Setting boundaries with your coworkers can be difficult when you’re expected to always be available.

How would you handle people constantly disrupting your lunch break with requests? One guy recently vented his frustrations about this on Reddit.

Here’s what went down.

A broken break.

I am me, a tech support person.

Me: *On my break*.

Me: *On my break, having just put a big chunk of semi-dry chicken in mouth*.

An action acceptable to do on your break.

Me: *On my break, having just put a big chunk of semi-dry chicken in my mouth, as a user walks up to my desk*.

They aren’t supposed to do this.

My organization has both email and Teams for setting up appointments.

And they likely know this as well.

Me: *Doing my best to quickly chew, then swallow while the user looks uncomfortable*.

Me: *Asks how I can help*.

The User was there to give me their password so I could sign them into, and then set up, their new work smartphone.

This should be a simple task in this day and age.

Me: *Gets password and starts signing in*.

Me: *Sign into user’s Teams app to make sure it works*.

Me: *Notices the user messaging on Teams*.

Well, that’s infuriating.

They were messaging about the food incident with another co-worker.

Me: *Delivers their phone, mentions that I was able to successfully sign into their Teams account for them*.

A completely cringeworthy moment.

I’m not sure if the user didn’t connect the dots, or was pretending they didn’t so as to avoid embarrassment.

I would have liked to receive an apology for both the bothering while on break and the gossiping, but not worth making a fuss.

Tech support can truly be a thankless gig. Let’s see if Reddit could empathize.

One person offered facetious advice.

Another shared a tip from their own experience.

Some folks weren’t sympathetic whatsoever.

And suggested what the poster should have done instead.

Getting to have a peaceful lunch break is a luxury these days.

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.