Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
We used to have a cafeteria that wasn't free, but the prices were good and the food was pretty decent. They had hot and cold items for breakfast, a grill where the workers cooked omelets to orders, etc. It was possible to eat a healthy, hot dinner at lunchtime for a really reasonable price, and there was a complete salad bar every day.
Nowadays all we've got is an area we call the "pantry" on my floor. There's a fridge and a sink and a microwave. Many of us bring food from home and heat it up, because in Manhattan, it can cost you $5.00 for a grilled cheese sandwich at a deli.
Only once in a while now do we have lunch provided for. As a matter of fact, one of those times is next week. There will be two days of all-day working meetings for a particular project. I've been informed that the client department is providing lunch--they don't want us to go anywhere for fear we might not return, I guess!
I worked for Superior Oil in the good ole days. It had a cafeteria and offered free breakfasts, free hot lunches and free snack foods/drinks for breaks to all employees. When it moved from California to Texas, it stopped offering the free hot lunches but still offered free breakfasts and snacks all day long.
Chesapeake E&P in Oklahoma City has a large fitness center that, as I understand, is free to all employees. It includes a swimming pool, indoor track, exercise/weights room and other niceties.
We used to have a cafeteria that wasn't free, but the prices were good and the food was pretty decent. They had hot and cold items for breakfast, a grill where the workers cooked omelets to orders, etc. It was possible to eat a healthy, hot dinner at lunchtime for a really reasonable price, and there was a complete salad bar every day.
Nowadays all we've got is an area we call the "pantry" on my floor. There's a fridge and a sink and a microwave. Many of us bring food from home and heat it up, because in Manhattan, it can cost you $5.00 for a grilled cheese sandwich at a deli.
Only once in a while now do we have lunch provided for. As a matter of fact, one of those times is next week. There will be two days of all-day working meetings for a particular project. I've been informed that the client department is providing lunch--they don't want us to go anywhere for fear we might not return, I guess!
$5.00 for a grilled cheese sandwich is quite high. Can you name some other high priced items at a manhattan deli ?
When I worked in the office of a country club, we got free lunches every day. It was an incentive not to leave the club and you could always be interrupted while eating by one of the members who needed something. I liked it bec it meant not clocking out for lunch, plus a free lunch.
I also got a free lunch when I worked in a hotel. They didn't want their staff leaving for meals either. We did have to clock out for that.
When I was a waitress at a national chain, food was half off, and soups and dinner salads were free.
$5.00 for a grilled cheese sandwich is quite high. Can you name some other high priced items at a manhattan deli ?
Here you go! This is my favorite deli--it's right across the street from the World Trade Center and offers a special lunch deal every day just for the workers at the construction site. Alas, I was relocated to another office in another part of Manhattan in July and only get down that way for meetings once or twice a month now.
I clicked on hot sandwiches and Essex's grilled cheese is only $3.50. I saw the grilled cheese for $4.95 last week in another deli in my current work neighborhood, but I can't remember the name of the place. What a ripoff! Essex always has good soup, too.
I usually bring my lunch, but if not, I go to Emma's Dilemma. Have never actually bought a sandwich here, although I've gotten their burgers--pretty good. Most of the time I do their buffet bar, where you can get hot or cold dishes for a certain price per pound. They have a pretty good variety of stuff.
Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
16,259 posts, read 24,766,887 times
Reputation: 3587
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaSkorpion
What do you guys and ladies think about the company you work for providing free lunch to employees once or twice a week.
I work for a software company which provides free lunch to all employees once a week -- they send menus around and we all get to pick what we want for lunch.....does this happen anywhere else or just at my place.
I am curious to know because all the other places I used to work at never had this free lunch policy....and also what do you think about this free lunch policy?
Nice. I used to work for Cingular and when we were owned by BellSouth and Ameritech, we would get treated to lunch or breakfast once a month is we had no accidents or on the job injuries in the prior month. We also had free coffee in the office. After AT&T bought us, they ripped out the free coffee machines and did away with the lunch thing.
My view is that those things really do not cost a company very much and they make employees feel good about their work, their team and the company as a whole.
I spent five years working for a property management company that offered free lunch to all employees every day as part of the benefits. The company owned several private residence halls (college dormitories) with cafeterias, and each employee could get a free meal there daily.
In the entire time I worked there, I literally never once ate the free lunch. Smelling it from across the parking lot was bad enough - it combined all the worst aspects of school cafeteria food and took them to a whole new level of awfulness.
And meanwhile, of course, all of the other benefits offered were at the bare-bones minimum that they could get away with. The one that irritated me the most was the three days a year of use-it-or-lose-it sick leave: if you didn't get sick during the year, too bad, so sad, you lose your three days of sick leave. Funny how many folks would suddenly fall ill in the final couple of weeks before their work anniversary came around. But it wasn't funny at all when one housekeeper had to declare bankruptcy after a long illness, because even though she had never used a sick day in 20 years, the company would only cover three days of sick leave for her during her illness.
I'm afraid that the whole "free lunch" idea just doesn't seem to me like much of a benefit. I'd far rather have top-notch health coverage, a good 401(k) plan and a reasonable sick leave philosophy.
We go at least twice a month. After we do a big inspection or something along those lines, our boss takes us out to say 'thank you'. Since I'm also 'technically' in the accounting department, I get to tag along for those work lunches as well.
I really like going out with my bosses and coworkers, they're a lot of fun
I think it is a good gesture towards the employees -- trying to lift employee morale. At my company they provide a soup and salad bar for everyone each time we have our quarterly All Employee meetings. This is the only company I ever worked at that did such a thing.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
