Today I joined our monthly management meeting (high level execs and directors), which most of the time is about 4 hours long.
Meeting started at 10am and ended at 4pm. We got one 5 min break at 1pm to 'go to the bathroom and/or get some water' and that was it…no lunch break.
By the time we were done I was starving, had a massive headache and was super anxious from sitting for so long.
Afterward I realized that I couldn't be the only one that thought this was ridiculous, but why didn't any of us say anything? There were 12 people in the meeting, and while I'm fairly new to the company it really bothered me that this just seems to be accepted by everyone and they just deal with it as the norm. I ran into several people after that were grabbing some food finally, and everyone jokingly said something like “I better put snacks in my pocket next month”
Are we all just expected to work like this? Are we not human beings that deserve at least the basics to be able to function and keep our health in check? Eating and taking a physical/mental break is not a privelage but a right and I just can't seem to get past it today.
Is this what we are here for on this earth? To work and work while our health is sacrificed just in order to gain an extra minute of productivity or earn an extra dollar for the billionaires at the top of the chain?