Non-Smoking Breaks

For as long as I have worked in an office (going on nearly 17 years now), I have never taken a smoking break. I can remember some of my co-workers and roommates stepping out on occasion to go smoke since smoking was no longer allowed in most office buildings. I never got into the smoking habit so I can't relate to the 'overwhelming' desire that smokers seem to get on occasion. I do realize that for some it is more than a mild addiction and it requires them to light up every so often otherwise the results vary from mild irritation to utter and total meltdowns. Perhaps they're the ones incessantly chewing nicotine gum while on overseas flights.

In any case, for those of us who work with serial smokers, it can sometimes be difficult to carry on work since some of these folks are dashing out to the smoker's compound outside the building that they are barely around to discuss things with. I remember having one manager who was outside seemingly every ten to twenty minutes. I know that for some smokers, in times of stress, nothing takes the edge off like a quick cigarette but then what about those of us who take our stress out via coffee? Are we to stand around or sit at our desks waiting for your cigarette break to end? I thought about it at that time and wondered how much productivity time is lost due to unnecessary trips to the ground floor and back loading dock or side smoking area in order to light up.

I started wondering again recently due to the fact that I work in a campus of buildings that are located in close proximity to one another. On occasion I have to run in between buildings for meetings or work or whatever and I pass by the smoker's areas for each building during each of those trips and what I found was that some people were out there all the time. And I literally mean all the time. It didn't matter what time I went (because I don't follow a schedule on going between buildings) and I have varied my routine by as much as several hours and yet, these folks are outside smoking and carrying on conversations and many of them are not related to work. If you have a team that all smokes then great, you can probably carry on meetings with no interruption but for the rest of us, it's a bit of a problem.

I wondered if anyone looking for any of these regular smokers would know where to look and whether it was even possible for these guys to get started on the day. I know of smokers who go out every two to three hours. That's fine. At least then they get some work done and then move out. If I go into a friend's office and shoot the breeze with them every hour, I would be considered a laze-a-bout. Tell me though, what's the difference other than my not smoking? Nothing. That's why I wonder why is it that more people don't insist on non-smokers breaks? If we are okay with loss of productivity in certain sectors why not have loss of productivity across the board then? I think that's the way to go isn't it? Fair and equitable.