New hire has lunch alone in park, gets criticized by manager for not eating in breakroom instead: ‘It is starting to read as not being interested in the team’

Should a boss have a say in how an employee spends their lunch break?

While time that is off the clock is technically the employee’s own, there is no denying that there are probably going to be some limits on how they can spend lunch. Most employers are going to frown at somebody who takes longer than they are supposed to, and they probably shouldn’t be doing anything that is going to affect their ability to work when they come back from their break. 

That being said, work life and the corporate world in particular are full of rules about how employees should act and present themselves if they want to succeed, and a lot of them are not all that sensible or fair. Office politics goes far deeper than just avoiding any massive drama; it seeps into every aspect of a role, even the stuff that feels like it shouldn’t matter. 

This is something that can be a struggle to adapt to for those who do not have a lot of experience with it. However, the nature of the business is that they are probably going to learn has some serious consequences. It is just the way that corporate life works.