minister might find a more ready ear.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

I've always thought I would hate to have to work the typical Spanish hours. Unless I had to go somewhere during my lunchbreak I used to take no more than half an hour, sometimes less - I found that the longer the break, the less I felt like starting work again afterwards and it was better to keep the momentum going. Going home for lunch and then going back again just seems like a waste of time, too.

As a customer, the siesta break doesn't inconvenience me and I quite like the fact that I can pop out to buy something up to 9 or 9.30 pm, but it wouldn't bother me if the shops, etc. closed at 5.30 or 6pm either. If I were a worker, I'd definitely prefer the latter.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Lynn R said:


> I've always thought I would hate to have to work the typical Spanish hours. Unless I had to go somewhere during my lunchbreak I used to take no more than half an hour, sometimes less - I found that the longer the break, the less I felt like starting work again afterwards and it was better to keep the momentum going. Going home for lunch and then going back again just seems like a waste of time, too.
> 
> As a customer, the siesta break doesn't inconvenience me and I quite like the fact that I can pop out to buy something up to 9 or 9.30 pm, but it wouldn't bother me if the shops, etc. closed at 5.30 or 6pm either. If I were a worker, I'd definitely prefer the latter.


Shop hours are terrible. Over the years I was tempted to open a shop of some sort, but it was the hours that put me off.
But office hours can be killing as well, especially when times are hard, like now. Of the people that I work with, and friends that work in offices the ones that work a 9:00 - 18:00 kind of timetable are the exception not the rule, and many of those don't take a full hour lunch break, let alone a 2 or 3 hour one. On top of that I don't know anyone who gets paid overtime
I think many from the UK would be shocked to know what the norm was in companies in Spain.


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## Calas felices (Nov 29, 2007)

So if as you say they work these incredibly long hours and they propose to reduce them to something more in line with the rest of the EU, what effect would that have on productivity and efficiency?


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## Pazcat (Mar 24, 2010)

Not sure it could make things any worse.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Calas felices said:


> So if as you say they work these incredibly long hours and they propose to reduce them to something more in line with the rest of the EU, what effect would that have on productivity and efficiency?


I expect you know that long hours have little to do with productivity


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## jonmlb748 (Oct 30, 2011)

I have noted over the years here in Mallorca that menu del Dias have slipped by the way side .many manual workers now buy a baguette or bring a tuppy.we had a line of Spanish menu places in calvia you walked up and chose the best one for you ,3 out of five closed now ,other two struggling. even letting people eat their own food if they are having a beer. great shame but like many others who have a mortgage, impuestos etc a 10 euro daily menu is not feasible anymore.


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## VFR (Dec 23, 2009)

Pesky Wesky said:


> I expect you know that long hours have little to do with productivity


Ain't that a fact.


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## ExpatWannabee (Jul 6, 2011)

In Valencia, menus del dia are still the order of the day. And I wish the bank would do siestas - they just close down at 2pm and don't reopen until the next day.


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## VFR (Dec 23, 2009)

ExpatWannabee said:


> In Valencia, menus del dia are still the order of the day. And I wish the bank would do siestas - they just close down at 2pm and don't reopen until the next day.


How civilised


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## Sandraw719 (Jul 19, 2013)

We always end up going out mid of day and all the shops are closed! 

However we now have dinner around 9:30 pm and more and more like Spanish people!

What bothers me is not the timetable,but the Spanish foods! Everywhere you go you get chips and bread,no vegetable! The Spanish restaurant is generally more expensive than the foreign ones here!

My father-in-law hates Spain because there is no hot plates,no food before 9 pm and no hot tea!)


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