IF YOU ARE familiar with shelling out €5 or €10 a go for lunch, you probably look enviously at Silicon Valley behemoths and start-ups.
There, experienced chefs serve up an array of foods – all at the expense of the employer.
But, even if it’s free, surely you become jaded and head off site once a week?
Not so, according to a recent Quora post.
A number of people ask for an answer to the question: How often do Googlers spend money for lunch?
And the answer was overwhelming. For staff who work at the Googleplex, the company’s sprawling home in Palo Alto, California, the answer is never.
One poster said that in five years, they have never put their hand in their pocket or even wanted to go elsewhere.
In five years at the Googleplex, I have never spent money for lunch. I have never gotten bored. There are about 20 cafes with new menus every day, and even the set of cafes changes over time as the cafes reinvent themselves or change leadership or catering companies, or new cafes get added.
I’ve gone on a couple of team lunches at restaurants off campus, but my manager paid for those out of our team annual entertainment budget.
Another says there’s a good (tongue-in-cheek) reason:
There’s a joke at Google: The meals HAVE to be free, because all those nerds with lunch money would attract too many bullies.
The choices at the Google offices in Dublin, London and New York are described as “myriad” and another poster says that the food at Google is “excellent”.
However, it’s not all good. One former staff member says that there can be drawbacks:
“I bring my food from home every day. I would rarely eat at our cafe mostly picking up some fruits or random salads to accompany what I bring from home.
“Why do I do that?
1) I gained 6 kgs within my first year at Google which is not good. As soon as I shifted to home food, I dropped all that extra fat and some more.
2) I wanted to enjoy special gatherings like birthday celebrations, weddings and stuff. Exposing oneself to such good food everyday makes you immune to the excitement and happiness one gets when you go out to celebrate with friends and family who don’t get the kind of food you’re given. And trust me, it does help a lot. Now, I actually enjoy the amazing spread of food I get at rare celebrations.
Our hearts (and wallets) bleed.
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