Does anybody else abuse the snack bar at work? | The Coffeehouse

May28th2018
May 28th, 2018

I've been pulling some serious shifts lately, and I have thoroughly abused the snack bar. I don't feel guilty either. I've eaten entire meals of free snacks lately and I'm ok with that. It's not that I don't get paid a lot, because I do. It's that I just don't wanna buy food at home.

Anybody else in the same situation?

ManipUni
Proving QQ for 5 years!

Shifts? Snacks? Afraid I work fixed hours but we don't get snacks. Yet I have no regrets....

Dr Herbie
Horses for courses

In reply to ManipUni

#Oct 11th @ 11:56 PM

Nope, no snack bar here either -- I don't think I've ever known a UK company to have a free snack bar; subsidised cafeteria, yes, but no snack bar. The only place I ever saw with anything free was Standard Life in Edinburgh (where I was a temp for a couple of days) where they had a free drinks machine that gave out cheap and nasty soft-drinks with too much water and not enough concentrate.

We get reasonable working hours and holidays instead Tongue Out

Herbie

magicalclick

We have a snack bar, but, I only eat few per week. Too much calories and carbs = getting fat.

Ian2
Proud to geek ..

In reply to Dr Herbie

#Oct 12th @ 12:16 AM

I worked for a long time in a building with a Starbuckks concesion right behind me - needless to say that this was great news for my personal caffeine content but bad news for my wallett.

Worst snack situations are things like PDC and Teched - I probably put on an extra 5 pounds in a week (yep, I don't bother with the healthy ones)

leeappdalecom
.nettter

In reply to Dr Herbie

#Oct 12th @ 12:16 AM

Only place I've worked at with free snacks is Microsoft campus in Reading, oh and places that have, teabags, Nescafe and a kettle of course.

I prefer places with Costa's and Starbucks on site, I know it costs and I get through about 5 large coffee a day but it makes the day more pleasurable lol

Dr Herbie
Horses for courses

In reply to leeappdalecom

#Oct 12th @ 2:21 AM

I just bring a 1litre flask of tea to work every day -- total cost is in the pence and there's enough to keep me going Big Smile

Herbie

Bas
It finds lightbulbs.

Snack bar? Free food? Never even came across that.

Sven Groot
My name has 9 letters. Coincidence? I think not...

In reply to Bas

#Oct 12th @ 2:58 AM

At the only proper company I've ever worked for (Unit4Agresso) we had free Cup-a-Soup (and tea/coffee), but that was the extent of it.

At Tokyo University we have free hot water (so you can bring your own tea bags or powder Tongue Out ).

Bas
It finds lightbulbs.

In reply to Sven Groot

#Oct 12th @ 3:15 AM

Was that the Unit4Aggresso along the A15? The one in Sliedrecht? That I pass everyday on my way to work? *twilightzonetheme*

blowdart
Peek-a-boo

In reply to Bas

#Oct 12th @ 2:58 AM

Yea but look who started the thread. The restaurant he buses at just allows him to pick at spare food.

Sven Groot
My name has 9 letters. Coincidence? I think not...

In reply to Bas

#Oct 12th @ 4:29 AM

Yep, it was. But didn't we already discover before that you live relatively close to where I used to live? Smiley

RoyalSchrubber
One. How many time travellers does it take to change a lightbulb?

In reply to Sven Groot

#Oct 12th @ 3:15 AM

We have hot water at uni too. Only I figured that by filling a plastic cup half-full, holding it at the top and then burning my mouth. Perplexed

May28th2018
May 28th, 2018

In reply to Dr Herbie

#Oct 12th @ 12:16 AM

Our cafeteria is free too for lunch and breakfast.

They have a similar setup at Google. I am not sure about Microsoft. I will say that many software companies in California have no choice but to offer this as the best programmers will go elsewhere if they are pressed to cook or pay for meals.

Google was doing people's laundry too, and free massages(not sure those included a happy ending LOL). Our company won't go that far. .... yet

As far as free soft drinks, we used to have those, but our managers took them away when they started to cause a health problem. We now have free OJ, other juices, cold and hot tea and coffee.

As far as the UK, we don't have the same situation here. The cost of free food and snacks is far less than the cost of losing good programmers and having to hire slackers. The employment situation abroad is a little more desperate than CA.

Dr Herbie
Horses for courses

In reply to May28th2018

#Oct 12th @ 7:15 AM

It might also be cultural : personally I'd rather have my 25 days holiday (plus public holidays) and no free food than the other way around. The USA seems to have a culture that is happy to have fewer holidays.

I was working on a theory that the UK has long holidays because so many people enjoy playing cricket and a full cricket game can take days, so players need a lot of spare time Smiley

Herbie

plathrop

In reply to Dr Herbie

#Oct 12th @ 2:26 AM

I bring a flask of tea each day too. It can cause caffeine jitters if I drink it too soon after coffee in the morning.

Harlequin
http://twitter.com/TrueHarlequin

In reply to Bas

#Oct 12th @ 2:58 AM

Game companies usually have a nice kitchen full of fridges of free drinks and tons of food.

vesuvius
Das Glasperlenspiel

In reply to Harlequin

#Oct 12th @ 9:09 AM

With programmers wearing Metallica T-Shirts.

Thing is, it depends on the company, its size and ethos. I'd prefer free private medical health insurance as opposed to free snacks.

I would write more in this post, but the guy on the left of this link is the person that posted so this is leading up to a flame-bait i.e. controversial posts in this thread, or in the next 2 or 3, once he's softened you up with general chit-chat and his circumlocutive and abundantly trite cajolery.

exoteric
I : Next<I>

@work: There's a free for all ice freezer, soft drink fridge and a refrigerated snack room. In parallel a lot of focus on exercise and healthy living and food labels. So it's a funny mix. Pay to play, it's hard to loose what you gain. (Let's hope not vesuvius, but history says you're right.)

ManipUni
Proving QQ for 5 years!

I agree. The amount of time off the US gets is criminal...

Italy   42 days
France   37 days
Germany   35 days
Brazil   34 days
United Kingdom   28 days
Canada   26 days
Korea   25 days
Japan   25 days
U.S.   13 days

52% lower than the next worst with most jobs offering NO time off at all. With the US's healthcare system that lets the poor die, slave labour levels of pay, and complete lack of vacation time you have to wonder if it is a first world or third world country....

Microsoft's US branch gets - Time off. Starting your first year, you’ll have 15 paid vacation days, 10 paid sick-leave days, eight paid U.S. holidays, and two paid discretionary personal holidays.

The UK's isn't the highest but I'm fine with my 28 days.

ScanIAm
On a scale of 1 to 10, people are stupid.

In reply to ManipUni

#Oct 12th @ 10:38 AM

It's not that US workers love food more than vacation time, it's that US companies improve productivity by working their employees more hours and if you keep them fed and full of caffeine, they are less likely to revolt. And food is cheaper than wages.