
Say Goodbye to Spain's Three-Hour Lunch Break - danso
https://www.citylab.com/life/2017/07/say-goodbye-to-spains-glorious-three-hour-lunch-break/534120/
======
mcjiggerlog
Literally nobody here takes 3 hour lunch breaks. A lot of offices have 2
hours, yeah, but this is becoming less and less common regardless. Small shops
do close for 3 hours in the middle of the day, but they are open till about
9pm which is a lot more useful than being open in the middle of the day. It
also should be noted that there are actually 5 meals in a spaniard's day.
There's a mid-morning and late-afternoon snack, which is the actual reason for
the "late" lunch and dinners.

Also, all changing the timezone would do is give us useless light early in the
morning and less light in the evening to go out and play sports, hang out in
the park etc. People would still eat at the same time regardless. It gets dark
at 6pm in the winter and 10pm in the summer. It's not exactly crazy.

~~~
jitix
> It gets dark at 6pm in the winter and 10pm in the summer

I dont think its natural anywhere in the world. What time is sunrise during
winter?

~~~
hueving
Check out any place towards the northern end of the US at the west edge of its
time zone. (e.g Kalispell, MT). Exactly the same.

~~~
jitix
But thats a small region - not an entire country. I can't imagine waking up at
8:00 am while its dark.

~~~
kobeya
Canada.

------
professorTuring
I'm from Spain and this article does not represent Spain. Let me expand on
this.

The typical workday in Spain (no matter if you are a worker or in an office)
goes from 7:00/9:00 to 15:00/18:00. This is usually a 8 hours work day (a lot
of unpaid extra hours are quite typical in any IT job).

Usually there are two stops before lucnh, one at the beginning of the day,
usually 15 minutes to have a coffee with coworkers and another one of 15-20
minutes at midday (11:00/12:00) to have a piece of fruit or just another
coffee.

At lunch there are two options, the ones that leave job at 15:00 usually eat
at 15:30 - 16:00 (quite late but quite common), the rest takes an hour to have
lunch (usually two dishes and dessert [a bit too much I admit]) and they are
allowed to leave normally when they make 8 hours at work.

There are a lot of flexibility if you are not public facing so you can play a
bit with the arriving/living time (usually you are allowed to arrive up to
10:00 in the morning).

Only people who lives really close to home (up to 10/15 minutes) goes there to
have lunch with their family and they usually also take a power nap of 15
minutes more or less.

Spanish siesta is for Fridays and holidays.

~~~
fhood
Out of curiosity, is it possible that tech jobs follow a more global schedule
than more local/traditional professions?

~~~
gcb0
from someone who lived briefly in madrid: offices take up to 2h lunch. smaller
shops and commerce takes around 3. workday can go up to 8pm, like most offices
around the world and nobody expects extra paid hours.

now, that was changing at the time. big stores, mostly H&M/zara/forever21
style of chinese fashion dump, are open from 9 to 9 like in the US. big
international brands of super markets too.

thats was causing lots of conflicts from unions and such. and that was over 6
years ago. so maybe those companies managed to redefine it in the last decade?

~~~
natzar
smaller shops and commerce takes around 3 ¿?

In spain no one have more than 1hour for lunch.. The only ones that could fit
in that description are cookers or restaurants staff, working in 2 parts.
(12:00 - 16:00) and (20:00 - 23:00). Im from spain btw.

~~~
gcb0
thats was almost a decade ago, but in downtown madrid I couldnt find any local
clothier or bank (other than hsbc) that was open during those ~3H. dont
remember about other type of places.

~~~
RBerenguel
As mentioned elsewhere, though, it's not a 3h break, but 3 hours closed to the
public. Usually 1-2 of those hours is back office, maintenance, inventory,
accounting, etc (well, for banks I'm not sure, but for independent shops
that's definitely the case, usually at least)

------
jorgemf
This is a non-sense of article as other spaniards have commented. The only
companies that close 3 hours in the middle of the day are the shops, usually
small shops. They do it because for long part of the year no one goes to the
street from 2pm to 5pm, because it is so fucking hot. So instead, our culture
close the shops at those times but keep them opens until 9pm or later. It is
very common to see shops full of people from 7pm to 9pm.

Some offices have 2 hours lunch break, which I also find non-sense. But 1 hour
is usually not enough for us for lunch, we don't eat sandwiches, we are used
to do a proper meal with 2 dishes, dessert and coffee.

We also eat quite late, around 2pm or 3pm, but that is mostly because our time
doesn't match the Solar time. We should have 1,5 hour less in our clocks.
Which makes we really eat at 12:30-1pm of sun time. That is what most
countries do as well.

We do take naps, only in summer on our holidays. Usually from 3pm to 5pm,
because as I said, it is so fucking hot in summer at those hours. But any
foreign who is here in summer does the same (actually probably more % of
foreigns take naps than spaniash). People who also have an intense 8hours day
job from 7am to 3pm they also take naps, because they wake up quite early and
the social life starts at 6-7pm.

Bonus: we don't add chorizo to the paella. The chorizo is mostly for the bbq

~~~
pjmlp
> Bonus: we don't add chorizo to the paella. The chorizo is mostly for the bbq

You should try it here in Germany, I was astonied the first time I saw them
adding mayonnaise to the paella.

~~~
jorgemf
As the other commenter said, we also add Alioli, which is mayonnaise with
garlic. Although the original one is only garlic and olive oil. (Ali means
garlic and oli means oil in Valencian)

~~~
Oletros
A pedantic correction, in Catalan/Valencian, garlic is all.

And the sauce in Catalan is allioli, alioli is the Spanish transliteration.

In Spanish doesn't exists the termination -ll and it is pronounced -l

~~~
jorgemf
Thanks!

------
franciscop
I am sorry but this is totally backwards. As a Valencian Spaniard I want to
set the record straight.

First, siesta is not dead. However, it is considered mostly a holiday luxury
or reserved for small shops. It is normal in the extremely hot summer, after
lunch we stop for 1h or so. While I do not do siesta, I would say about half+
of the people I know do it (holiday times). I would also say it is highly
coupled with the summer heat wave though, in winter not so many people do it.

Then, late lunch. First off, Spain is actually in the "wrong" time zone. We
are at the same longitude as UK but it's 1 hour later here. What this means in
practical terms is that when it's 2pm here, it _is_ in 1pm relative to the
light-time/circadian clock.

However that still does not _totally_ explain the really late lunches. The
main reason for that is that we have "almuerzo" at around ~11am (note: the
word "almuerzo" in some zones in Spain is "lunch", and in some others it's a
mid-morning snack, or second breakfast as I like to call it. I mean here the
mid-morning snack). It depends on the job, on the person and on many things,
but it's not uncommon that it consists of a mid-sized sandwich of Spanish
bread. This [random] image is a quite accurate picture of the places where
_almuerzo_ is had and on the type of _almuerzo_ we eat:
[http://cdn.traveler.es/uploads/images/thumbs/es/trav/2/s/201...](http://cdn.traveler.es/uploads/images/thumbs/es/trav/2/s/2016/17/medio_bocata_en_la_pascuala_8514_570x.jpg)

So as you can see, we have a different, important course around 10:30-11:30
that makes us not remain hungry until lunch. Some people prefer lighter snacks
of course. Also, breakfast is normally light as we don't have to worry about
hunger since we have our almuerzo later on. Normally you'd combine breakfast
and _almuerzo_ ; if you have too much breakfast then you have a light
_almuerzo_ or nothing at all, and the same otherwise.

~~~
asendra
Lol, you randomly inserted a picture from one of the most famous locals here
in Valencia, famous for It's enormous "bocadillos" (and good food obviously!)

BTW, that's the half-size "bocadillo" there ;)

~~~
franciscop
Yeah, I picked it up randomly and then realized it was "La Pascuala" (:

~~~
krptr
That place being famous due to their horse steak sandwiches, btw. ;)

------
jordigh
This is also part of Mexican culture, sort of. In Mexico City, we would break
for lunch around 13:00-14:00 and just take our sweet time, no pressure at all
to go back into the office. The workday would end around 18:00-19:00. I think
this has its pro and contra, you get a nice big break in the middle of the
day, time to enjoy your meal, but also you end up staying in the office way
too late. Commute times of one hour are not unusual in Mexico City either, so
your whole day is basically gone on the job.

Note that eating schedules may also be different from the Anglosphere. It took
me a while to get used to a light meal around noon and a heavy meal around
17:00, which seems more common in the US and Canada. In Mexico the big meal of
the day is around 14:00 and you might have a lighter meal, almost a snack,
around 21:00 before bed.

Going home for lunch to eat with your family is a bit of an old-fashioned
custom in Mexico, but I hear some people still do it. None of my coworkers in
the tech sector did, though. We were all mostly young too.

~~~
kilroy123
American living in Mexico City. I still can't get used to your eating
schedule. Luckily, I work remote and can still eat like a gringo.

------
untog
Hardly surprising, and probably positive for many Spaniards, but it still
makes me a little sad that every country is converging on a very similar way
of working.

Globalisation makes it inevitable, of course, but does Monday-Friday, 9-5
_really_ make sense? Why not 8-6 Monday-Thursday with a three day weekend? We
developers are often lucky that we can dictate our own hours and experiment
with this, but I'd be fascinated to see an entire nation adapt to it and see
the effects.

~~~
treehau5
> Globalisation makes it inevitable, of course,

I would push back on this thinking that Globalization itself is inevitable. We
have seen the reaction to this thinking in recent years -- you end up with
Trumps, and Mays, and (almost) Le Pen's.

Greeks are a prime example -- despite the intense crisis and austerity
measures, the country still values its lunch and coffee breaks, despite how
much we here in the west criticize them for "being lazy"

~~~
untog
> Greeks are a prime example -- despite the intense crisis and austerity
> measures, the country still values its lunch and coffee breaks

Right, and their economy is in free fall. I'm not saying you can't do it, but
that cost to doing it is ever-increasing.

~~~
treehau5
Actually the free fall has seemed to have slowed, and bottomed out.

It's just a different cultural value -- not every culture values the green
dollar as much as America or the UK or likewise. Is it the best for your GDP?
Probably not, but it's honorable. "Cash is King" is not something you hear
many Greeks say about one another

~~~
geezerjay
> It's just a different cultural value -- not every culture values the green
> dollar as much as America or the UK or likewise.

Past Greek governments sure looked like they loved other people's cash a lot
for having borrowed so much of it.

It's funny how that distaste for money and accompanying virtue signaling only
managed to manifest itself once it was time to pay back all the borrowed cash.

~~~
treehau5
> Past Greek governments

Therein lies the distinction. The government of course loves the money. That's
why the people are fed up with the greedy politicians and bankers.

> It's funny how that distaste for money and accompanying virtue signaling
> only managed to manifest itself once it was time to pay back all the
> borrowed cash.

It's funny how this statement proves you have absolutely zero knowledge of the
culture and are projecting your own pessimistic views on people and societies
onto one you know very little about.

------
readhn
In the startup arena im in (USA) folks often work 8-9am till 7-8pm with half
hour to hour MAX lunches.

No one complains, people just burnout and move on in 1-2-3 years. No one gets
overtime. It would be nice to have an open discussion with HR or whoever but
its a sensitive topic, in this culture you are not "allowed" to tell how much
you actually work...

I guess its a "dirty little secret" but 9-5 does not exist anymore (honestly
probably never did, at least in my field).

~~~
debaserab2
You get the culture you tolerate. I've worked at similar companies; never
again will I work in an environment that doesn't respect work life balance. I
currently work at a startup that understands this.

~~~
readhn
I agree. What i see around is that most people just tolerate it and are afraid
to speak up.

If you work 9 to 5 you are literally viewed as a "lazy one". During
interviewing process its often a red flag if a person is not willing to put in
"extra hours" unpaid.

The system is broken...

------
logronoide
Spaniard here; this is absolutely not true. 3 hour lunch breaks it's a myth.
May be shops in small towns and villages.

One hour break for lunch is the norm. May be two, but it's not very common.

There is an exception here: in summertime, a lot of companies reduce the
working hours from 8 to 7 hours. They start at 8am and leave at 3pm. The sum
of these hours must be distributed along the rest of the days of the year. So
you work 7 hours in summer, and 8 and half the rest of the year. This
summertime schedule comes from the days when Air conditioning systems did not
exist, and literally working in Spain in the afternoon is impossible.

It's really funny to read about Spanish topics from a poorly informed
journalist...

~~~
mipapage
I don't know, I live in Alicante (15 years now) and know many working folks
and professionals who take 2-5 off, though in the summer they will go until 3
and call it a day.

------
scruti
I lost the count of times that I had to explain here in UK than we Spaniards
don't go home to take a nap every day at lunch time.

Nowadays this 3 hours break mainly affect the small shops instead of
offices/big companies.

And, being honest, was quite useful since shops closing at 8 pm allow people
doing their shopping chores when leaving the office/school/uni...

Edit: My English... U_U'

~~~
Tade0
To be honest where I come from a shop closing at 8pm is _early_.

True, the smallest ones are open between 8am and 7pm, but they're loosing
market share in favor of mini-markets, which are usually open from 7am to
9-10pm.

And if that's not enough there are liquor stores and petrol stations, both of
which are usually open 24/7.

------
maxxxxx
This makes sense. In the village I grew up at a lot of people walked home over
lunch and came back to work two hours later. This was great but with commutes
it doesn't make sense.

~~~
icebraining
Yeah, the people I know living in Spanish villages are usually working 40-80
Kms from home. It's not just the time, but the waste of gas and pollution from
making extra trips, it's just not feasible.

------
pc2g4d
I spent a month in Salamanca and fell in love with the siesta. In that fairly
small town it seemed the traditional siesta rhythm was in full swing. We'd go
home in the afternoon, eat a delicious lunch, take a nap, and then head back.
This was only possible because home was a pretty short walk away. I found this
fit with my natural night-owl tendencies and I've always wished something
similar could work in the United States. Unfortunately, when your workplace is
20+ minutes from home it makes absolutely no sense. Another thing lost to
modernity.

------
menor
Another spaniard here, reading the article you get the impression that Spain
is some kind of dictatorial country, where the government dictates which times
you are allowed to work. It is not, companies have freedom to choose, unless
you work for the public administration (where I lived, they work 8 to 15).

BTW I live in Germany now and still do a daily 30 mins siesta after lunch.

------
dispo001
It depends on the type of work but in general it seems the most fun to have
more flexibility.

In stead of starting at 6:00 one could start between 5:00 and 7:00. Then have
a break between 11:00 and 13:00 for 30 min or 3 hours, whatever the fuck you
want.

This is of course assuming we would allow people to enjoy life (An Utopian
idea most people would fight against)

------
spaniard_dev
This article is full of bullshit, prejudgements and false facts. There is
probably one nap bar in the whole Spain and he had to add it to the article.

------
santialbo
Just a note: These working hours happen just in retail.

~~~
LluisGerard
I moved to the UK but I still know many friends from Spain that work from
9am-1pm -> lunch break -> 3pm-7pm. Which means that in reality they can end up
leaving the office at 7:30pm. By the other hand I worked for the Catalan TV
for many years and they had very flexible hours and I could leave by 5pm, but
it's not that usual in my experience (and that was 12 years ago).

~~~
euyyn
Yeah, 2h break from 1pm to 3pm is the most I've seen.

------
rodolphoarruda
I had a concall 2 days ago with a Spaniard from Madrid. They are leaving the
office by 3pm now in summer time. That means a lot of daylight time to do
whatever else you want.

------
coldtea
> _What remained is a highly distinctive national timetable not found in any
> other European country, where it has often been read as a peculiarly exotic
> form of madness_

First, of all, there's nothing "mad" about it. As if the 9-5 (or 9-8) schedule
religiously held everywhere, and first created for factory workers, is
"rational".

> _After starting work between 8 and 9 a.m., hungry workers hold out for a
> lunch break scheduled as late as 1:30 or 2:30. As if in compensation for
> this long wait_

Nothing particularly strange about this either. In lots of counties people eat
lunch later, or much later, than 12:00, and dinner much later than 7-8.
Usually it has to do with hotter climates (which Spain, Greece, Mexico,
Argentina, Middle Eastern countries, etc qualify for) and longer, sunnier,
days.

> _Most stores and many businesses close down until the late afternoon, before
> a final burst of office hours between 5:30 and 8 (or sometimes 4 to 7)._
> Spaniards then head home at an hour when most people in other countries are
> cleaning up their dinner dishes, rarely getting food on the table any
> earlier than 10 p.m. This pushes bedtime past midnight for many.*

And that's a problem because?

------
clock_tower
"Lunch break" sounds like it's paid or semi-paid; it seems a bit deceptive
here. It sounds from the article like the Spanish are putting in 8-hour days,
but interrupting them in the afternoon, so that instead of working 9 to 6 they
work 9 to 8 or 9 to 9. Thus the streets busy until midnight, for example; this
is a case of different scheduling, not lazy southerners.

------
gadders
I remember going to work in the small Madrid office of a private large bank in
20 or so years ago.

Being keen, I turned up at 8.30am and then waited for an hour for someone to
arrive. The office was then closed and everyone turfed out from 12pm-2pm, but
the working day didn't finish until around 7pm.

~~~
kgwgk
Maybe you mean it was closed 13:00-15:00 or 14:00-16:00? 12:00-14:00 seems a
very non-spanish time for a lunch break. Most restaurants are not even open
during most of that time!

~~~
gadders
You may be right - it was twenty years ago :-)

I did find myself at a bit of a loss as to what to do after bolting my lunch
in an anglo-saxon 45 minutes or so.

------
geodel
I have seen same thing in India. In small towns most of the markets will close
down for few hrs in afternoon. In summers to avoid heat and in winter to sit
in sun. Again with globalization I think this is going away in India too.

------
Oletros
What a shitty article, it is not even for Spain, it is a new initiative from
Catalan government to rationalize the daily schedule for their inhabitants.

Catalonia is an region of Spain.

------
duxup
With lunch breaks like that... what do parents do? Go see their kids, because
if not when do they see them on workdays?

~~~
kgwgk
It's not unusual, in particular outside of big cities, for the whole family to
have lunch together at home.

------
sengork
I wonder how many of those important business decisions/discussions are made
during the lunch breaks.

------
scalesolved
I've worked for two different tech companies in Barcelona, neither had lunch
breaks longer than an hour.

When I moved from the UK I was shocked that 9-5 was not the norm, in both
places the schedule was more 9-7 with the same amount of lunch time as in the
UK and far more pressure to stay on later than 7.

------
pvaldes
I wonder why some foreigners seem to be unable to grasp the simple concept of
different climates...

I have a 1 hour lunch break, and nobody take 'siestas' in my city regularly.

------
snvzz
Title says Spain, but it really is about Catalonia.

------
erikb
Goodbye.

------
faragon
That's separatist propaganda: Catalonia, a Spanish region where separatists
are ruling and expect to do a referendum against the rule of law in October so
the region can exit Spain and the European Union and be "free", is "better"
than the "lazy Spain". Rationale: in Spain there is no such thing as
generalized three-hour lunch break. In fact, most industries have short lunch
pause (e.g. 7 to 15:30h), and most offices take just one hour (e.g. 9 to 18h).
That's only true for shops (e.g. 9:30..13:30h and 17..21h), and that's how
shops work almost everywhere, not a specific thing of Spain.

I forgot to add that Catalans, myself included, have a lot to learn from other
Spanish regions: e.g. in Madrid there is commercial freedom, so shops can
chose when they can open, without the permission of the feudal^W local
government.

~~~
dang
> _separatist propaganda_

This breaks the HN guideline against calling names in arguments as well as the
injunction against flamebait and flamewars. Predictably, it started another
internecine political flamewar. We warned you about this before:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14473747](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14473747).
We don't want flamewars of any kind on HN, and will eventually have to ban you
if you don't fix this.

