10 ms·

Not sure why you think free food is traded for free time. Free food helps me use my time at work more effectively. I usually have breakfast and lunch with teamm

Not sure why you think free food is traded for free time. Free food helps me use my time at work more effectively. I usually have breakfast and lunch with teammates, and it's a mix of socialization and work-related conversations. Half an hour in the free cafe > 45-90 minutes going someplace to buy food.

bloomer 8y ago
So do you get to go home 45-90 minutes earlier then? I think that is what the original comment was questioning.
- ddcompc 8y ago
  You are treated like an adult so you "get to go home" whenever you choose to go home. Seriously, if you're working somewhere where people care what time you go home, you can really do better!
- jogjayr 8y ago
  Most software companies in the Bay Area have flexible time. Just like everywhere else, Google SWEs don't punch a clock. You go home when you feel you've done as much as you can for the day.
  - Cthulhu_ 8y ago
    I'm jealous; my current job is billed by the hour, so I have to be able to describe every hour I've worked. Mind you that's usually a fixed 8 hour / day logged on project X, so having to write them down isn't a problem. But I can't go home early without feeling guilt; I mean I can, but that also means I have to do overtime sometime else in the month, to make sure the hours all check out at the end of the month.
    - quickthrower2 8y ago
      You have to describe every hour, but not necessarily work every hour.
  - njepa 8y ago
    Many places allow you to set your own hours when things are good. The real questions is things like if you get in early to beat traffic and something happens in the afternoon can you still leave without being considered "not a team player" for not "just fixing that thing we need for the meeting tomorrow"? Is the same true if you didn't get in early?
    - jogjayr 8y ago
      Not many things are so urgent they can't wait until the following day. But if something like that did come up, you could just leave at your regular time and continue working at home to fix the problem.
- paxys 8y ago
  "Free food" mainly means free breakfast, lunch, coffee and snacks. Hardly anyone I know stays late for dinner.
  - Cthulhu_ 8y ago
    It is nice to know you're being taken care of in the (hopefully rare) cases you do have to work late. And there's probably people working in ops that have an evening shift.
  - hopler 8y ago
    Are you over 30? Dinner is big for young/single people who don't want to cook/clean or go out every day, and who like to sleep late.
- QuercusMax 8y ago
  I typically work ~8-4, with some occasional time in the evenings. So, yes.
andreareina 8y ago
Personal preference obviously but I like getting away from work for lunch. After eating if it's nice out I'll actually just sit myself on a bench and chill. 15, 30 minutes doing that is worth so much more to me than leaving work that much earlier.
- hopler 8y ago
  You can do that with a free lunch too.
randomsearch 8y ago
Isn’t the purpose of the free food to make you spend more time at work? Seems logical that the alternative is more time at home.
- lazyasciiart 8y ago
  But it's not free time at home. It's time cooking and meal planning and grocery shopping. And maybe that's with family and friends, but for many people it's probably done alone.
  - Insanity 8y ago
    I would expect that for many people, especially those with kids, dinner is a time for getting together with the family.
    - hopler 8y ago
      That's the fantasy, yes. In reality, a professional working parent usually gets home after the kids eat.
      - Insanity 8y ago
        I feel like this might depend on the culture, and how late you usually eat dinner etc.. Because well, kids usually don't tend to cook for themselves so the parents end up cooking for them and eating with them. That might be my bubble though, my friends / family have jobs that allow them to leave work around 5-ish and with school ending somewhere between 4-5, it's not that much after the kids are home. (or they pick up the kids after school).
        lazyasciiart 8y ago
        Kids definitely can and do cook for themselves? I've also known families who would make and freeze dinners for the week so the kids just had to reheat them on weekdays. Or one parent gets home earlier and has dinner with the kids, but the other one will be later.

bloomer 8y ago

So do you get to go home 45-90 minutes earlier then? I think that is what the original comment was questioning.

ddcompc 8y ago
You are treated like an adult so you "get to go home" whenever you choose to go home. Seriously, if you're working somewhere where people care what time you go home, you can really do better!
jogjayr 8y ago
Most software companies in the Bay Area have flexible time. Just like everywhere else, Google SWEs don't punch a clock. You go home when you feel you've done as much as you can for the day.
- Cthulhu_ 8y ago
  I'm jealous; my current job is billed by the hour, so I have to be able to describe every hour I've worked. Mind you that's usually a fixed 8 hour / day logged on project X, so having to write them down isn't a problem. But I can't go home early without feeling guilt; I mean I can, but that also means I have to do overtime sometime else in the month, to make sure the hours all check out at the end of the month.
  - quickthrower2 8y ago
    You have to describe every hour, but not necessarily work every hour.
- njepa 8y ago
  Many places allow you to set your own hours when things are good. The real questions is things like if you get in early to beat traffic and something happens in the afternoon can you still leave without being considered "not a team player" for not "just fixing that thing we need for the meeting tomorrow"? Is the same true if you didn't get in early?
  - jogjayr 8y ago
    Not many things are so urgent they can't wait until the following day. But if something like that did come up, you could just leave at your regular time and continue working at home to fix the problem.
paxys 8y ago
"Free food" mainly means free breakfast, lunch, coffee and snacks. Hardly anyone I know stays late for dinner.
- Cthulhu_ 8y ago
  It is nice to know you're being taken care of in the (hopefully rare) cases you do have to work late. And there's probably people working in ops that have an evening shift.
- hopler 8y ago
  Are you over 30? Dinner is big for young/single people who don't want to cook/clean or go out every day, and who like to sleep late.
QuercusMax 8y ago
I typically work ~8-4, with some occasional time in the evenings. So, yes.

andreareina 8y ago

Personal preference obviously but I like getting away from work for lunch. After eating if it's nice out I'll actually just sit myself on a bench and chill. 15, 30 minutes doing that is worth so much more to me than leaving work that much earlier.

hopler 8y ago
You can do that with a free lunch too.

randomsearch 8y ago

Isn’t the purpose of the free food to make you spend more time at work? Seems logical that the alternative is more time at home.

lazyasciiart 8y ago
But it's not free time at home. It's time cooking and meal planning and grocery shopping. And maybe that's with family and friends, but for many people it's probably done alone.
- Insanity 8y ago
  I would expect that for many people, especially those with kids, dinner is a time for getting together with the family.
  - hopler 8y ago
    That's the fantasy, yes. In reality, a professional working parent usually gets home after the kids eat.
    - Insanity 8y ago
      I feel like this might depend on the culture, and how late you usually eat dinner etc.. Because well, kids usually don't tend to cook for themselves so the parents end up cooking for them and eating with them. That might be my bubble though, my friends / family have jobs that allow them to leave work around 5-ish and with school ending somewhere between 4-5, it's not that much after the kids are home. (or they pick up the kids after school).
      - lazyasciiart 8y ago
        Kids definitely can and do cook for themselves? I've also known families who would make and freeze dinners for the week so the kids just had to reheat them on weekdays. Or one parent gets home earlier and has dinner with the kids, but the other one will be later.