After six years in the Netherlands I know that people here are used to having a very short lunch break with mostly homemade sandwiches. I have adapted to this quite well (actually I had to) and I find it relatively effective for working in the second half of the day. But in Bangladesh if an official event occurs during lunchtime you can expect a full hot lunch, especially with chicken biryani, plus drinks. Of course you will look for a chance to take a short nap after that. Talking with other Europeans I realize that the short lunch break may be a typical Dutch custom. I have found that Dutch people not only have a short lunch break but also like to use it in an even more efficient way, for example having a meeting or a presentation where participants enjoy both the presentation and the lunch. This might be even more effective when your samples are in the incubation stage for about an hour. Then you are doing more than three jobs at the same time…wow, such efficiency!
The efficient Lunch meeting
I was invited to participate in a so-called ‘lunch meeting’ last week. The meeting was about my country and thus was very fruitful for me, so I planned to go back to work directly after eating lunch at the presentation. But surprisingly no lunch was served. Apparently this type of meeting means ‘a meeting during…
