You’re going to sound like a whiny bitch no matter what. People are evil like that and they’ll just roll their eyes at you. Maybe you should borrow a pack of cigarettes from Eric and tell people you’re going on a cigarette break…and then just do whatever you want once you’re out of the office.

Yeah, Christina is right – even thought you’re not being irrational at all, you’re going to come off as whiny; “why would she care what others get to do?”

If I was you I’d ask if you could get a few extra short breaks – as opposted to asking them to deny the smokers the breaks.

I totally understand what you mean, as a non-smoker myself, but I don’t think it’s such a good idea to bring it up. I think it’s an unwritten rule that smokers get five minute breaks every now and then… It’s unfair, but I guess that’s the upside about killing yourself slowly with smoking…

Although it’s not fair, it happens everywhere and I’ve heard of lots of people complaining about it; but nothing is ever done. It’s worth a crack though. My sister semi-took up smoking at her old job just so she could get extra breaks. She quit pretty quickly.

At a few of my jobs I dealt with issues like this. I find it grossly unfair that smokers can take whatever breaks they need to continue their addiction. I complained and got nowhere. Finally, myself and several other non-smokers quit complaining and began taking water breaks. When stopped or reprimanded, we pointed out that what the smokers were doing was no better. If anything, worse, because their need for a break was not only detrimental to their health, but to those who happened to be in the vicinity to suffer from secondhand smoke.

Smokers can take all the breaks they want IMO, so long as they get the job done. My company expects that we work for 8 hours a day (that’s not including breaks), so at work if someone wants to take 20 minutes extra of smoke breaks, that’s an extra 20 minutes that they have to stay back. I think it’s fair when it works like that.

Hm, I think you’re right. That is kind of unfair but there’s not much you can do about it, to be honest. I would probably end up doing what Christina suggested though, haha.

I don’t think you’re being whiney, and I do think the breaks you’re describing are excessive, but writing them down like that – and stewing – make it sound like you’re being obsessive. Is what they’re doing hindering your own worklife? If not, it may not be the worst idea to find something else to occupy your mind. If they *are* screwing with your worklife, then you’re totally in bounds if you say something – you deserve to be able to get through your work day without someone making it harder for you.

That said, as an ex-smoker I know there are points during a day when you feel that you *have* to have a cigarette, it claws at you and can physically hurt, the cravings are insane. But I know that there are a lot of smokers who take it too far – no one needs a 15-20 minute smoke break, I don’t give a damn what people may say, that’s excessive and ridiculous, and if I took an addition hour and a half of ‘me’ time during my work day, I’d better be bleeding or on fire.

Personally, I ended up taking a tiny, smokeless nic inhaler to work and using that at intervals at my desk. I’m not sure why more people don’t do that. No smoke, no smell, it didn’t bother others and didn’t hinder my work.

Point of fact, it’s possible that I go on and on too much in the comments of other blogs, hehe.

I can’t say that I relate to what you’re going through, but that’s because I am a smoker. However, the hour lunch has two variations depending on where you work. In retail you have a half hour and two 15′s, you’re not being paid for anything during the hour so there’s no point in standing around in the store. Unfortunately the only option is to walk outside and then through force of habit you’re instantly lighting up a cigarette. The other option is the straight 1-hour lunch where there’s more than enough time to leave the building and do whatever you please – nails, hair, window shopping, cup of coffee with a friend – whatever the case may be. You can do this because you’re not dealing with a horrible addiction that eats up all of your lunch break time like the smokers are.

I do believe it’s wrong to take anything over an hours break just to keep your addiction maintained during the day. Go during the time allotted to you or suck it up and start chewing nicotine gum or just shove a patch on the back of your neck.