Smoking rules....

[sonny100]

Ok, so the management in my office have always been strict on Cigarette breaks for the analysts....a quick run down of the rules are as follows.

1) When you arrive at work, you have to ask the Duty Manager if you can put your name on the 'Smoking Board', which is a white board on a wall in the office.

2) When the Duty Manager feels it appropriate (ie, quiet) he/she will send people on the board out for a cigarette in order.

3) You may take no longer than 10 mins for your break. Any longer and you will forfeit your next break.

4) If you are late for your shift, or late back from lunch, you will forfeit your next break.

5) If you are next on the Smoking Board for a break, but the Duty Manager has forgotton to send anyone, you may ask him/her ONCE. Any more, and you will forfeit your break.

Pretty petty rules eh? I'm sad to say that I am part of the management team here, but I am also a smoker and do not condone these rules.

Recently, we had a guy start with us who is 17. Now, in the UK, it is illegal for people under 18 to buy cigarettes, although it is perfectly legal for people to smoke at 16. The management decided that they could not be seen to be encouraging people under 18 to smoke, so therefore the 17 is no longer allowed cigarette breaks, even though it's perfectly legal!!

So, I decide to inform him that as he is under 18, and therefore considered to be a 'Young Worker' he is legally obliged to have a 30 min break if he is working for 4 and a half hours or more in a row (ie, either side of lunch). Therefore, problem solved!......no!

The management have now banned him from leaving the building during his 30 minute break!!!!! How ridiculous?? I'm not entirely sure that this is even legal! But rest assured I will be looking into this tomorrow.

We are treating him differantly because of his age, which i'm pretty sure is against the law.

Oh, and my boss had a word with me today about fighting his corner for him. I told her in no uncertain terms that I felt that we were treating him horrifically and that I would continue to make sure that he is treated correctly.

Thank god that it's almost impossible to fire someone in this country

Comments? Any other crazy break/smoking related stories?

[Rebel1012]

i dont think it is legal (as ex union rep and personnel officer) i think that you can keep them on site if facilitys for basic needs are met i.e. somewhere to eat/drink and places to obtain at minimum a drink...so basically they should have the same options as any other member of staff whilst on break...otherwise your looking at discrimination (age) and if brought up with the proper people (you have a union?) you could be looking at someone being torn a new one!

Unless it is a secure site and that is part of his contract he is entitled to leave the site for his breaks as long as he returns in time of course

Been 7 years since i did this crud but thats the way i view it and from what i remember of such issues

[ShinyGreenApple]

I'm not a smoker, but I've got a huge problem with #5. I mean, what is this, kindergarten? Or perhaps boot camp. It's certainly not the employee's fault if management forgets to give them their break, and trust me, I've had some otherwise lovely supervisors who were notorious for forgetting to send people on break or marking them off as having gone when they really haven't.

Having said that, however, I actually kind of like #3 and #4, they make sense.

[HowMayIHelpMe?]

Just a question, in the interest of fairness:

Do the non-smokers at your place of work get as many breaks
as the smokers?

I'm really hoping that this "smoke break signup" you're talking about
doesn't mean that smokers get extra breaks just so that they can
go smoke...

[Broomjockey]

Despite the poor treatment of the 17 year old, I think those rules are good rules. Do the non-smokers get extra breaks? If not, it's darn generous of them to allow smokers these breaks, and does it with a minimum of disruption. The "only allowed to ask once" thing is good too, because it keeps people from nagging about being able to go out on break, which we've had multiple threads about co-workers whining about being able to go on breaks. I think a reminder is probably enough to management in a case like this to get the next person sent, so I don't have a problem with #5 even.

[bainsidhe]

I'm not a smoker either, so what I'm saying will no doubt come off as rather biased and I apologize in advance.

The rules seem fine to me. Yeah, #5 does seem childish, but I also know the people at my retail job keep pestering the CSMs "when do I go on break, can I change my break time, I want to go on break at X time" etc. I swear, some people really obsess over it. So I guess I interpreted #5 as a way to put an end to such an annoyance. The other rules make perfect sense. Sorry, but smoke breaks are, in my humble opinion, a privelage. Abusing said privelage shouldn't be tolerated. I work with employees who commonly take 15-minute breaks mandated by labor law, yet somehow don't come back until 30 minutes later. Doesn't matter if the break is a privelage or if it's law, abusing it is sucky behavior.

As for leaving work property, is this a paid break? Not sure of the laws in the UK or even individual states, but my old fast food job wouldn't allow anyone to leave the place without clocking out first. Paid breaks meant you stayed in the store. Otherwise traffic accidents and the like would be on company time and the company had liability concerns.

[crazylegs]

You *could* (if feeling particularly pedantic) argue that if
a) the break is not paid
b) there are no security concerns
c) you are not contractually obliged to remain on site during breaks

that to hold someone aganist their will is unlawful imprisonment.

To treat someone differently because of their age when there is no lawful reason to do so is unlawful and the company is heading for a big fat lawsuit.

[AKWalMartCartGuy]

that's rediculous

my work place does not allow anyone under 19 to even go in the smoking break room, but it is illegal for anyone under 19 to smoke in alaska,(what does that do to the 18 y/o smokers that join the military and are transferred up here?) so all they are doing is encouraging people to follow the law, not trying to be someone's mommy

[Boozy]

I can't believe the number of people who think these "rules" are okay. Its like everyone has just accepted that being treated like an idiot child is a precondition of employment.

Personally, my company treats me like an adult. If I want to go out for a smoke, my boss trusts me enough to choose an appropriate time. My work is always done at the end of the day and my customers are served and happy.

Companies need to stop infantilizing their employees. Hire good people and trust them.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Well, # five is downright ridiculous, and I'm not sure the treatment of the young guy is even legal.

Having said that, it's an unfair fact of life that smokers get more breaks than non smokers. They are requiring breaks more often, breaks that the labor laws dont' really even make concessions for. So since they are getting something they aren't technically owed, I think the rules are fair.

I tested this at Kinko's. On a real regular basis, I found myself walking around with an empty stomach and a full bladder because we were just too slammed for me to take even a short break (breaks are at will at Kinko's...you dont have to ask).

However, at any given time during these slammed periods, I go out back to dump a box or whatever, and find 2-4 coworkers hanging out taking a smoke break.

So, I started taking "smoke breaks", too. Some of my coworkers went in back to look for me because it was totally slammed, only to find me and a female coworker, sitting on our asses munching on chips and chit chatting.

Sample conversation as follows:

CW: what are you two DOING? We're totally slammed!
Me: Taking a smoke break.
CW: (pause where Co worker fails to find viable argument to that logic)
Me: Let me finish up my smoke and I'll be right there.

We did that pretty much every night after that.

What's annoying is that if you have a bag of junk food in your hand, you're a slacker, but if you are actually holding a lit smoke, your unscheduled break is sacred. Had I been smoking, nobody would have questioned it. But since I wasn't, it was. This has been the case at every single job I have ever worked. Nobody thinks much about it, but it's a sad fact of life.

[Lace Neil Singer]

A girl at my last workplace was the only nonsmoker there; she used to take "choc breaks" and no-one really minded her doing that. Then again, if we were really busy, no-one was allowed to take a smoke break anyway; everyone was treated the same.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

1. In my line of work, the number of breaks you get depends on how long your shift is. You do not get extra breaks because you are a smoker.

2. (specifically with regard to rules 3 and 4) At my store, EVERYBODY takes longer breaks than they are allowed. People will stretch 15-minute breaks into 20 and 25-minute breaks and nobody will say anything about it unless somebody else is specifically waiting for their break and they start asking about the person who went on break before them. Of course, you cannot stretch lunch breaks any longer than 30 minutes because you have to punch out for those.

The only real exception to this is cashiers, who cannot take longer breaks because their breaks are scheduled.

That being said, while some of the rules make sense, the enforcement of them seems really childish.

[Jester]

I have over the years asked various restaurant managers if, since smokers can get smoke breaks, can I get a beer break? Just go out back, take a few minutes to enjoy a cold one, and then get back to work? I mean, they have their vice, I have mine, right?

I have yet to have one manager agree to allowing this. I do, however, keep trying.

Cigarettes and beers are both luxuries. They are both vices. Neither is necessary. No company owes any of their employees breaks for smokes or any other vice. But just about every company allows smoke breaks, but none allow beer breaks. Mind you, I am not talking about going out and getting trashed, but simply having one nice cold brewski. (If ever I get my own bar, trust me, there will be beer breaks allowed. As long as no one gets trashed and they can do their job, hell, why not? It's fair!)

I DID get into an argument with my GM at a previous restaurant once. I have told this story before, so I will keep this version very short. I was in the back break area, reading the sports page and sipping on a Sprite.

GM: "What the hell are you doing?"
JESTER: (calmly) "Taking a Sprite break."
GM: "A what? What the hell are you talking about? Get back out there!"
JESTER: (looking up from the paper) "You allow smoke breaks, right?"
GM: "Um, yes....."
JESTER: (angrily) "Well, I don't smoke, and I'm not about to start just to get an occasional break. My tables are fine, they are taken care of, AS THEY ALWAYS ARE, and I am taking a Sprite break!"
GM: (clearly flustered, and clearly seeing the phrase "discrimination lawsuit" crossing his brain) "Um, okay. Just make sure your tables are fine, and when you're done with your Sprite, get back to work."
JESTER: (turning back to the sports page) "Of course."

One more thing....I have ZERO sympathy for coworkers who take smoke breaks when the place is SLAMMED. If it's slow, fine, knock yourself out.....but honestly, if we are slammed, what right do you think you have to go enjoy your vice out back while I am busting my ass in here, and NEVER get a chance to enjoy MY vice while on the clock?

(To be fair, most every manager I've worked with, even the ones who smoked, would absolutely REAM someone for taking a smoke break when it's busy.)

Lifelong non-smoker here. Can ya tell?

[Misanthropical]

Where I work, everyone gets the same breaks. Smokers and nonsmokers are given the same time for breaks.

Smokers and nonsmokers get the same break away from the phone if they have had a very trying call.

We are all treated equally.

[Anriana]

We get two fifteen minute breaks by default and smokers can request to have three ten minute breaks instead.