Once again my issue is with the people that are taking advantage as smoke breaks and not doing their job properly.
I agree that some smokers do a fantastic job and get it done right. My issue is the ones that do not.
We need private high-tech glass ventilation systems setup in people's offices like in Europe and let them smoke there
The common idea that workers who smoke in a team oriented blue collar environment leave their coworkers out to dry. This does happen, but to blame on smoking itself is ludicrous. I work in a very busy kitchen where about 20-30% of our cooks smoke. No one ever leaves the line when we are incredibly busy because we are all responsible people. Sure, some people in other businesses do apparently (Taco Bell...), but that doesn't mean you can just generalize all smokers into that category. Those people are irresponsible because they are irresponsible people, not because they smoke. This generalization irritates me to no end. And to be honest, anybody who does this is not going to get promoted or go very far in the service industry. Thank god for the free market.
People just assume that every smoker is the same evil person. It's OK though, I am used to being shamed on the sidewalks of Vancouver...
I think there are a lot of slackers at work, but the smokers are easier to see as they're always getting up to go outside. You could have someone who never leaves their desk and surfs all day, daydreams, etc.
I think there are a lot of slackers at work, but the smokers are easier to see as they're always getting up to go outside. You could have someone wh onever leaves their desk and surfs all day, daydreams, etc.
We need to find a way to determine who these slackers are! Then we could compare the washroom abusers, smokers, daydreamers, internet jockey's, etc. Then we could find out who is the real over-privileged in our offices. It would only be fair.
Every office could employ a "monitor" such as the one pictured below...
__________________
Last edited by GreatWhiteEbola; 03-02-2009 at 04:26 PM.
The common idea that workers who smoke in a team oriented blue collar environment leave their coworkers out to dry. This does happen, but to blame on smoking itself is ludicrous. I work in a very busy kitchen where about 20-30% of our cooks smoke. No one ever leaves the line when we are incredibly busy because we are all responsible people. Sure, some people in other businesses do apparently (Taco Bell...), but that doesn't mean you can just generalize all smokers into that category. Those people are irresponsible because they are irresponsible people, not because they smoke. This generalization irritates me to no end. And to be honest, anybody who does this is not going to get promoted or go very far in the service industry. Thank god for the free market.
People just assume that every smoker is the same evil person. It's OK though, I am used to being shamed on the sidewalks of Vancouver...
But you are comparing different things. A Line Cook or cook in general is not abusing the right to the smoke break. This occurs constantly in the Downtown office scene it is not even funny. 6.25 hrs per week in just smoke breaks. The average person works a 7hrs day with 1 hr lunch. Essentially when you combine the numbers it works to the person only working .75 hrs 1 day and then 4 full days. Even if you factor in the random breaks non-smokers take at half the time, it is still half a day of potential production and work time.
Well, Ethaniel... Seeing as how you've wasted your entire afternoon posting in this thread, looks like you're about 2 hours ahead of the slacking smokers for this week. Keep up the good work, buddy.
There's nothing more frustrating than seeing a hot girl walking down the street only to notice seconds later she's holding a death saber in her left hand. A 10 become a 3 just like that.
As for the OP, I take 'walking outside breaks' at my work on the same rotation as the smokers. Only fair.
Well, Ethaniel... Seeing as how you've wasted your entire afternoon posting in this thread, looks like you're about 2 hours ahead of the slacking smokers for this week. Keep up the good work, buddy.
Trust me 4x4 the amount of work I get done has yet to be touched by anyone in my department. Advantage of working with people that are older and much slower and doing things. I do about 3 times more work than they do in a day and like I stated I know I have free time, but that doesn't occur for everyone.
I can think of 2 groups at my office where something else is the norm and half the people get special treatment.
If you also notice the time between my posts. Yeah I work in between that. Not to mention with the slow down in the industry these days I am not as busy as I was last year.
Trust me 4x4 I am not wasting my time. Like I said I know Smokers that are using that as an excuse to get additional time away from their desk to avoid work. Unacceptable I believe in any Industry today.
Trust me 4x4 the amount of work I get done has yet to be touched by anyone in my department. Advantage of working with people that are older and much slower and doing things. I do about 3 times more work than they do in a day and like I stated I know I have free time, but that doesn't occur for everyone.
I can think of 2 groups at my office where something else is the norm and half the people get special treatment.
If you also notice the time between my posts. Yeah I work in between that. Not to mention with the slow down in the industry these days I am not as busy as I was last year.
Trust me 4x4 I am not wasting my time. Like I said I know Smokers that are using that as an excuse to get additional time away from their desk to avoid work. Unacceptable I believe in any Industry today.
How hilariously typical. The whiner is the one that claims not to be guilty of the same crime. "I get it done when nobody can see" "I'm so much faster than everyone else". Blah blah blah. WTG, Ethanial. You spent the afternoon complaining about other people not working and then justified your own slacking by saying that you work harder. You make me laugh.
How hilariously typical. The whiner is the one that claims not to be guilty of the same crime. "I get it done when nobody can see" "I'm so much faster than everyone else". Blah blah blah. WTG, Ethanial. You spent the afternoon complaining about other people not working and then justified your own slacking by saying that you work harder. You make me laugh.
I'm glad there's such great people like you around to set examples for the rest of us.
And you missed the complete theme of this post.
I have stated throughout that I am not complaining in my situation.
I am talking about a completely different group to which I was asked to monitor. I am just reporting my finding and stating how annoying it is to me that they take these breaks in this group and receive special treatment because they smoke when the others have to work harder.
I'm glad there's such great people like you around to set examples for the rest of us.
You should be. Because if people like Ethaniel had their way, nothing would ever get done because everyone would be looking at the person next to him to see if that person was working as hard.
So what's your point? Just because you agree that smokers suck? Try to put it in a way that isn't a whining, hypocritical fashion and I may leave it be. If you're going to spend half your day whining about OTHER people slacking off, you get no sympathy from me.
Trust me 4x4 the amount of work I get done has yet to be touched by anyone in my department. Advantage of working with people that are older and much slower and doing things. I do about 3 times more work than they do in a day and like I stated I know I have free time, but that doesn't occur for everyone.
I can think of 2 groups at my office where something else is the norm and half the people get special treatment.
If you also notice the time between my posts. Yeah I work in between that. Not to mention with the slow down in the industry these days I am not as busy as I was last year.
Trust me 4x4 I am not wasting my time. Like I said I know Smokers that are using that as an excuse to get additional time away from their desk to avoid work. Unacceptable I believe in any Industry today.
Okay, so you complain about and monitor "special priveleges" that don't effect you negatively, and you do three times the work of your coworkers?
And you missed the complete theme of this post.
I have stated throughout that I am not complaining in my situation.
I am talking about a completely different group to which I was asked to monitor. I am just reporting my finding and stating how annoying it is to me that they take these breaks in this group and receive special treatment because they smoke when the others have to work harder.
Riiiight. You were "asked" to monitor other people. Sure isn't how it sounded in the OP...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ethaniel
Why is it that your fellow Employee is allowed 2+ Smoking breaks during the day?
I am coming from the aspect of a non-smoker working downtown and it really bugs me that people that are smokers in my building are taking 4 - 6 Smoke breaks a day. The thing that annoys me more is they seem to think that this is acceptable and that each smoke break is only 5 minutes in length.
I have been observing the comings and goings at work this week and calculated the man hours lost for each individual that smokes on our floor downtown. We are on the 20th Floor so there is an average 2 - 5 Minute wait time at the elevator. On average the Smokers of my floor are taking 5 Smoke breaks a day. Also on the average each smoke break takes 15 minutes in time, this bring the total wasted per day of 1hr 15minutes (and for some reason they still take an hour lunch break).
When you take this total and add it up for 1 individual Smoker, the results are quite unique. 1.25 hrs per day for 5 days is 6.25 hrs wasted smoking of the companies time. Add on the hour lunch break for the 1 day and they have almost effectively missed an entire day of work each week. To someone who does not smoke I find this to be incredibly unfair.
Why should someone who smokes only work a 4 day week when everyone else that gets approximately the same pay work a 5 day week?
I think that effectively all Smokers should only be allowed a smoke break Before work, at lunch (in the hour time frame), and after work. Allow one other Smoke Break during the day of about 15-20 Minutes.
I do about 3 times more work than they do in a day and like I stated I know I have free time, but that doesn't occur for everyone.
I can think of 2 groups at my office where something else is the norm and half the people get special treatment.
Like I said I know Smokers that are using that as an excuse to get additional time away from their desk to avoid work. Unacceptable I believe in any Industry today.
You're assuming that these workers are just slacking off during their smoke breaks, but this isn't always the case. If you're in an office where people need to work together on projects, then these smoke breaks could end up being mini-meetings where they communicate to each other how their projects are going, and to exchange any vital information. Sometimes, that is essential, and certainly is faster than emailing.
You should at least try and join them on their breaks every once in awhile. Trust me if you're as hard working as you claim, AND you have contacts with the people in charge, and more social people, you'll go far.
To the OP. Have you ever thought that break time isn't up to the smokers? If management is letting them get away with it and it bothers you maybe you should approach your boss and declare that you will also be taking smoke breaks, even if you don't actually smoke. Just go outside and get some air.
I smoke at work sometimes and I try to take a shorter break to make up for the time I spend smoking. What really matters here isn't that they are smoking, you are just using the social norms against smoking to further your point. All that matters is that they are taking longer breaks than everyone else, which is wrong. If you feel you aren't getting your fair share of break time then you'll have to either approach management or deal with it.
I've often gotten pissed when my boss smokes and thinks that smokers should get extra time on top of their breaks. It can be irritating, but like I said it has nothing to do with smoking it has to do with excess break time for some individuals.
That being said, even if you do approach management you are walking a fine line. Are coffee breaks now outlawed too? What about just socializing with other employees? Surely these also count as time spent not working and therefore are like mini breaks, just like the ones the smokers take. You open a huge can of worms by debating the amount of break time people take. In the end you'll either have to stop them or join them, or just ignore it all together.
In the end you'll either have to stop them or join them, or just ignore it all together.
I vote stop them. Also, the notes you are taking on your "co-workers" aren't even close to the level of detail that upper management will appreciate. If you really want to impress the higher ups then create a detailed daily log that contains as much information on your marks as you can. It should include the following three main area's...
Arrival and departure: Detailed time of arrival and departure to the nearest half minute. Note the time of arrival indicates the time the mark got to "work", as in started working. Personal e-mails, calls, stretching, newspaper reading or fetching a coffee do not count as work. Time of departure should not include time taken to put coat on and wash or put away coffee cup.
Breaks: Detailed break times to the nearest half minute. See "Arrival" for description of when you count them as back at work. Washroom breaks should also be noted and if you have time please log (HA) if they washed their hands, soap/no soap and, of course, number one or number two. Employees that poop at home are more valuable as they use less toilet paper and time.
Lunch time: Again, nearest half minute. Important things to note are if they continue eating at their desk after lunch or if they wait until after 1pm to use the washroom (again wasting the companies valuable time).
Your coworkers might act like they don't appreciate you kicking stall doors open and sprinting around the office with a stopwatch and a clipboard but they are just secretly jealous that you beat them to it. Trust me, they will appreciate you when your efforts bring back time cards, locked washrooms and hall passes. Welcome back to high school!
__________________ Go Flames Go!!
The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Rhettzky For This Useful Post:
People are just trying to get by with their daily lives. Stop concentrating on what others do and if you feel something is unfair, do what they do and help yourself. Take a longer break yourself, do some more work, get promoted, or take up smoking. This isn't an egalitarian society. If management and work culture lets them have their breaks, then they are just doing what makes their days go by better. Figure out what you want to do yourself.
