# "Smoke" Breaks. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 11, 2003, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-breaks/206860 "2003-10-11T16:57:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-breaks/206860/41 "2003-10-12T17:32:14Z")
“Bonus envelope?” What’s a “bonus envelope?” Are you trying to pretend that people actually still get bonuses some place on this earth? My usual Christmas bonus is “Merry Christmas! You’re not fired…yet!” And then the bosses go out for a smoke. No, actually, none of the bosses are anywhere near the office for the two weeks around Christmas. I really hate this company. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-breaks/206860/42 "2003-10-12T19:38:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by OneChance \* > \*\*Hey, what’s with that faraway look people get when they’re puffing on a cigarette? Just wondering. \*\* That’s the CIA mind probe rays implanting suggestions and sucking out secrets. Nicotine makes one especially easy to mind probes. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-breaks/206860/43 "2003-10-12T20:25:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ivylass \* > \*\*I was NOT being condescending. I thought **kambuckta** might have been unaware of the different meaning here in the States. If I underestimated **kambuckta’s** intelligence, I heartily apologize. \*\* Absolutely no sweat **ivylass** and no need to apologise. I understood that there was no condescension whatsoever in your post, and it made me chuckle to read it. ‘Fag’ is used in both contexts here, but I personally tend to reserve it for the cigarette kind. And I DID temporarily forget about the other ‘meaning’ when I wrote the post. Heh. I don’t know what stick was up **j\_kat’s** bum when he/she replied…maybe he/she was hanging out for a fag\*. 😛 \*I’ll leave it to you to decide whether I’m referring to cancer-sticks or the other variety. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Conflict\_of\_Interest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/57b2e6/32.png) [@Conflict\_of\_Interest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Conflict_of_Interest)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-breaks/206860/44 "2003-10-12T20:51:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mhendo \* > \*\*Actually, **kambuckta** is probably well aware of the meaning in the States, because “fag” can mean the same thing in Australia as it does in the US. It’s just that, in Australia, it _also_ means “cigarette.” \*\* Actually it means the same thing here in the USA as well (cigarette). It’s just that people are afraid of offending others if they use it. So it doesn’t get used often. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-breaks/206860/45 "2003-10-12T20:57:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Conflict of Interest \* > \*\*Actually it means the same thing here in the USA as well (cigarette). It’s just that people are afraid of offending others if they use it. So it doesn’t get used often. \*\* Really? I’ve lived in the US for three years now, and i’ve never heard the word used to mean “cigarette” by an American. I guess your explanation would cover that, except that i’ve also had some Americans actually express surprise that the term “fag” had a non-pejorative meaning. It might depend on what part of the US you live in, i suppose. ---
**Author:** ![Conflict\_of\_Interest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/57b2e6/32.png) [@Conflict\_of\_Interest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Conflict_of_Interest)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-breaks/206860/46 "2003-10-12T21:26:26Z")
I have lived here all my live, over 50 years, and calling it a fag used to be fashionable when i was young. It went out in the 70s though I think. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-breaks/206860/47 "2003-10-12T21:35:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Conflict of Interest \* > \*\*I have lived here all my live, over 50 years, and calling it a fag used to be fashionable when i was young. It went out in the 70s though I think. \*\* Which ‘here’ are you referring to, given that we are discussing trans-Pacific dialect differences? Oh, and I probably AM stuck in the 70’s, at least language-wise. None of that damned modern cool-speak for me mate. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Conflict\_of\_Interest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/57b2e6/32.png) [@Conflict\_of\_Interest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Conflict_of_Interest)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-breaks/206860/48 "2003-10-12T21:52:10Z")
By here I mean the USA. ---
**Author:** ![Conflict\_of\_Interest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/57b2e6/32.png) [@Conflict\_of\_Interest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Conflict_of_Interest)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-breaks/206860/49 "2003-10-12T21:53:35Z")
By here I mean the USA. Sorry for the confution. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-breaks/206860/50 "2003-10-12T22:03:03Z")
## quote: Originally posted by manniac As a smoker, it’s the other side of the coin that pisses me off. The non-smokers can waste all the time they want since they don’t have to leave the work area to do it. We smokers have to leave the building, so it’s obvious when we leave. ## The non-smokers think nothing of gossiping and chatting half the day (not to mention internet surfing on company time). But let a smoker take one minute too long and they are the first to complain. The thing is, that unless the smokers are, each and every one, diligent about NOT allowing a single word of gossip to pass their lips when working (and come on, are you saying that smokers ARE this way?? That the smoke breaks are the ONLY non-official breaks they take?? That smokers NEVER surf etc?), or, not EVER EVER websurfing or goofing off in any other way, then the smokers are not only behaving like “normal” corporate/office workers, in that they stop for an occasional gossip at the water cooler and so on, but they’re taking that EXTRA 10-15 minutes smoke bread several times a day as well. Fortunately, in many office environments (at least in my industry), unlike fast food etc, this doesn’t force their fellow workers to take up the slack. All it does is put those workers behind on THEIR own projects or reports. I’ve worked in corporate America for most of my working life (so far:D). In my experience, smokers do INDEED behave “normally” (in other words, gossiping, websurfing etc, JUST as much as non-smokers), but they take those long breaks as well. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-breaks/206860/51 "2003-10-12T22:10:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by j\_kat\_251 \* > \*\*Really? Because, darling, you realize, honey, of course, baby, naturally, pumpkin, that we uncultured swine here in Australia know that shit? Ho ho ho you said a word that means something else what jolly fun. Jesus fuck. \*\* Good God jkat, switch to Decaf willya? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9dc877/32.png) [@Mr\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-breaks/206860/52 "2003-10-12T22:13:08Z")
My fellow cashiers do this so I take extremely long pee breaks, usually ending up chatting with someone for 5-10 mins. Never had a comment about it (probably think I’ve got the runs 😃 ) and if I do they’ll get an earful about fairness. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-breaks/206860/53 "2003-10-12T22:19:36Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by kambuckta \* > [BI don’t know what stick was up **j\_kat’s** bum when he/she replied…maybe he/she was hanging out for a fag_. 😛 > \*\* Judging from how jkat’s posts on the board nearly always turn out similarly to this one (that is foaming at the mouth impatient and enraged), I’m thinking that I actually saw him in person on “Blind Date” while channel surfing late at night. He was Ward, on a “Dates from Hell” episode, and was titled “World’s Angriest Man” by the Blind Date host guy. But, now that I know jkat is from Australia, I know it’s not him. Ward was from CA. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-breaks/206860/54 "2003-10-12T22:22:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr Jim \* > \*\*My fellow cashiers do this so I take extremely long pee breaks, usually ending up chatting with someone for 5-10 mins. Never had a comment about it (probably think I’ve got the runs 😃 ) and if I do they’ll get an earful about fairness. \*\* So THAT’S where you were when I was trying to get my wing zings and no one was at the express lane!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Conflict\_of\_Interest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/57b2e6/32.png) [@Conflict\_of\_Interest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Conflict_of_Interest)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-breaks/206860/55 "2003-10-12T22:29:30Z")
Maybe it’s just me, but it did sound like **ivylass** was condescending. Any time I hear someone say things like…well hun, or you know dear, etc., it sounds to me like they are talking to a 9 year old. I know **ivylass** appologized and said that wasn’t what she meant but when I first heard it that was how it sounded. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-breaks/206860/56 "2003-10-12T23:03:50Z")
Or, maybe she’s just one of those people who tries to be extra nice. We old ladies DO throw a “sweetie” into our conversations now and again, and it’s meant as exactly that, NOT condescending at all. Of course, thats’s assuming that **Ivylass** is my age. 😃 It just sounded to me as if she were trying to broach the subject sweetly and nicely. I’d rather see that than the brash snottiness of a “hey, idiot, fag is a derogatory term for homos, cut it out”! But, that’s just me. That she, **Ivylass** , didn’t know that many English and Australian people know what that slang means in the US, isn’t equivelant to her being condescending. Besides, as I said, jkat approaches nearly every thread that way, and nearly every post of his comes off as being over the top postal. So it wasn’t **Ivylass’** post. ---
**Author:** ![Blonde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Blonde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blonde)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-breaks/206860/57 "2003-10-13T00:27:50Z")
Well, now I understand why this thread’s in the Pit! I am a smoker (a few a day) and have 6 employees reporting to me, 3 who smoke. They take about 30 minutes a day on their breaks. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel to assume they are wasting more of the company’s money than non-smokers. You would have to monitor phone calls/internet access/chatting in the hallways, etc. to get the true picture. I doubt there’s any difference at all in productive time, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![meara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@meara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meara)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-breaks/206860/58 "2003-10-13T01:43:26Z")
I work in an office environment and don’t begrudge anyone their smoke time, since most people work more than 40 hours anyway. However, they all take the smoke break together and I’m always kind of grumpy that they get a nice, fun social break in the middle of the day that I can’t really join them for. How’s that for pathetic? 🙂 (I’m pretty sure that one of them only took up smoking in the first place so that he could be part of that smoke break crowd.) ---
**Author:** ![Conflict\_of\_Interest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/57b2e6/32.png) [@Conflict\_of\_Interest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Conflict_of_Interest)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-breaks/206860/59 "2003-10-13T03:02:02Z")
I don’t know anything about jkat or ivylass for that matter. I can’t see her and only have what is written to base my reaction on and I thought it sounded a little condescending. And seeing that this is “the pit” it is easy to see that she could have meant it that way also. But I admit that you could be correct as well CanvasShoes. ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-breaks/206860/60 "2003-10-13T03:03:30Z")
I am considering smoking again for the social opportunities with co-workers - I feel like I’m left out of the loop because I don’t know what’s being talked about on the smoke breaks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-breaks/206860.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-breaks/206860.md?page=4)