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Poll: Do you ever forget to eat/purposely skip meals to meet tight deadlines?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Dec 18, 2015

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you ever forget to eat/purposely skip meals to meet tight deadlines?".

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neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 00:14
Spanish to English
+ ...
Other Dec 18, 2015

Lunch in Spain (and its aftermath/siesta) can sometimes last for three hours, so if I'm on a tight deadline, I may have a lighter lunch than I might otherwise choose, in order to avoid the drowsiness which makes a post-prandial nap such a good idea in these balmy climes.

 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 23:14
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
No Dec 18, 2015

I’m sort of a perfectionist so tight deadlines aren't… my cup of tea (pun intended) and, in general, I don't accept this kind of work. Over the years only very exceptional circumstances made me broke this rule.

 
Serena Basili
Serena Basili  Identity Verified
Belgium
Local time: 00:14
English to Italian
+ ...
No Dec 18, 2015

I'm Italian and I am also a good cook (and a big eater), so no way I'm giving up on food

 
Catherine De Crignis
Catherine De Crignis  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 00:14
Member (2012)
English to French
+ ...
Rarely and never purposely Dec 18, 2015

I work much better with regular breaks and I love my food too!

 
Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei
Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei  Identity Verified
Ghana
Local time: 23:14
Japanese to English
Sometimes Dec 18, 2015

Sometimes that "I'm starving, I've gotta finish this quickly so I can go eat" edge is just what I need to get through the last, sluggish bits of a project. I try not to make a habit of it, though, because I like my food.

 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Priorities Dec 18, 2015

Tight clothes? Maybe. Tight deadlines? Never.

 
John Cutler
John Cutler  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 00:14
Spanish to English
+ ...
Answer the question with a question Dec 18, 2015

Isn't not being able to eat due to work obligations something akin to slavery?

 
Anthony Baldwin
Anthony Baldwin  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 19:14
Portuguese to English
+ ...
meals, maybe, but my workout, never Dec 18, 2015

I never skip my daily workout, but an occasional meal, perhaps.
I have to be cautious, being diabetic, of my blood sugar levels, so I have a bag of peanuts in my desk drawer.
I order 5 lbs, at a time of fresh Virginia Peanuts from nuts.com on a regular basis, so always have some on hand. Packed with protein, healthy fats, and fibre, they're a good, healthy snack.
A couple handfuls of peanuts and another cup of tea can keep me going for hours, sometimes.


 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 00:14
Member (2003)
Danish to English
+ ...
Exactly Dec 18, 2015

Catherine De Crignis wrote:

I work much better with regular breaks and I love my food too!


But my breaks are flexible, and I have on occasions finished off a normal day's consumption of coffee before I get round to lunch.

So lunch changes place, so to speak, with afternoon coffee...

As one of my friends puts it, I can't drink coffee when I'm asleep, so then if necessary I simply make another pot of coffee and carry on. My husband gets to choose what we have for supper those days - he is also a good cook!


 
Ekaterina Chashnikova
Ekaterina Chashnikova  Identity Verified
Local time: 00:14
Member (2011)
English to Russian
+ ...
No Dec 18, 2015

I am much more productive if I am not hungry. Though I might have a quick bite instead of a proper meal if the deadline is tight.

 
Jeff Whittaker
Jeff Whittaker  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 19:14
Member (2002)
Spanish to English
+ ...
No Dec 18, 2015

I never take same-day work, so I always deliver the day before.

 
Mario Chavez (X)
Mario Chavez (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 19:14
English to Spanish
+ ...
Ms. Basili has a point Dec 18, 2015

Serena Basili wrote:

I'm Italian and I am also a good cook (and a big eater), so no way I'm giving up on food


I'm a minimalist cook but I love tortellini, fussili and other “ini” pastas.



 
Mario Chavez (X)
Mario Chavez (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 19:14
English to Spanish
+ ...
Eating is not everything Dec 18, 2015

I would skip a meal (breakfast, for example) if I oversleep…like yesterday!

Sometimes I would focus on translating or typesetting a document that I postpone lunch or dinner. When I do it on purpose, it's because my focus demands that I finish what I started.

Speaking of which, many clients (if not all of them) do not appreciate the fact that a particular passage, heading, turn of phrase, etc. requires a specific kind of concentration. If you break that concentration f
... See more
I would skip a meal (breakfast, for example) if I oversleep…like yesterday!

Sometimes I would focus on translating or typesetting a document that I postpone lunch or dinner. When I do it on purpose, it's because my focus demands that I finish what I started.

Speaking of which, many clients (if not all of them) do not appreciate the fact that a particular passage, heading, turn of phrase, etc. requires a specific kind of concentration. If you break that concentration for whatever reason (as when the client blithely and stupidly calls to check on the status of your work), it is difficult to recreate the same level of concentration.

Clients and nontranslators also do not appreciate (and most times are unwilling to listen in order to appreciate or respect) the fact that we translators aren't just looking at some bilingual listing in our heads to swap words and phrases. There are many mental processes going on, and I personally hate it when someone interrupts that, no matter who that someone is (you've been warned, hahah!).


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Helen Hagon
Helen Hagon  Identity Verified
Local time: 23:14
Member (2011)
Russian to English
+ ...
No Dec 18, 2015

If I'm hungry I lose my concentration and I start daydreaming about food! If time is tight, I might just grab a sandwich and eat while I work, but I wouldn't skip a meal altogether, and I certainly could never forget to eat.

 
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Poll: Do you ever forget to eat/purposely skip meals to meet tight deadlines?






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