Anyone here not like to take their breaks?

[PepperElf]

lately i haven't been taking mine either.

We're so undermanned it's just not feasible. Plus my shifts have been under 6 hours lately so, i don't always need a brake either.

and come to think of it... a couple of days ago was the first time i've seen Tosh.0 in a while. I only watch it at work while on brake or lunch (and lunch i havent seen for a while either cos i don't work longer than 6 hour shifts.)

[BeenThereDoneThat]

Background: Call center. 8 hour shifts for me (5 days a week; some work 4 10-hour days, or some other odd schedule). All the 8 or 10 hours shifts include 1 unpaid 30 minute lunch break which we HAVE to take - we are really discouraged from staying at our desks during these, for many reasons. One, we aren't supposed to eat at our desks except for hard candy (not much of a lunch). Two, we are not supposed to do ANY work off the clock. Three, we may disrupt our coworkers who are ON the clock if we hang around.

Apparently paid breaks are not mandatory. Usually we get two 15-minute paid breaks per shift, one before lunch and one after, but if we get busy the management may tell us we can only take 10 minutes or sometimes none at all. They really try not to do this but sometimes it's just such a suck-fest they have no choice. (Of course, we can make quick trips to the bathroom, etc.). Some people really don't like to take their breaks...no idea why, since we have the sanity issue too! Others like to push the break button and take off their headphones but do something innocent at their desks (we're not really allowed to do much though, so it's better to go outside or to the break room).

I decide what I want to do depending on the break time and how the day is going. If break times aren't being cut due to call volume, I can usually go a little bit late if I'm on a late call or want to take care of something before I go, but I usually do take the full time allowed. Lately my first break is usually devoted to a brisk walk around the building (which is actually an L-shaped shopping plaza)...I can let off some steam and usually warm up after being in the freezing cold A/C for a couple of hours. On my last break it's almost always dark out, so I stay in the building but I get some coffee and use the restroom and wander around. By then I'm usually feeling pretty calm so I don't need as much of an escape. Occasionally I will even use that time at my desk to catch up on follow up work I can't do between calls because the damn phone won't stop ringing.

To each their own on the break thing, I guess, and it really does depend on things like how stressful your job is, whether or not your breaks are paid, whether or not taking one would break your concentration, what you might have to take care of personally during that time...etc.

[retailworker7]

I prefer to take both my breaks and lunches but it does not always happen that way.

If we are short-staffed or I am too busy then I will sometimes skip my 15 minute break completely or just take a short smoke break instead. I am maxed out on the amount of hours I am working right now some usually either my boss or one of my co-workers will remind to take some sort of a break if I get too busy to think about it.

I do take my 30 minute meal breaks though. I can not go all day without eating anything. Also management generally discourages skipping lunch breaks. I absolutely have to take my unpaid meal break right now though because otherwise I will run out of hours.

Depending on which manager is on duty there are days when I will also divide my 15 minute paid break into 2 short smoke breaks.

[chikenlady]

As a restaurant manager, I get no breaks. I do have the perk of being able to eat whatever I want for free, though.

I think the only time I sit down is the end of the night doing the closing paperwork (if I am closing), as for opening, I get to sit for about an hour.

Great exercise, though.....

Same here.

[SuperDan]

My state doesn't have mandatory rest periods. That being said:

My old grocery job used to get on people's cases for not taking breaks. All breaks (which were all paid breaks mind you) required clocking out and in, and apparently some time in the past the company had to pay out on a workers comp claim they tried to fight (citing carelessness). The judgement was that the injury happened more than two thirds of the way through the employee's shift and there was no record of the employee taking a break, therefore the company was causing fatigue on the employee and that led to the accident. So every now and then they would crack down on people not taking breaks. I liked to take mine either right at or shortly after the halfway point of my shift, as it seemed to make the rest of my shift fly by (being shorter). There were times I was busy or couldn't get coverage for whatever reason, so I ended up not going on break til the last hour of my shift. Sometimes I'd clock out for break with 31 minutes left, clock in, and clock out. Once I clocked out for break ten minutes after I was scheduled to leave (and I wasn't working a double). Break durations were 15 minutes for 5.5 hours or less (uncommon as the union contract mandated a 6-hour minimum after one year of service unless the employee agreed otherwise), 20 minutes for 6 to 7.5 hours, 30 minutes for 8 to 9.5 hours, and a 20 and 30 minute taken separately for 10 hours or more. Cashiers had their break times assigned (break schedule was written each night by the closing CSM for the next day, simply based on arrival times and staffing availability), pretty much every other department allowed employees to determine their break time within reason.

At the Large Red Eleventh Letter of the Alphabet, there were paid 15 minute breaks and unpaid 30 minute lunches. I can't speak for other departments, having worked only in the front end, but our break times were assigned to us by the front end supervisors and we had to go when they said we had to. (Generally it seemed they tried to divide the shift up exactly evenly, delaying only if absolutely necessary due to staffing.) Skipping breaks, paid or unpaid, wasn't allowed. I think the structure was a break for 4 to 5.5 hours, a break or a lunch for 6 to 6.5 hours, a break and a lunch for 7 to 7.5 hours, and two breaks and a lunch for 8 hours or more. I remember occasions where either a break call hadn't been communicated to me or I had been forgotten about, and I ended up taking my lunch, clocking back in, immediately sitting down for my last break, and then working the last half hour or so of my shift.

Here at the casino, being non-gaming, I'm supposed to get two paid 15 minute breaks and an unpaid 30 minute lunch, but its rare that anyone in my department takes the paid 15 minute breaks. We get periodic downtime throughout the day, quite often adding up to way more than our breaks would be, so I don't complain. Apparently other departments are very strict about their breaks though, even the paid ones. I think the structure is supposed to be one break if you work 4-5.5, a break and a lunch for 6-7.5, and two breaks and a lunch if you work 8 or more. I don't know, as it wasn't outlined in orientation and the only thing my department usually worries about is the unpaid lunch. I can tell you that the half hour for the lunch is docked from your pay at exactly 6.5 hours from the exact minute you clock in. (Since our time clocks round to the nearest quarter hour, working 6:23 to 6:29 results in getting paid 6.5 hours without the lunch being deducted.) Again, my department is more lenient than most, and we don't have end times built into our schedule (really nearly impossible with what we do), so its not uncommon for us to take a full lunch when we're not officially due one or end up leaving having taken a lunch without the lunch being deducted, but we also don't take our 15 minute breaks ever (unless you count down time or multiple meal breaks on long days). Gaming dealers have a different break schedule: 20 minutes break for every hour on the floor. I've been told they can usually get away with waving off a break for up to a total of an hour and a half on the floor, but absolutely no more then they must take the break.

[Dreamstalker]

I forgot about my breaks last week and had to be ordered by the FEM to take them. I'm only working 4-hour shifts, so most of the time I don't think I need a break.

Well, I didn't forget, but whenever I decided to go on break a big-ass complicated order arrived, and the customer would always have some odd bagging instructions so once I started I couldn't fob it on someone else; we were seriously shorthanded anyway. I know now to grab my breaks when it gets quiet.

[BeenThereDoneThat]

Our breaks were canceled today. Bleh.

[Moirae]

Our breaks were canceled today. Bleh.

That can't be legal.

[Andara Bledin]

That can't be legal.

If it's not legally mandated that they be provided and there is no contract (which it can be argued that the signature that you received an employee handbook that states breaks are provided counts as a contract), then it can be.

I just got a notice (I do the mail and am part of HR) that the state of California is reviewing its rest/meal break regulations.

^-.-^

[BeenThereDoneThat]

I work for a pretty big company, so I'm sure they wouldn't allow canceling breaks if it wasn't legal. We're paid for them, so the only thing we miss out on is free time (and sanity)...

[Andara Bledin]

Walmart is a "pretty big company" and yet they get sued on the order of once every couple of years for labor violations.

It's always a good idea to be pro-active about protecting your own rights: corporations are in it to make money, not protect their workers - there's plenty more where they came from and it's cheaper to pay off lawsuit losses and fines than treat their entire employee base with respect.

I'm not saying that your company is doing that, but it wouldn't be the first time.

^-.-^

[Dasota]

for me it really depended on the company. When I worked for Dunkin and Tim Horton's, I *never* took my lunch break, but it was mostly because I had enough downtime during the night. Now working in collections, I take all of my breaks, 15s and lunch.

[SavageChihuahua]

I really hate this at my work. We usually have a small crew working at any one time but as manager I have to make sure everyone gets a half hour break whether they want it or not. If I don't I get a whole hour deducted from my time. It has to do with the incredibly small amount of money we're budgeted for labor every month... We're a slow store, we don't actually need a crew, right?

[EricKei]

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.

^-.-^

Exactly. Check your local and state laws -- If breaks are mandated for a given amount of scheduled time-per-day, they're just following the law, as such things are often worded such that allowing you to skip a break is just as bad as forcing you to work through a break that the law requires you to have. My guess is that this is mainly to prevent unscrupulous managers from "convincing" workers who DO want breaks to not take them.

Consider talking with your Managers and see -- maybe they legally required to give you a certain amount of TIME off in a day, and thus, it's possible that they may be permitted to just give you an extended lunch in lieu of lunch plus breaks...? e.g.: If you work 8 hours and have to have 1h 15m total "break time" including lunch, see if they're allowed to give you a 1h15m lunch instead of, say, a 45m lunch and two 15m breaks? In any case, get it in writing as a form of mutual CYOA.

[Ree]

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

Thanks, but I highly doubt anyone will be checking at my store. Of course, as Raps mentioned in his warning about "armchair lawyer" posts, the laws may very from your area and mine.