How to stop a colleague from talking to me about work when I'm on my lunch break?

Question

More often than not, I eat my lunch at my desk. There aren't any shops or cafés nearby, so this suits me just fine. I usually put my headphones in and browse the news or SE to take a break from work.

Occasionally, colleagues will come over to discuss/ask about something we've been working on, despite there being a meal on my table and zero evidence of work on my screen. These queries normally take a couple of minutes (if that) to discuss, and wouldn't usually bother me.

Today however, I've had two people coming back and forth with work requests for the past 20 minutes; asking me to open various documents and make amendments then and there while they stood over my shoulder. As a result, my lunch has gone cold and is inedible. It seems like common courtesy to me to not disrupt somebody who is evidently on their lunch break. How can I interrupt a colleague, and stop them from discussing work with me until after my lunch break without being rude?

Answer 1

How can I interrupt a colleague, and stop them from discussing work with me until after my lunch break without being rude?

Especially if you're eating a hot meal, where I'm from (Netherlands) it's perfectly fine to say something like:

'Sorry, I'll be with you in < however long your lunch break will last >. Right now, I'd prefer to eat my meal before it gets cold. (Optionally) Or can't it wait until after lunch break?

It's what I did when I started the new job. I regularly have warm meals for lunch, and also eat them at my desk.

Acknowledge the fact that they have a question. Also, let them know that you're on a lunch-break now and that you won't work during that. Make a promise that their question will be handled as soon as your break is over. Ask them if it can wait, so that if it's really urgent, you can show some goodwill and do it anyway. This last point does carry the risk that everything will become urgent, so use at your own risk. Don't offer the option if you're not willing to risk someone using it.

The problem here is that you've been doing work (answering questions about work = also work) during lunch for a while now, so people will initially find it weird when you suddenly say 'not now, lunch'. If people look a bit strange, you can explain it to them the same as you did to us. Working during your break regularly leads to cold/inedible meals and you've decided that it was time for a change.

You need to be consistent about this: Either you don't answer any questions/do any work at all during lunch break, or you do all of it. So make a new boundary, communicate it patiently to people and stick to it, and in a few days/weeks/months people will get it, and hopefully come to your desk, see your lunch and ask "Hey Cthulhu, once your lunch is done, could you help me with this?" (which is what my co-workers do now)

Answer 2

I had the opportunity to work side-by-side with a database administrator that saw herself forced in a very similar situation.

She proceeded to print a poster, not entirely unlike the one below, and hang it by the entrance of her office bay at noon:

It worked wonders. She got chuckles out of some, grunts from others, but the lunchtime pestering ended. Your mileage may vary, though.

Answer 3

This is the difference between lunch and a lunch break. You're getting your lunch but you're not getting a break! No wonder you're irritated.

If you are entitled to a break (and most people are, either by legislation or by local company policy) then it must be a break from working.

I understand your reasons for eating at your desk, but that doesn't mean it is the best thing to do; nor does it mean you can't change your routine if you wish to. Lots of people change their eating habits (for example beginning a new diet) and they don't owe anybody an explanation. You could find somewhere else to eat, or even eat at your desk and then take the remaining time out of the office, perhaps go for a walk?

If you must eat at your desk, don't feel bad about saying "I'm on my lunch, come back in 30 minutes" or similar. They will soon get the message, but you must be consistent in your stand. If anybody mentions that you used to allow interruptions just tell them that you don't anymore (although I can't imagine anyone doing this).

Answer 4

I used to be the one on the other end of this kind of situation. Where I worked, in various companies, it was normal to eat at the desk and it was often unclear if that person was working+eating or having a break.

In any case, in the line of work I am in, it's pretty inappropriate to interrupt someone at their desk anyway. You always have to start any interaction with something like:

"Excuse me, do you have a second?"

Working in anything administrative or white collar, it's a real pain if someone interrupts your train of thought, never mind your lunch. (This is why I am militantly opposed to open space offices. I think they are the bane of modern society. )

I used to be the tactless one who walked up to people and just launched into technical questions, and these are the kinds of responses it would have been reasonable to expect (UK).

"For Chrissakes I am eating are you blind?"

"I am having my lunch."

"Get lost I am eating."

"Sorry, I am having a break right now."

"Please, let me enjoy my food, I don't want to think about work right now."

These are what I would call typical, and normal responses in a UK work environment. Frankly, and rightly so. If you want to tone it down, go ahead. Politeness often helps (but often not!)

Answer 5

Does your workplace not provide "break out" areas, or a canteen or social space? I think the only long term solution to this - if you want to stop people approaching you while you are eating - is to avoid eating at your desk. Even if some people eventually learn that you eat between X - Y time and you don't like being disturbed, new staff and those unfamiliar with your personal habits aren't going to know this. In most places I've ever worked, "being at your desk" equals "I'm working", regardless of what you are doing at the time.

If you can find a quiet place to sit, away from your normal work area, then have your lunch there instead. Use your phone/laptop for music and browsing the net if that's what you like to do. I just don't think there is a polite and lasting solution that will enable you to remain at your desk without risk of being disturbed. I've had the same problem in the past and finding somewhere else to eat was ultimately how I solved it.

Answer 6

I would recommend sending quick email note just letting your immediate co-workers know that you care about their productivity and want them to be able to continue working while you are at lunch but unless it is an incredibly urgent issue to please just send you an email while you are at lunch. I would try to add a bit of humor and perhaps a cute meme to keep it light and humorous to avoid making anyone feel as though you are annoyed with them.

When you send a general comment in this way it will get the reminder out there without making any one person feel singled out. You may have to remind co-workers a couple of times when they come over to you during lunch. Be sure to counter a reminder that you are eating your lunch with the fact that you are happy to help them but you just need to take your break to recharge and if it can wait for you to finish you would really appreciate it.

Don't expect your co-workers to know when you are at lunch and do your best to be consistent with your lunch times if you can. You don't want to be needlessly bothered, but if there is a fire in the building you don't want your co-workers to be nervous about interrupting your meal to tell you. You need to communicate when you feel they should come to you and what situations are less urgent and can wait or work out a system with another senior worker to stagger your lunches so you could cover for each other if that is something that would work.

It will be more effective to tell your co-workers how to best request your help rather than to tell them don't bug me. Put a system in place that will work for you to better triage their requests and give them a course of action if they feel they need help while you are at lunch. You want to empower them rather than make them feel like they are bothersome. Sometimes just writing a question out via email answers the question so this might help to eliminate some of the requests right from the beginning.

Answer 7

The issue here, which has been pointed out, is that you're sat at your desk during your lunch. This indicates to everyone, regardless of the food on your desk or StackExchange on your screen, you could possibly still be working.

The further issue is, as well, it sounds like this has happened for a while. It also sounds like you've answered those questions. So you've set the standards for your colleagues: even if I have food on my desk and no work on my screen, I'm available for work talk

I've had this happen to me, and the "best" way to deal with it was to be short with them. As soon as they've asked the question, I would reply, bluntly, "Can you not see that I'm on my break?". More often than not, I would be told that they thought I was working because I was at my desk.

From my point of view, the only solution is to remove yourself from your desk for your lunch. This isn't always possible I know, especially where I work, but I often drive to a car park nearby and read a book, or I walk around the block and listen to something. The positive to this is that I feel more refreshed when I get back to work and I actually feel like I've had a break.

Answer 8

Put up a (highly visible) sign. "Out to lunch. Do not disturb. Back shortly." Take it down when you're done. They'll get the message. Especially if you ignore them. Why this instead of talk? OP does not want to be disturbed/interrupted. Needing to respond verbally is itself an interruption. If colleagues read the sign there does not even have to be any disturbing interaction/conversation. "Interpersonal" sometimes includes "Please leave me alone." If the concern is "I want a break from thinking specifically about work", that could be included in the sign, but that might taken as a license to talk about sports or politics. My experience is that without a very strong and definitive boundary, that boundary will not be respected.

Answer 9

My thoughts align with Will Appleby and mickburkejnr, but I'm going to take a more hardline approach than they and others have in their answers.

You are at your desk, in the office, during business hours? Yup, you're at work. If I have a problem that needs urgent fixing, and the person responsible for that fixing is in the office, I am going to ask them to fix it. If it is really urgent, I have no problem looking over their shoulder and having them do it while I wait.

There's another problem than than just you making yourself available, you are also distracting others who are working. Food smells - especially if you're eating a hot meal - internal vocalisation on news you read, scrunching up food wrapping materials etc, all contribute to decreased productivity. Studies show 15 minutes of 'in-the-zone' time can be lost when concentration is broken. This is especially the case in open plan/partitioned offices which I'm guessing you have as otherwise the solution is simply 'close the door'.

Even if you don't get interrupted by other staff, as Astralbee points out, you are still having lunch, not a lunch break, if you are sitting on your work chair, at your work desk, using your work computer. For your health, it's far better to be in a different (non-work) environment when you are taking a break from work.

So, in short, do the right thing by yourself and your colleagues. Don't eat lunch at your desk. Just don't do it. This seems like common courtesy to me.

Answer 10

From my personal experience, hanging around the work desk to take advantage of lunch hours does not lend well to be left in peace about work. Some people won't get it. Even if staying inside it is better off to head to the cafeteria, or to designated places for eating (if any).

One possibility that other answers do not cover is enlisting the help of other closer workmates that have different hours for eating for "indoctrination"; when people popped by at lunch hours searching for workmates I asked them in polite terms why they were searching them at lunch time.

Back in my last work, we dealt with a lot of different kind of departments, and bureaucracy was not that rigid, so we had often lots of people searching for us, including during lunch breaks.

Usually what we did, especially when people were searching for colleagues, or people directed to us by the helpdesk, was saying "he is in a lunch break". We were not rude, however, we also said in a way as kind "he is supposed to be on his lunch break". With people which I were more used to deal with (which was a lot), I usually said "You know it is our lunch time, right?". Usually that was even more effective when someone else was saying that.

People usually said they would come back later on, and over time we had less people coming or sent our way during lunch breaks.