Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 20, 1994 TAG: 9403150151
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By Linda Shrieves ORLANDO SENTINEL
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"They all complain when I bring salmon. That stuff stinks up the whole office," said Constantino, who owns Constantino Advertising in Maitland, Fla. "Needless to say, I'm not bringing salmon to work much, for the sake of the employees."
The American workplace is not the sterile, strait-laced setting of the gray flannel suit era. Today it's an odorous environment.
The smell of French fries wafts through the office, thanks to the guy who ran out for fast food. Or there's the pungent aroma of Indian food, leftovers from a colleague's brown bag. And don't forget the smell of microwave Weight Watchers dinners.
These days, we're not exactly singing while we work. More of us are munching.
According to National Eating Trends, a survey by NPD Group, a Chicago market research company, the number of meals workers bought at restaurants but ate at their offices rose 29 percent in the past decade. In another survey, NPD found the number brown-bagging leaped 31 percent in the past 10 years.
"It's a sign of the times," said Mark Freche, who owns National Building Services, an Orlando, Fla., janitorial service. "Nobody's having fun anymore. Nobody's going to lunch. We're all just working so hard."
One question. Why?
1. To save money.
2. Workers are scrambling to keep up with their heavy loads.
3. Many people are bringing their lunch because they are watching their weight.
Are employees more productive when they stay at their desks for lunch?
Productivity experts aren't exactly lining up to study this subject. But Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a University of Chicago professor who studies time management, believes many workers have ulterior motives for eating at their desks.
"My experience is that, when people eat lunch at their desk, they are trying to save some time to go out jogging and shopping," Csikszentmihalyi said. For example, the guy who works out on his lunch hour and then eats a sandwich at his desk.
"Both working and eating are things that you have to do but they're not a lot of fun," he said. "You don't look forward to them, so if you can combine the two activities, you can save time for something you really enjoy."
Of course, there are exceptions. "Some hotshot executives moving up - they do it so they can cram more work in their schedules," he said.
This eating and working thing may be a white-collar phenomenon.
At Martin Marietta Corp., the company has two cafeterias, but many of the office workers can be found at their desks during lunch hour.
"You see it all the time," said Doug McCurrach, a company spokesman. "And we're always eating at meetings. Whether it's the presenter or the president of the company, everybody does it. Someone will get up, grab a sandwich off a buffet tray and continue on."
Gary Constantino began eating at work two years ago because he had so much to do that eating out seemed like a luxury.
"I started eating lunch here because there's just no time any more," Constantino said. "These days, the only time we eat out is with a client. But I have to say, this works out better for me."
But are eating and working compatible?
Eating in a rush - and you're more likely to eat in a hurry if you're eating at your desk - is not good, said Barb Friedrich, a registered dietitian at Florida Hospital in Orlando.
"A lot of indigestion is caused by eating too fast," Friedrich said. "Eating should be relaxing. If you only have 10 minutes to eat, eat only 10 minutes' worth of food. That is, eat an apple - not a burger and fries."
Cleaning up after hordes of munching workers is no picnic. Not only do crumbs get ground into the office carpet, but the refrigerator becomes a biology lab for molds and green slime on forgotten leftovers. The food can also attract unwanted visitors. Periodically, janitorial services have to call in exterminators for ant, roach and even mouse populations.
But small messes are the immediate problem.
"The worst is something greasy like fried chicken," said Freche, the janitorial service owner. "It leaves the desk all smudged up; then you've got to take everything off the desk and clean up the whole desk."
And there's nothing like a drink - half-finished - thrown into a trash can. "Then when you have to change the garbage can liner, everything in it is floating," Freche said. "It's gross."
Cleanup crews aren't the only ones who clean up after inveterate eaters.
Said computer technician Tom Larkin of Business Machine Repair in Orlando, "They're all the time spilling stuff. When people eat at their desks, there's food, crumbs and stuff all in the keyboard. It's kind of nasty."
"You know what we find most in machines?" says Sharon Paul, Larkin's co-worker. "Roaches, cat hair and roach feces."
by CNB