Thread regarding Chevron Corp. layoffs

My lunch hour is as long as I want it to be. I don’t normally take long lunch breaks and sometimes I work straight through the normal lunch period that most everyone else enjoy. So when I have an opening in my busy work week to enjoy a longer lunch period away from the office, I go. I don’t need to be ask permission or alert anyone.

@llzc - We actually do have USB ports on our laptops. Don’t be a troll.

You lost me with "thumb drive." Those are no longer accessible on computers. Go back to trolling BP.

I have a simple software program on a thumb drive that keeps my computer awake and mimics activity of the user typing on the keyboard. I plug this in whenever I will be away from my desk for an extended time to be “seen” as working somewhere else in the building. If I leave the building for an extended lunch, I am able to adjust the software program to go silent for 30 minutes, then automatically continue mimicking activity after the half hour lunch period is up. Cool, right?

I have a buddy who goes by a moves my chair every hour. Looks like I am there.

My lunch hour is 2 hours. My workday is half day. How’s that for cushy?

A lunch hour is one hour, aka 60 minutes. Your lunch break may be longer, but an hour is an hour is an hour.

Which weighs more, a pound of lead or a pound of feathers? Some real Mensas on this board.

The company probably knows by now, I’m a person who spends lots of time in the bathroom. Maybe that won’t be too bad, but when they find out I’m the one crapping up the toilet on the floor the CEO has his office, I’ll be on the chopping block for the next round of layoffs.

Absolutely, bqik. It’s no rumor but a fact. ID badges not only serve a purpose of letting authorized persons through locked doors and security turnstiles. The badges are tied into the enterprise’s computized security system. A recorded log is kept of the badge ID, the time the badge was scanned or detected and the location. So, it’s a no-brainer the company has a detailed record of your comings and goings.

Is there any truth to the rumor that badges are used to occasionally track who is coming and going when?

@bbeo, by the time you schedule several 15 minute groupings to head out to lunch, then provide each one a 1 hour lunch break and another 15 regrouping time, you’d be wasting a lot of productivity time. Add up all those staggered schedules, from the first wave out the door to the last back into the office. Most of us are not siloed in our job routine. Most employees work with cross functional groups or on projects involving employees and contractors in different workgroups. Implement a lunch plan like that and you’d effectively make things worse. The solution is for management to “lay down the law” and maintain oversight. If you work a 9/80 work schedule, you must arrive and leave work to put in a minimum of 9 hours, and that includes 45 minutes for lunch. Nothing more. Would you like something more strict, like punching a time card? Not me.

I would estimate 15 mins for each one of us to leave at different times. Add another 1hr for lunch. Top that off with another hour spent up in the room. Close it out with 15 minutes dedicated to her providing my performance review and providing feedback. Sometimes I walk back to the desk, 10 or so mins ahead or behind her.

I planned my long lunches in advance. After reviewing the calendars of people like my boss, department manager and other team leaders, I would gauge when was a good time to plan a nice 2 or 3 hour long lunch away from the office. I’d meet up with one or several friends who work downtown at other companies. I never got caught or was questioned by anyone of where I was. I would do this kind of long lunch about 3 times each year.

I continue to be amazed at the number of people that were able to leave and find much better positions during the worst industry downturn in 30 years. Makes you wonder why they never left when the industry was actually booming if they are so awesome.

I knew a guy in ETC who did a lot of "customer outreach" and was frequently away from his desk. He was smart as hell, did spectacular work and could do it much faster than his boss or clients realized. Star performer and highly respected. So, whenever he thought he could get away with it he would leave for the day at lunch time and drink beer at home! Haha. As far as I know he never got caught.

Double salary is a good start, especially if total benefits is double. How long can you be gone for lunch before anyone notices?

@bxuc, for your information, we all have (or had) equity in Chevron too. Don’t forget we all are (were) stockholders to one degree or another. As far as your claim of doubling your salary, maybe, but I remain dubious. Keep that part to yourself next time if you want to avoid critics.

😲 wow. I was one of the idiots that use to work and bring in projects on schedule and budget and carry the office. I got paid off 2 years ago and making double my salary now with equity in the company

an hour and a half to two hours, especially when vendors are buying. so many good food choices around downtown Houston

Lunch? I worked with a lawyer who rolled in at 9:30 and went straight to the gym before starting work around 11:00.

I'm off to lunch by 11AM. This is after I arrive at 9-9:30AM. I'm always back by 1:30PM at the latest. Then I spend the next 15-20 minutes going up and down floors to find a bathroom. Takes longer to find one then actually do the deed. By then it's 2PM and I'm off to the gym. When I'm done it's 3PM and my floor is emptied out. So I go home. Yes, I agree it's ridiculous. I also agree it's ridiculous that I "earned" a 1 rating for last year. What do I get if I actually work? A 1 rank?

@2yku, I’m not sure if it true or not, but I don’t disagree it’s a bad practice or rule. What good is it to come back to work at 2:00 pm on Fridays if you’re going check out at 3:00 pm? You can’t get much productivity out of being present in the office for the last one hour on a Friday.

That reminds of an ETC friend who told me his team policy is if they don’t make back from Friday lunch by 2 they just go home! True?

@2wsc, Soonds great, but that practice will earn you a permanent spot here on the layoff website. Warning, it doesn’t pay.

I follow the NOC best practice. Depart for lunch at 11:30, and return to office following day at 9:00 AM.

I feel underpaid and under appreciated. I can work faster than the old guys around me so I only need six hour days. The rest is a long well deserved lunch and gym break. Nobody seems to mind. Our office is empty from nearly 11 to 2.

@1eff, My day does revolve around lunch. I’m a productive employee, going by my annual rankings the last 5 years. I value the health benefits of eating a sustaining meal in the middle of my 9 hour workday, not to mention using my 45 to 60 minutes to relax and socialize. Those two things are just as important as keeping a healthy diet. It’s not a contest, you know, unless you have to punch a time card somewhere.

I don't take much of a lunch most days, I eat a snack while working. I have been in GOM for quite a few years. Neither do most of my coworkers. I sincerely apologize if that interferes with some of the stereotypes that many of the losers here are trying to portray, simply because they are slackers, do-nothings and bottom feeders themselves. Not everyone's workday revolves around lunch, other breaks and how much they can steal from the company. Some of us actually are productive, enjoy what we do, and have a life. To each his/her own.

Man, I take a 45 minute bathroom break everyday following my 45 lunch break. I guess the bathroom break doesn’t count.

You lightweights could never make it in a downstream facility... we work harder but smarter and carry the company on our backs.

GOM lunch breaks, as with hours worked each day, depend on who you are. Local employee, one of the gang and from the NOLA area, you can cut the work day short, 'work' out of 'other locations' and take as long as you want for lunch. If you are not a local and grown up within the network, the clock is ticking, people are watching and you will be re-educated.

As far as the 45 minute lunch break is concerned, the elevator trip in 1600 Smith could take that long ... each way. I left in 2014, so maybe they got fixed by now.

Only a troll would start a thread like this. One thing is for sure you are not in GOMBU.

Those were the classic good ole days, clz. The oil business was built on things like that. Then came the lawyers and you know the rest of the story. So glad I retired before much of that was gone. I remember fondly the end of year Christmas parties Chevron would throw. It was the shindig of the year that was talked about through the end of January.

In the good old days a semi-alcoholic service company vendor would take three of us to lunch in his company Buick. We would have steak and martinis. Return at 2pm and just chat with colleagues until quitting time.

I remember not too long ago and going back to the beginning of my Chevron career 30 years ago, “Business Lunches” were good, frequent, and not frowned upon. Well, maybe frowned upon by the peon class employees only.

Usually leave at 11 in Houston and go for 45 min and Calgary is leave at 1130 for 45 min. With the occasional longer lunch. However word on the street in GOM business lunches are now fround upon.

Depends, mqq. Most of those people get back in time for 1:00, but you have to allow 30 to 60 more minutes for them to relieve their bowel movement. Hence the 2:00 meeting start time.

Here in MidCon we can never get people to show up for a 1:00 meeting, we normally push them to 1:30 or 2:00. Everyone goes out for a long relaxing lunch, I guess.

I work in one of the two downtown Houston ivory towers. I work a 9/80 work schedule. Each day is supposedly a 9 hour minimum work day that includes 45 minutes for lunch. About 90% of the time, I take my 45 minutes to eat my lunch and have a few extra minutes to enjoy some relaxation time or chat with colleagues in the break area. The other 10% of the time, usually on casual Fridays when the workload is more flexible, I leave the office to a nearby eatery and spend around 90 minutes for lunch. I try not to abuse the privilege or have the wrong impression sent around the office. So far, no complaints from the boss.