Worker Supported for Taking Up Smoking To Take Advantage of Smoke Breaks

When told that smoke breaks were only for smokers, one employee decided that was all they needed to take up the habit.

The original poster (OP), u/vampyrewolf, told the popular Reddit forum r/MaliciousCompliance their story, earning over 10,000 upvotes and 700 comments in a day.

The OP reminisced about when they worked at a fast-food chain in the year 2000. They were in high school and worked nearly every day. During the dinner rush, however, it was particularly stressful—not just because of the sudden influx of customers, but because four coworkers would always take their smoke breaks at the top of the rush, which would "leave 3 of us scrambling for 15min."

When u/vampyrewolf complained, their shift manager told them smoke breaks were given every hour, and it didn't have to happen at a fixed time. And when they tried to join the smokers on the break, the manager told them it was only for smokers.

"FINE BY ME," u/vampyrewolf wrote.

The next shift with that manager, OP walked out with the rest of the smokers, lighting their own cigarette. The manager went ballistic and told them to start cooking hamburgers for the dinner rush, but u/vampyrewolf just repeated her own words to her.

"'Sorry, but I get a smoke break every hour, and they can be anytime in that hour like you told me. Or were we ALL going back in?'" he remembers saying.

Following u/vampyrewolf's smoke break, a new rule was instituted that only two people were allowed to smoke at once, and no one was allowed to smoke during the dinner rush.

Since OP only smoked for work, they said that a pack of cigarettes lasted nearly a month. They also clarified that their habit ended as soon as they left that job, as they didn't smoke enough to become addicted.

"I enjoy the occasional cigar or cigarette, but when I mean occasional I mean occasional... couldn't tell you when I had my last," u/vampyrewolf wrote.

When smoking was more common, smoke breaks were standard. But as tobacco use becomes more controversial, they became more rare. In some states, including California and Texas, smokers are not legally required to be given extra breaks beyond the standard rule calling for one 10-minute break for every four hours worked.

Of course, legality doesn't always mean that no companies offer smoke breaks—but the practice is becoming more rare. The Houston Chronicle published an essay in 2021 calling for the end to special smoke breaks. The top reason is that smoke breaks, as u/vampyrewolf discovered, punish nonsmokers.

Redditors shared their own tales of smoke breaks and faking the habit.

"When I was in the US Army in the 80's. While going through training the sergeant would call out a break to everyone working, "Smoke 'em if ya got 'em." Once I learned that meant take a break, but only if you were a smoker, I quickly started having a spare cig between my lips. I never even lit it. I told one sergeant it was a smokeless cigarette. I got all the extra breaks the smokers did," u/CoderJoe1 wrote.

"When I was in Army Basic (1985) , first day, a smoke break was offered for anyone who wanted it. The Drill Sergeants took names down the first time. After the break, all the smokers had to do "butt patrol", they had to walk around post picking up cigarette butts. After that, with the list of names, anytime a butt patrol or trash detail was needed, the list was pulled out and "volunteers" were selected. The non-smokers made out pretty well," u/pylons26 added.

"I worked at one of the sister restaurants with the crimson shellfish, and it irked me to no end that only smokers were even allowed to take breaks at all. I used to just sit in the bathroom for 10 minutes munching my cheese sticks that the bartender ordered for me since I wasn't being given my required break times. I'm highly allergic to cigarette smoke, so joining them like you wouldn't have been possible," u/DinoBabyMama21 wrote.

"College roommate worked at a pizza place in high school. Rule was only smokers could take a break every hour, so he would just light up a cig and hold it," u/AtomicBlastCandy wrote.

Newsweek reached out to u/vampyrewolf for comment.