[nyolfen]

it's a pleasant social activity when you're young; you have a ritual you perform together and share informal bonding time. smoking also gives a physical sense of relief once you're addicted to it and it gives you something to punctuate your day with, little benchmarks -- i will finish writing these emails so i can have a cigarette, etc.

i smoked for 8 years then switched to vaping. i don't want to vape for the rest of my life, but there was an obvious difference in my fitness as soon as i quit (e.g. being able to run twice as far without stopping). i also smell better and my teeth are whiter. i'm glad that i switched, but it doesn't share the same ritual feeling when you can just pull a drag at any arbitrary time.

[rapind]

I quit smoking ten years ago (smoked for about 15y before that) and the only thing I miss is the enforced ritual to go stand outside for 5-10 minutes.

I’d pay for an addictive product that gave me that back without killing me!

[im_down_w_otp]

When I was much younger I was the only non-smoker in an office of about 10 people. This included the owner and his wife who also worked there. Several times a day one or more of them would spend ~15 minutes loitering around smoking a cigarette. I'm prone to throwing myself into my work, even back then, and so initially this didn't really bother me. But, eventually the imbalance in workplace expectations, around scheduled breaks up against this informal unscheduled break they all benefited from, started to bug me. Sooooooo... one day I just start going outside randomly and standing around looking at the trees and listening to the birds for 10-15 minutes at a time. A few days of this went by and my boss (the owner) asked me what I was doing (insinuating I should get back to work). I said, "The same thing the rest of you do everyday, just without the part where I'm also lighting money and my wellbeing on fire. Sometimes I eat an apple or a banana though." Thankfully he was the sort to be reasoned with and saw my point. Shortly thereafter he quit smoking.

[inamiyar]

Good story but for some reason has a distinctive...LinkedIn story vibe. I can't put my finger on it.

[throwaway1777]

It could very well be true, but it seems fake because the ending is too perfect. Nothing is that easy in real life.

[im_down_w_otp]

Oh, it didn't end perfectly. His wife was the office manager, and grew to resent me immensely for being perceived as inspiring her husband's change in behavior. Less smoking, more walking, dietary changes, etc. Unlike him, she had less than zero interest in any of those lifestyle changes and it created strife, which palpably transfered to me all the way up until I eventually quit.

[whatshisface]

There's a very serious cost to living with the cynical perspective your comment expresses. If you think that people will only change when you have authority or leverage over them, and that they will always ignore reason, you'll pass by hundreds of chances to reach equitable mediums over your life, and get nothing in return except a little saved inconvenience of never opening discussions with a less than 100% chance of success.

[mlang23]

I find people that envy smokers for their breaks pretty pathetic. All it really implies is that these envious people dont know how to manage their own time. If I want a break, I take a break. If I dont need a break, I go on. But that doesnt have anything to do with my coworkers. As long as I am not the boss, its not my bussiness to do time management for others.

[rytis]

Annoyingly there can be slight imbalance. If a smoker takes 10 min break every hour, it's seen as "ok, he's just having a smoke". If a nonsmoker takes the same 10 mins break to check on their phone, or just chill outside, it's "oh, I've noticed you're away from your desk quite often". It's not a rule, but I've seen this happen more often that not.

[mlang23]

Actually, where I live, people working with monitors have 10 min break every hour, by law. Most people dont use that. And no, I have never heard a case where a non-smoker was bullied for taking a 15 minute break. Never. I guess I should praise my place of birth and workplace.

[carlmr]

Maybe you should, because I've experienced it a few times. Not in recent years though, as smoking has become a minority thing in all the offices I've seen in the last 5 years.

[wink]

Yes. Actually I've not noticed it in the last 10 years and seemingly everybody has stopped smoking, but before that...

Taking many smoke breaks per day - no problem. Standing in the office kitchen for 5 minutes with a fresh coffee "why aren't you working" in voiced form or just the looks.

In some companies we just made "team smoke breaks" with non-smokers randomly joining, either to chat or continue discussing work and I felt that was the best solution (unless people wanted to be alone for 5 minutes). Either you have stuff to talk about anyway or depending on the ratio of smokers to non-smokers there was some form of interaction.

[rbg246]

When I was a smoker, my smoke breaks were the thing that was noticed, I used to have one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Was incredibly awkward (due to the addiction) and in hindsight incredibly shortsighted on behalf of the company due to how productivity works.

Now most of my inspiration comes from taking breaks.

[pjerem]

I did never smoke a cigarette, but I always went to pause with my smoking coworkers.

Maybe I'm making up false assumptions, but coincidentally, those coworkers were the smartest one in my mind. I don't think cigarette had anything to do with this, but I'm somehow convinced that going outside 10-15min multiple times a day is an excellent for productivity and to build strong working (and personal) relationships.

COVID WFH apart, now that I'm working with non smokers, I really miss those times and as much as I appreciate my current coworkers, I don't like them as much as I used to like my fellow smokers.

If you are a non smoker working with smokers you appreciate talking to, try going outside with them. Smoker's pause is where everything is said without filter and where hierarchy really disappears.

[taneq]

Get a job somewhere with poor mobile reception where you have to stand in just the right spot to check Facebook. :P