Running on Empty: Why Skipping Breakfast Has Become a Workplace Norm

It’s a Sunday. Mom asked if I wanted something for breakfast. And I paused because it has become completely normal to reach the office without breakfast. Sometimes, not even a cup of coffee or tea.

Nearly 1 in 4 urban Indian professionals skip breakfast entirely.

And 72% of those who do eat something in the morning end up with nutrient-deficient meals, often lacking fibre, iron, and B vitamins.

We wake up before sunrise, race through morning routines, travel over an hour, and log in before 9 AM.

Some days, it’s only after a colleague asks a question requiring basic patience… that you realize you haven’t eaten.

Even in a city like Indore, we have over 2 hours of commute daily (each way closer to the urban average of 55–59 minutes in cities like Delhi, Bengaluru, and Mumbai)

Often, I have work calls from the bus on my way back, because productivity continues even if I am not at the desk. And I often hear others on the phone at work as well.

Also, if something’s needed first thing in the morning, it usually means one of two things: either stay up late to get it done, or set an early alarm and beat the sun to it – because working on a laptop or a phone in the bus would make you dizzy.

When dinner is by 8 PM and lunch doesn’t happen until 1 pm, you’re running on a 17-hour fast, whether you meant to or not.

And while intermittent fasting is trending… most of us are just unintentionally underfed.

Sometimes, (most of the times) the office bus becomes a mobile breakfast café. People eating bananas. Apples. Some purchase poha from the vendor at their bus stop (healthy?).

And of course, everyone knows who’s eating what because breakfast smells louder than perfumes at 7:50 AM in the bus. It’s funny.

Not eating is not always a choice, but when long commutes become standard, so does the struggle of time management and work life balance.

Sure, you can always grab something once you reach the office, but how often does that really happen when you’re already diving into your day the minute you walk in, answering a call with one hand and opening your laptop with the other?

Recent studies show that urban workers are nearly twice as likely to report health concerns compared to their rural counterparts.

Maybe we should normalize having tea before the team meets – and avoiding a social media post before breakfast.
And asking “Did you eat yet?” as often as we ask “Did you send this email to me yet?”

If you’re working this weekend or preparing to be “on” again Monday, be kind to yourself.
Treat the commute like the shift it is.
And give your body something to work with, not just work on.

In a culture that celebrates being always-on, let’s start honoring the smallest win: Showing up well-fed.

PS: Workplace Maggie always comes to the rescue. What about you?

Here’s to Originality.

“This sounds too good. Must be AI.”
Ah yes. The highest ‘compliment’ you can give a writer in 2025.

Spends 3 hours obsessing over a synonym.
Rewrites one line 17 times.
Gets hit by a random poetic metaphor while doing home chores.
Bleeds voice into the keyboard.
Crafts it. Rewrites it.
Deletes half of it.
Writes again.

And then someone comments:
“ChatGPT?”

That’s what original writers get now.
Not “great post.” Not “loved this.”
Original thought? Suspect.
Emotional nuance? Suspicious.
A post that flows well and makes sense? Definitely AI.

Meanwhile, ghostwriters?
They used to be mysterious.

Now they’re just GenAI with a birth certificate.

We used to chase polish.
Now we chase proof.

Want proof it’s not AI?
Look for the one extra word I couldn’t delete.
The sentence I didn’t need, but emotionally needed.
And the slight passive-aggressive undertone?
That’s all me.

Honestly, the real test should be: Is there a typo?
A rambling sentence that loops back unnecessarily?
A paragraph that sounds like it was written at 2 AM, lying on the bed watching a series.

That’s the mark of a real person.

So here’s to the humans.
Still writing. Still thinking. Still obsessing over how to say it “just right.”

But you know what?
There’s no algorithm for nostalgia.
No prompt for what it smells like after rain.
No thesaurus for your kind words, appreciation and motivation.
No autocomplete for silence, or warmth, or roots.

So now, I stepped away.
Back to the soil, the slowness, the sound of nothing refreshing.

My writing may not be perfect, but it’s mine.

P.S. If this sounded human, messy, and slightly passive-aggressive…That’s how you know it’s me.

Monday Blues?

Monday blues are real.
But for some, they don’t end on Monday.

A colleague seems off.
A friend sends a “hey, you up?” text at 11 PM.
A teammate vents on a call.

Your instinct might be to fix it.
Or brush it off.
Or say you’re too busy.
Or that it’s not your problem.
Or that they should handle it alone.
Or that they shouldn’t have come to you at all.

And while you’re shutting them down,
They just want you to listen.
They don’t need fixing.
They don’t need solutions.

They just need you.
Listening. Present. Human.
Because they trust you.

And when you shut them down,
You don’t just end the conversation.
You break something they were brave enough to bring to you.

Here’s a fun fact:
Elephants stand silently next to a grieving herd member.
Not to cheer them up.
Not to explain the pain.
Just to be there.

PS: Yet another sketch by me. Because some messages are better felt than said.

It’s called “empathetic behavior.”
The thing we always talk about.
The thing we keep posting about.
The thing that sounds like a fancy mental health term.
But it’s really just being human.

And elephants do it better than most of us.

So if someone comes to you and vents today—listen.

You might be all they have in that moment.
And that might be enough.

Yes. Try to be an elephant today.
Ears out. Mouth mostly shut.