I don’t think there’s a non-smoker in the world who hasn’t joked that they just might take up smoking in order to get more breaks at work. We all know that people who need a cigarette are allowed to have one every hour or so, while the rest of us are relegated to the standard two fifteen-minute breaks a shift.
It doesn’t seem fair, but when a woman named Syd (@poorandhungry) took “smoke breaks” even though she didn’t smoke, she got into trouble at work.
She claims that the extra smoke breaks were even written into her company’s employee handbook, and since the woman who sat next to her did smoke, she started to realize just how much more time away from her desk the other woman received.
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To make up for the unequal work times, she started taking a regular break whenever her office mate went for a smoke. She’d just use her phone and enjoy the outdoors, heading back inside when the smoker did.
She did not understand why she would get in trouble.
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“I was taking the exact same amount of smoke breaks as the smoker, but as a non-smoker, I couldn’t take a break too?”
No one really understands it, with almost every commenter on her side.
This person suggested she keep a pack of cigarettes and claim to be smoking if confronted.
“I’d bring a pack of cigarettes and not smoke them if corporate were to be petty like that.”
Image Credit: TikTok
Watch the video…
@poorandhungry Made sense to me! #smokebreak #internship
Tiktok weighed in, and the first comment makes SOOOO much sense!
Photo Credit: TikTok
While others were just so darn helpful!
Photo Credit: TikTok
Someone else was shocked to get disciplined for doing the same thing!
Photo Credit: TikTok
Maybe someone from HR or corporate wants to pop on and defend the policy, but until then, we shall support her with secondhand smoker rage.