My dad got started smoking while in the army. They would give smokers a five minute break, but everyone else was supposed to keep on working. A generation later, my best friend enlisted in the army, and nothing had changed. She became a smoker to avail herself of those breaks that the smokers received. She was an x-ray technician, and moving people around on the table was hard on her back. She started smoking to get the breaks because of damage that was happening in her back. No break, 5 minutes or otherwise, for an aching back.
Wow! That is crazy! I never knew about times or places where smoker's got special treatment like that! I hope she didn't inhale too!
I worked in restaurants up to a year after college. Anyone who smoked took smoke breaks. At every place, the cigarette was basically an egg timer in your mouth that let the manager know how soon you would be back to work. I did not smoke when I first started but I soon learned. I began to bum smokes and take these mini breaks too. Standing and joking around, whistling or snapping a towel, the manager would find something for you to do. If you were smoking you were left alone until that last drag.
Wow! Maybe I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but never had that experience either. I worked in restaurant/bar when young, but I just do not remember it. The late 70's-early 80's took its toll on my memory maybe. I do remember in the bar, you could easily smoke while you worked if it wasn't busy. I remember you were not allowed to "turn down " drinks from customers. My 1st few weeks there about wiped me out until someone showed me that there was a drain on the floor behind the bar to throw the drinks out. I always felt like it was such a waste to dump so many drinks down the drain like that, but I couldn't drink that much! You def had an understanding employer! Sounds like good times!
