View Full Version : Smoking at work,
To continue with the smoking debate since the smoking ban has come into force.
All the smokers at work have been complaining for quite some time about the smoking room being turned into a quiet room and having to smoke outside. Well things have just got a little bit worse for them. There has been for a long time, an argument about the amount of time that the smokers take out of their working day to smoke.
Well we have now been told at work that we have an hours break to be spread out over the entire working day. When we take those breaks is up to us. We are not paid for this hour. The smokers have been told that each time they go for a smoke, this is to be taken out of their hour break. Considering that a certain group of people who go out for smoke breaks every hour and spend at least 15 minutes out there AND take the whole hour at lunch time, this is a considerable amount of 'free' time they have lost.
They are whining and winging about it big time.
yorkie_chris
07-12-07, 01:00 PM
when I'm spannering I lose absolutely NO time to smoke breaks!
think of the improvement in productivity if they would just sit the smokers next to a window :p
Samnooshka
07-12-07, 01:07 PM
lmao....why aren't there more companies doing this!! I think its a brilliant idea!
the_lone_wolf
07-12-07, 01:20 PM
are you on lunch break though?;)
the irony of taking time from work to post on a forum to complain about other people taking time off work might cause the universe to implode:mrgreen:
are you on lunch break though?;)
the irony of taking time from work to post on a forum to complain about other people taking time off work might cause the universe to implode:mrgreen:
I'm not at work, I'm at home. :lol:
philipMac
07-12-07, 01:33 PM
So, I am not a big fan of cigarettes. To say the least.
But, they do help you concentrate. That I will accept.
I would also say that they do not effect your productivity at all. When you are working, you are not always actually working, you spend a lot of the time fluting about doing other stuff.
If this fluting about is a concerted walk outside, into the cold air, for five minutes, helping your brain focus a little more, taking a short break, I think that will only help your work.
That is not to say I think you should be allowed smoke in work. Or even in a special room, because of the reeking smell. But, outside the door in the air, no problem. They are being very silly giving out abuot that I think. It would seem like bitching to me, nothing more.
Also, while I am on the subject, the dirty, smelly, dangerous, nasty subject;
it is NOT ok to throw your used cigarettes on the ground.
They ARE litter.
Or your scummy ashtray out the car door.
I would dearly love for coppers to start doing people for throwing cigarette buts on the ground, or out the car window.
That really ****es me off. Smokers swanning about, firing off lit smokes all over the shop, giving out about how their rights are being horribly violated by these terrible laws, while you are sitting there, desperately trying not to smell the appalling reek off them, their breath and their clothes.
the_lone_wolf
07-12-07, 01:36 PM
I'm not at work, I'm at home. :lol:
ah, trying to swing a sicky;)
wyntrblue
07-12-07, 02:12 PM
this thread made me think.
as i smoker i have to go outside for a quick smoke when at work ( i have no problem with this) giving me a break from the screen which is good from a health and safty pov as for every hour you use a computer your supposed to take a 15min break from the screen anyway... how meny employers enforce that? none...
for every hour you use a computer your supposed to take a 15min break from the screen anyway... how meny employers enforce that? none...
This is incorrect. Show me where the law states this. It is true that you are meant to have a break from the screen every so often. But this break could quite simply be taking a phone call or going to collect something from the printer.
As far as I am aware you must take a twenty minute break after working consistently for 5 hours. I've yet to see anyone in the office be working consistently for 5 hours let alone working on the PC for that length of time. Further this does not have to be a paid 20 minutes.
My work give an hour a day for breaks. This is an hour non paid. We take those breaks as and when we wish. Most take it as a whole hour lunch break. The issue is with the smokers going out six or seven times a day in addition to the hour lunch break. Most of the time they are out the office for a minimum of 15 minutes each time. That's over an additional hour and half on breaks.
Do not get me wrong, I don't care. I even used to be one of those people. The people that work for me in my department don't smoke. I do not get effected by this at all. But looking at them all complaining does make me laugh. :wink:
I think it's good. There are no smokers in my current office, which is good, but my last place it was about 50% and they did so little work as it was 10-15 minutes an hour outside chatting about football, the weekend, what happened last night, how much they hate the boss, etc.
Yes, on top of what I just wrote. These smokers do all of this at thier desk too. I would not be suprised if out of the 8 and half hours they are in work they actually get any more than 3 or 4 hours of work completed.
ah, trying to swing a sicky;)
No that would be successfully swinging a sicky. :smt023
the_lone_wolf
07-12-07, 03:05 PM
No that would be successfully swinging a sicky. :smt023
it's not 17:30 yet;)
it's not 17:30 yet;)
This is true. But then if I had to wait until then, I would also have done an hours overtime as well. Start at 8 and finish at half past four.
as i smoker i have to go outside for a quick smoke when at work ( i have no problem with this) giving me a break from the screen which is good from a health and safty pov as for every hour you use a computer your supposed to take a 15min break from the screen anyway... how meny employers enforce that? none...
I love how alot of people slate H&S til they are blue in the face and think that banning smoking is H&S gone mad.........but then as soon as people can use H&S to their own advantage its a great thing :rolleyes:
Not a personal dig at you wyntrblue, but I see it so often.
yorkie_chris
07-12-07, 03:24 PM
And why not, if its going to annoy you 9 out of 10 times ... scrape every second on the other one where its in your favour.
If your employer is being so bitchy as to enforce an hour break a day then they're just asking everyone to sue them for losing a finger-hair on a sticky note.
the_lone_wolf
07-12-07, 03:32 PM
If your employer is being so bitchy as to enforce an hour break a day then they're just asking everyone to sue them for losing a finger-hair on a sticky note.
it's bloody criminal, expecting you to work the number of hours you said you would when you signed your contract of employment, they're always trying to screw you:smt011
yorkie_chris
07-12-07, 03:38 PM
Personally I'd still go for a fag untill they sacked me for it, then buy a TLS with the compensation. An hour a day isn't a lot if that has to include a trip to the butty shop as well!
All the jobs I've had have accepted that people aren't battery hens and shown a little flexibility about it.
the_lone_wolf
07-12-07, 03:41 PM
All the jobs I've had have accepted that people aren't battery hens and shown a little flexibility about it.
15 minutes from every hour isn't flexibility, it's taking the ****:p
yorkie_chris
07-12-07, 03:42 PM
Only a short ride, takes a fairly long straight to get enough speed to take my curvy into orbit though.
yorkie_chris
07-12-07, 03:43 PM
15 minutes from every hour isn't flexibility, it's taking the ****:p
15 minutes is what HSE say, not me.
5 minutes is more realistic, that even includes rolling one.
15 minutes is what HSE say, not me.
Its 15 minutes away from the computer, not work ;)
I.e - Turn the monitor off and do some work that doesnt involve display screen equipment.
yorkie_chris
07-12-07, 03:48 PM
No its due to the language barrier, they only speak bull$hit over here and I sometimes find it hard to switch between.
Samnooshka
07-12-07, 03:50 PM
When i was working for Hein Gericke, i got so fed up with being the only one working that in the end every time the others would go out for a smoke, i stopped what i was doing and read a magazine or something... why should i still be working hard when they were outside talking and smoking :p
yorkie_chris
07-12-07, 03:51 PM
Its 15 minutes away from the computer, not work ;)
I.e - Turn the monitor off and do some work that doesnt involve display screen equipment.
A fair point
When i was working for Hein Gericke, i got so fed up with being the only one working that in the end every time the others would go out for a smoke, i stopped what i was doing and read a magazine or something... why should i still be working hard when they were outside talking and smoking :p
I used to do this when i worked at halfords many many moons ago.
northwind
07-12-07, 05:34 PM
All I can say is, I would rather the heavy smokers in my office get their hit, than be left dealing with them in withdrawal all day, I'd end up killing them... One of the reasons I get away with spending so my time on the net at work is that I don't take any of the other assorted fag/coffee/"just popping up to the cafeteria to see what's on the menu"/"Just moving the car into a better space" rubbish half my team do. I just have "blatantly skiving" breaks.
Flamin_Squirrel
07-12-07, 06:33 PM
All I can say is, I would rather the heavy smokers in my office get their hit, than be left dealing with them in withdrawal all day, I'd end up killing them... One of the reasons I get away with spending so my time on the net at work is that I don't take any of the other assorted fag/coffee/"just popping up to the cafeteria to see what's on the menu"/"Just moving the car into a better space" rubbish half my team do. I just have "blatantly skiving" breaks.
Amen to that.
Smokers are an easy target - obvious to see when they've stepped outside. But I don't see how picking on them is going to help, people are perfectly capable of being lazy without ciggies.
If someones taking the ****, then they're taking the **** whether they're smoking or not. Don't see why the distinctions being made.
All this minute watching idea does is leave everyone open to the future prospect of being placed under constant surveillance at work, and having money deducted from their pay slip every time they need to go for a ****.
Your right, but I'm not making the rules am I. The trouble is as you say, it's so blatant that they are taking all this 'extra' time from work. Whereas for others, it's a chin wag with a colleague over a coffee. I can't say surfing the web as that is monitored so all are wary about that one.
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