This is totally random, but it's something I have been thinking about.
I work in an area with lots of tall buildings, so there are many, many people who come down to the small ground below when they need to access the real world.
During my day, I see many people outside smoking (it's really a small space for so many smokers - I wish the world was non-smoking, but we're getting there...). There's even a guy or two that I work with who smoke. Now, when you're working in a sky scraper, it takes a few minutes to get to the bottom floor. It's enough time that I have to factor it into my lunch hour.
These smokers somehow get breaks during the day - maybe even once an hour or so - to go all the way downstairs, have a 5-7 minute cigarette, and then come back up. That's a significant amount of time when you add it up. Why is it acceptable for smokers to take so many long breaks. What if I went downstairs to buy and eat ice cream 6 times per day? I don't think people would appreciate that (mostly my boss).
So how?
4 comments:
This is something that used to drive me crazy back in the day when I worked in an office. I eventually started taking a Starbucks break (there was one right across the street), but certainly not 6 times a day.
Starbucks breaks might even be more expensive than smoking! A cigarette in Singapore runs about $.90 - a coffee every few minutes - DAMN!
My brother takes a 15 minute walk for his "smoke break". I think that's pretty cool.
Ah, but it depends how you frame it.
When it's "some people get a break for arbitrary reason X, but others don't," you're right -- not fair at all.
Recall, though, that people used to have the 'right' to smoke in many offices (or in nasty 'smoking lounges' down the hall). From the smoker's perspective, the issue is "I'm willing to do my job all the time, but I need a cigarette in order to do that...and you won't let me smoke while I work."
The world has apparently decided for the moment that it's better to have non-smoky offices in which the non-smokers can breathe. And the apparent cost of that is a compromise with the smokers in which they lose their right to smoke inside, but can take periodic breaks outside.
Given health issues and costs, it's not clear this is the best move -- but employers can only be so Draconian (even in Singapore, apparently).
You probably didn't want a comment this long :)
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