The Guardian · US news · Original story
The office lunch was once a luxury. Now it’s just a pain | Dave Schilling
A Mad Men-style steakhouse break would be welcome. But I’ve had it with the Lunch Industrial Complex
It’s 12.30pm as I write this. My mind is preoccupied with moving my fingers from key to key on my ageing laptop, a task I paused briefly to remove a hair from the screen. Then, I scratched my leg again, which kicked up another hair. I should get back to work, but I can’t concentrate. Why? Because I’m incredibly hungry. It is, after all, lunchtime – the most worthless part of any work day.
It is not that there’s shame in lunch. It’s just that we’re not programmed to eat at a certain time. We’re all different and the whole concept of the office lunch is obsolete nonsense in 2026. Let it go.
Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist
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Dave Schilling · Sat, May 23, 2026, 9:00 AM
US news | The Guardian
A Mad Men-style steakhouse break would be welcome. But I’ve had it with the Lunch Industrial Complex
It’s 12.30pm as I write this. My mind is preoccupied with moving my fingers from key to key on my ageing laptop, a task I paused briefly to remove a hair from the screen. Then, I scratched my leg again, which kicked up another hair. I should get back to work, but I can’t concentrate. Why? Because I’m incredibly hungry. It is, after all, lunchtime – the most worthless part of any work day.
It is not that there’s shame in lunch. It’s just that we’re not programmed to eat at a certain time. We’re all different and the whole concept of the office lunch is obsolete nonsense in 2026. Let it go.
Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist
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