Anyone here not like to take their breaks?

[ShadowTiger]

It's going to be a very strange question indeed. Obvious reasons why.


So, like the thread title says, does anyone here not like to take their breaks?

I really only take mine when I absolutely need to. I don't like to take someone else out of an already sparse department (As in, there's one person in it, total.) to cover for me while I enter a state where I am not allowed to do anything productive. It's irritating for so many reasons. Not only that, but we're not allowed not to. If we don't take it, the break time is subtracted from our pay. We may as well take it. It ends up being the same anyway.

So this means we're forced to say "Screw you, Co-worker that I am friendly with, you have to cover for me because I have to go away now and make you do all of my work and your work as well."

Naturally, I don't like that one bit. How about you? Anything similar happening to you?

[SpaceCore]

Woah now!
You get breaks?

Having a job without them now I know I prefer to go without.
Required breaks to me are just an awkward pause during the day that put a stop to my "rhythm", for lack of a better word.
But, if a job allows them, but doesn't require them, they can be great if I really need one.

[Teskeria]

I work Phone customer service for a credit card company. I NEED my breaks to keep my sanity.

[Racket_Man]

Woah now!
You get breaks?

Having a job without them now I know I prefer to go without.
Required breaks to me are just an awkward pause during the day that put a stop to my "rhythm", for lack of a better word.
But, if a job allows them, but doesn't require them, they can be great if I really need one.

^^^^^ this for me too. most of the time we have dishes, trash, floors, boxes, etc. to take care of throughout my shift. having to break in the middle runs my "job" adrenilin down way too far and it takes me at least an hour to get that going again. this is esp true if we are busy and I do not want to be groggy on the road.

I will only take one if forced. sometimes there is just too much work to get done before close.

[Andara Bledin]

For those of you who don't like to take breaks; remember that the company you work for could receive huge fines if you're in a state with mandatory rest period requirements. Even if they don't even know you're avoiding taking them.

^-.-^

[bhskittykatt]

I don't get breaks as a desk clerk.

If I'm maintenance (or on the rare occasion, housekeeping) I usually just prefer to knock out my work and go home. Same thing with most of my staff. I have to watch them closely to make sure after five hours, they take their break. (State law is six hours, so we say five hours to have some flexibility in there.)

We have had some employees who hated taking their legally required break that they would clock out, and then go back to work. That, I never understood. If I'm working, I better damn well be paid for it! Not to mention, it would be management's ass that gets fried for an employee working off the clock. So yeah, I ain't tolerating that stuff.

Another thing I HATE HATE HATE, is when someone punches out, and then punches in before their 30 minutes are up. Because according to policy (which is based on legal requirements), I have to delete their punches and pay them for the whole time. All because they can't do math to figure out when they are supposed to clock back in. Some employees we've had to have them punch out and then take their punch cards away so they couldn't punch back in before time.

But yeah...if I even have the option for a break, I usually don't take it unless I'm feeling really run down and need it.

[Food Lady]

We're not allowed to skip breaks. I need them, as my blood sugar runs on the low side. Also, I like to go online and see what y'all have posted as I'm eating my snack.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Lately I've been having to give up my second 15-minute break each day, because we simply have too much work to do.

This actually doesn't faze me much. But I'm working on the salesfloor today, and as such I plan on getting all my breaks in.

[NateTheChops]

For those of you who don't like to take breaks; remember that the company you work for could receive huge fines if you're in a state with mandatory rest period requirements.
^-.-^

You can usually sign a waiver for meals if you don't want to take a lunch (half hour to 45 minutes typically). But in the state of Vermont, breaks of fifteen minutes or less aren't mandatory.

I only know that because we had an assistant manager at my old job (with big emphasis on the ass) who discovered that little loophole and had convinced the manager to get rid of fifteen minute breaks.

To answer the OP's question, I could see giving up the shorter breaks. But on a really rough day I just need every possible second of me time I can get. The breakroom is usually the safest place to vent about customers since everyone is on the same page there. And if you need a drink of water or some such, having that ten to fifteen minute recharge can be a great way to get through the morning.

That said, there were certainly jobs where I could have done without the downtime. The airport job was probably the only job where I basically had nothing to do for entire hours in between planes. Mind you I got to watch TV, eat, wander through the airport and talk on my phone and get paid for it, so I wasn't sufferign that badly.

[trailerparkmedic]

At the hospital, I LOVE my breaks. My nurse tries to get two each day (breakfast and lunch) and we never skip a lunch break, even if gets pushed very late. We need to get off our feet, eat, and not think for a few minutes. Even a 20 minute lunch break is enough to make me feel a lot better about life.

[Ree]

I very rarely take breaks.
I always have so much to do that stopping for a break interrupts my rhythm. I have trouble getting back to the same momentum again when I come back from break.

Not to mention, any time I do take a break, I end up in the breakroom with a very annoying coworker who can't seem to shut up, so I don't get a break anyway.
If she isn't talking shop (and the point of a break is to get away from work for a few minutes to recharge) she is reading the newspaper and picking out the most controversial topics she can find. I end up hearing my religion being bashed or listening to a tirade against either immigrants or aboriginals.

It's easier to just stay at my worktable and grab a coffee or bottle of water and keep working.

[Kristev]

I always took my lunch hour, but my two fifteen minute breaks were rather hit or miss. You see, I'd learned a long time ago never to leave the store without coverage. Even ten minutes was plenty of time for something bad to happen, and usually did. And since they loved to underschedule people, I had to learn to skip breaks to compensate. Unless diabetes interfered, that is.

But really, breaks seemed most often to disrupt the train of thought and the flow of work, more like they got in the way more than anything else.

[Pagan]

Like other have said, the 15 minute breaks just interrupt my rhythm and usually there's been too damn much to get done.


Plus, I feel like I'm watching the clock too much worrying about making sure I take it at the right time and that divides my attention and can ruin my concentration.

I'll sometimes have somebody remind me because once I hit a groove, honestly, I'll forget.

[Android Kaeli]

I need my breaks to sit down and get away from the public, else I snap at them and get in trouble. I also need time away from the general public, I can only be nice for so long before it really starts to wear me down. As a introvert, I don't like dealing with people on a constant, almost neverending basis -- being on a register for hours at a time is not something I like doing and WILL start to get pissy if I'm late for break.

Break time is also the only time between breakfast and dinner that I actually eat something -- I very rarely eat three full meals a day because I'm usually just getting home from work or I AM at work during lunch.

[dragon_wings]

I need my breaks to sit down and get away from the public, else I snap at them and get in trouble. I also need time away from the general public, I can only be nice for so long before it really starts to wear me down. As a introvert, I don't like dealing with people on a constant, almost neverending basis -- being on a register for hours at a time is not something I like doing and WILL start to get pissy if I'm late for break.

Break time is also the only time between breakfast and dinner that I actually eat something -- I very rarely eat three full meals a day because I'm usually just getting home from work or I AM at work during lunch.

QFT. This is me in so may ways. Sometimes I will choose not to take my 15 cause I'm either too busy or I don't feel I need it. But that generally only happens when I work a floor or cosmetics shift. When I'm on the register I have to take my 15 and my 30 or I get snarky. From both hunger and waning patience levels.