The office lunch was once a luxury. Now it’s just a pain | Dave Schilling

A Mad Men-style steakhouse break would be welcome. But I've had it with the Lunch Industrial Complex

It's 12.30pm as I write this. My mind is preoccupied with moving my fingers from key to key on my ageing laptop, a task I paused briefly to remove a hair from the screen. Then, I scratched my leg again, which kicked up another hair. I should get back to work, but I can't concentrate. Why? Because I'm incredibly hungry. It is, after all, lunchtime - the most worthless part of any work day.

It is not that there's shame in lunch. It's just that we're not programmed to eat at a certain time. We're all different and the whole concept of the office lunch is obsolete nonsense in 2026. Let it go.

Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist