Lunch breaks

When I was doing overnight linehaul, I definitely viewed the lunch break as unpaid time that only impeded me from getting back home as early as possible, where I could cook an actual meal before bed.

My current job allows for a one hour paid break every day, and I absolutely take advantage of that.

 

I usually use my break for a quick nap, since i already ate my lunch early on. Lol

 

When I worked at Reddaway/Holland they took 30 minutes out of checks automatically. Kinda hated it because I would much rather just work through it and go home. I usually ended up placing myself out of service at a customer if I knew it would take a long time to get the "legal" log portion done and then I would take my actual lunch break at the end of the day.

Fast forward now and I shuttle a tanker back and forth. I rarely take a break that lasts longer than 10 minutes. Once or twice a week if my work schedule goes wonky I might pull off of the interstate and take a 10 minute power nap.

 

My mom drove trucks, so she taught me to drive a car like she'd been driving a truck since the early 90s. She was big on eating while driving to save time and I adopted the same habit. I've got the mobile dining thing down to a science now. I'm able to eat noodles (w/ fork or chopsticks), cereal (w/ milk) and salads as I ease down the road.

 

Well, as usual, that depends greatly on the job. For a good portion of my work history, a break was a waste of time. I could be that much closer to going home. Some jobs, like dump trucks getting paid by the load, was downright stupid and frowned upon to stop. You could lose a load, a whole $12 bucks! In fact, most companies liked the fact I wasn't dangling around some truck stop for a half hour. That all changed when I got my union bread job. My 1 and only union trucking job. Maybe 10 full time drivers, I did my usual, bring my lunch and thermos of coffee, , and just run out my deliveries, maybe a short cup, and a thermos refill, and a bag of jelly beans, to go later on. The management loved it, and asked me, "say H-------, how is it you get done with these runs so much quicker than the other drivers?" Well, boss, I don't stop, and want to get home. ASAP. THEN,,get this, the "head driver" comes up to me, and says, "I see you were talking to the boss",,yeah, so? "No sir, you have a problem you go to the union steward, they will go to the boss",,,okay, THEN, he says, "I notice you come in earlier than the others on these runs",, yeah, so? No sir, are you taking your breaks? " What breaks? You go to Elkart, IN, drop and hook and come home, what do you need a break for? He got really pixxed, I thought he was kidding, but he looked at me and said, "we fought hard for those breaks in the strike of '89,,, you take those breaks"! I never did, and all those union drivers got replaced by outside carriers,,,

 

I take one everyday because they take it out of my check.

I hate the guys that don’t take their lunch break and work for free because all it does is show management they can try and bully other people.

“Rex doesn’t take his lunch. Rex takes his lunch at the end of the shift at the terminal”.

Dang boot lickers

 

I personally hated taking the ‘off-duty’ 30 minute break, especially when running local deliveries. For me, it was a momentum killer. This supposed break left me more tired than before the break. I much favored getting home 1/2 hour sooner.

 

I usually (but not always) do regional runs, so I rarely need to pull over for a mandatory 30, and even then, I try to make the time productive by stopping for fuel (I don’t spend the whole 30 minutes at the pump unless there’s no one behind me, I pull up and even go park if they’re busy).

As for eating lunch, I’m what could be charitably referred to as “portly”, and these days I usually only eat two meals a day. I keep string cheese sticks in the fridge for a quick snack, but I rarely eat a full lunch.

 

When I was at big green and the state I was in there were a lot of rules around lunch breaks. Because of that and the company lawyers, basically you didn't get lunch breaks.

A lunch break had to be taken before 5 hours or you couldn't take one at all. You got a lunch break every 5 hours worked. So 10+ hours allowed for two. It had to be over 30 mins no matter what, anything over 31 was an issue as well. You weren't allowed a lunch break if you didn't work at least 4 hours.

Running "PM" combo I'd get a P&D route around 8-9am that was all the random crap and guaranteed #### the regulars couldn't get. So you'd be scheduled with 6-8 hours of P&D work that was all emergency freight that had to be delivered no matter what.

This meant you worked past 5 hours so no lunch breaks allowed. Then you could get back and finish out your 14 on the dock at break neck pace as well because that was running behind. So 14 hours without anything to eat.

Made for a very cranky trucker/forklift driver Especially with an hour commute back and forth everyday. 1 massive meal a day first thing in the morning and nothing else.