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A French law mandated work-life balance, an American struggled to adapt. : Planet Money For many Americans, desk lunches are the norm. You might even be having one right now. But what if it didn't have to be this way? | Fill out our listener survey here

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Let them eat lunch

Let them eat lunch

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Customers sit on outside terraces, in Paris, on May 19, 202.
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BERTRAND GUAY/AFP via Getty Images
Customers sit on outside terraces, in Paris, on May 19, 202.
BERTRAND GUAY/AFP via Getty Images

For millions of Americans, working through lunch is the norm. Our sad desk salads and Tupperware containers filled with premade meals are as much a part of the work day as checking our emails or clocking in.

But what if it didn't have to be this way? What if this particular brand of work-life imbalance was not only frowned upon, but forbidden by law?

Join us this week as we follow one American's journey to a foreign country with an even more foreign work culture: France.

This episode was made in collaboration with the Rough Translation podcast.

Music: Doo Doop, French Polish, and Gourmet of Love.

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