That is one of the communist legacies that we should be thankful about. In Serbia I always worked 8 hours a day brutto, and that included ~1h of breaks for lunc

That is one of the communist legacies that we should be thankful about. In Serbia I always worked 8 hours a day brutto, and that included ~1h of breaks for lunch, coffee chitchat and so. Now in Germany I work 8:45 because the company automatically deducts 0:30 for lunch and 0:15 for breakfast. So you see people staring at the walls in cantine and waiting for 30m to pass although they would rather eat for 10m and go home 20m earlier every day. And it's not like I do more now in 8d netto than I did before in 7h, it's just more exhausting and pointless. I guess without these German "employee protection rules" I would be allowed to clock out exact time spend eating and go home earlier, which would in turn make me same half an hour every day and in general make happier and more productive employee.