The unfairness of smoking breaks!!!

vyle

fluffnutter wrote: »

Jeez, I'd rather work with a load of smokers who took breaks than a moaning minny who spent their time calculating how much work other people were or weren't doing.

Dunno about the others, but for me it's not that I'm calculating how much work people aren't doing, but more that during a busy, stressful, understaffed time of year (busiest trade period of the year) it's okay for smokers to go off and leave everyone else to be mobbed by increasingly agitated customers (who resent waiting longer to be served), but we can't be annoyed about it, because they're smokers and they're not 'official' breaks.

Yet if I want to leave the shop floor to go to the loo, or to go on a proper official break (for which im not paid) I have to wait until there are enough people to cover my absence. If I was a stressed smoker, I could just zip off whenever I wanted.

When I worked in an office, it was different, because everybody had their own workload and as long as they got the job done, then fine. We weren't being paid by the hour, and weren't relying on other people, so if you 'needed' to take a smoking break, or go for an extra long poo, or just stretch your legs, then if it made the job more bearable and made you more productive then fine.

The difference is when everybody is relying on each other to be there to do a combined job, and certain people are slacking off, then it becomes a problem. I've had times when there are three people on the shop floor serving and one person on the till, and witnessed that queue become longer and longer, and customers start complaining and shouting because there is nobody else to man the second till, all because the two spare people who could hve been on the till were off having a smoke. I'd be just as annoyed if the same people were in the stock room just having a chat. The difference is, if somebody is just off having a chat, it's okay to tell them to sort themselves out and do their job.

It's frowned upon, however, to criticise somebody for having a fag break, because somehow it's discrimination to criticise somebody for a self imposed addiction which they chose to inflict upon themselves, but not frowned upon to discriminate against somebody who wants a chat with their friend.

bungle4by4

i used to word with a great bunch of lads, and fag break was TAB time..

Take A Break, and we all went. either for a fag, if thats your thing, or to just get away from the job for a minute, and take a break. worked out great.

fozmcfc

I worked in a job, where basically if someone was out of the office, you would have to answer their phones and do their job.

It was a large office with about 25 people working in it for several different departments. It did used to frustrate me when 4 of us were working in the same department and I had 3 smokers on. It also frustrated me, when things were fallen apart and we were really busy and people would still go out for a smoke.

I did start to time some people and it worked out that in the 8 hours they should be working, some smokers were doing about 6 and a half - 7 hours of work.

Eventually the management said no more than 1 person from each department to go smoking at a time, but some people still took the mick.

I can see the day, when laws are changed and smoking will only be permitted during allocated break times. Smokers can go for hours on a plane, train etc... without a smoke, but can't seem to control themselves for more than an hour at all other times.

proactive

fozmcfc wrote: »

I can see the day, when laws are changed and smoking will only be permitted during allocated break times. Smokers can go for hours on a plane, train etc... without a smoke, but can't seem to control themselves for more than an hour at all other times.

But of course you can't simply step outside a plane or train for a cigarette break so the two don't really compare do they?

vikingaero

Leory wrote: »

I dont smoke, but I do go for particularly long turd breaks, so it evens itself out really :beer:

In one office I worked at we used to get back to our desk and get the calculator out to work out how much we were paid for the long turd break.

cavework

Think this boils down to the 'I don't smoke so I am a smug ***' attitude
Well I don't take hours over coffee, making coffee and offering coffee to anything that draws breath within a 20 mile radius of my work place, I am not a doughnut addict and I don't spend hours in the loo re applying my make up.
also when I worked in an office as a non smoker, I did not time every other person who went on a fag break .. went to the loo or took time out to break wind.

wik

wow... so many replies... I didnt intend to come across as a holier than thou non smoker... Outside work I have freinds who smoke - and i respect thier right to do so, as I do the right to smoke of co-workers... I just have never been able to understand why they get breaks, but non smokers are never offered them! In the (whispers)20oddyears I have worked in various areas of catering, never once have non smokers been given a break! You work your hours.. get a wee break if lucky... peoples meals come first...

so sorry if i have upset smokers.. I am practicing to be a grumpy old cow currently

EycplUK

JulieElizabeth wrote: »

It's not the smoking break that would annoy me, but the fact that someone you share an office with can come back absolutely reeking of cheap fags on an hourly basis

Yuk

So its alright to come back reeking of Expensive fags ? , just not cheap ones !!
What about the stink from Burgers, Pizzas and god knows whats in a sandwich , Yuk Yuk Yuk !

thistledome

vyle wrote: »

Yet if I want to leave the shop floor to go to the loo, or to go on a proper official break (for which im not paid) I have to wait until there are enough people to cover my absence. If I was a stressed smoker, I could just zip off whenever I wanted.

Really? Your company would rather you poo'd your pants in front of customers than let you go to the toilet without cover? Yet smokers are allowed to wander off at will?

You work for some rare bears!

frivolous_fay

I've moved on to different work now, but in the old days (pre ban) I used to work in a bar on a ferry. Boss smoked - whenever she wanted a ciggie, she'd gesture one of the other staff to join her. So they'd stand at the end of the bar smoking, while I served... and never got a break. Sigh.