Gamer Fired for taking "Pokemon Breaks."

[Phrytar]

There are laws for this type of thing. Where I live, you can't fire an employee (that has gone thru probation, of course) without a very good reason regardless of if hes part of an union or not. You can fill up a complaint and your employer might have to take you back.

In this scenario, if his boss allowed other employees to take an extra break, he most likely cant fire him for *asking* to have to same privilege.

 

[karcentric]

I treat the people who smoke at my workplace like like lepers, thinking they should have extra rights, I'm a casual smoker and I can resist the urge to light up all the time. Either way, just because they're doing it doesn't mean you should copy them. Your paid to work, not sit around.

Also Pokemon a pretty lame...

 

[DudeistBelieve]

It be one thing if he asked his boss about it before hand, but just doing it and then justifying it later... yeah he deserves to be fired.

 

[Pearwood]

Going without a fag for hours on end and having to work in customer service is my idea of hell. And no I wouldn't be surprised if this actually came up at some point, I'd be more surprised if it hadn't already and just hadn't been reported.

 

[keinechance]

I really don't want to go hunting down sources, I know they're out there but by god is it annoying having to go and find them all over again.

Just let me leave you with a bit of logic and see if that sates you for the time being, you're more than welcome to go look for the studies in your own time.

But if nicotine created a true chemical dependence, why wouldn't nicotine patches or gum satiate that chemical need completely? Often patches especially, contain and release far more nicotine than is contained within a single cigy. But they're one of the least effective methods of weaning someone off them. Whilst fake cigs and hypnotism are far more successful.

The answer is because it's the act of smoking which is, for lack of a better word, addictive. Not the chemicals they releases themselves.

The act of deep breathing, the holding of the cigarette, the almost automatonic way that smokers carry out the activity. It's a habit. Not a true chemical addiction like say heroine or alcohol. If it were then hypnotism really wouldn't work, and to break it by willpower alone would cause severe comedowns as your body is desperately trying to make you fix what joneses it.

Now lets be clear, your body itself does release different chemicals when you're smoking and that is part of why people find it such a hard habit to kick. Seriously, fuck you reward centre.

But gaming also changes your brain chemistry, as does sex and other non chemical taking acts. Infact the chemicals that your brain releases during coitus are much, much more geared to the reward centre than the dopamine released during smoking. Oxytocin being an obvious example. As is the serotonin release from eating chocolate.

It really all comes down to what you would call an addiction, personally I think unless your body actively punishes you for not taking a substance, it isn't an addiction. Just a habit, going without a cig might make someone irritable, but the same could be said for just about anything you do habitually. I've personally seen more violent reactions to facebook withdrawal than I have cigarettes.

...no, still not buying it. There are so many logic jumps in that post that there's no way I'm trusting internet person 001 over literally everyone else I've ever spoken to about the subject.

Anyway, boop [http://www.jneurosci.org/content/25/38/8593].

It is only in part the substance you are dependant on.

A smoker plans his daily life around his cigarettes.

Everyday he has to make time to satisfy his needs, while still trying to get all the other things in his life done on time.

If you have been smoking for a decade, then taking a smoking-break is as vital to your daily routine as your lunch-break.

This is why so many smokers have such a hard time quitting: they not only have to fight the chemical addiction, they also have to fight the learned behaviour they have been following for so long.

And many simply don't know what to do with the extra time they now have, as the time they had reserved for smoking has become free.

 

[Sylveria]

The whole story is silly because across the country businesses are taking no-hire policies on smokers and not allowing smoke breaks.

Also, I've seen very, very few businesses that offer 'official' smoke breaks. It's more that people sneak out and smoke.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

That sounds kind of stupid honestly...as have been mentioned gaming isn't an addiction and it's probably a bad idea to treat it like one (since so many people want it to be taken seriously). The idea of a smoke break is the real stupid thing to me though but I've never smoked and can't pretend to know how it feels going through a nic-fit.

 

[Baneat]

You should have kept doing it anyway, then sued when he/she fired you.

Good luck. I believe there are smoke break regulations that allow employees them by law but no such thing for a nintendo DS.

Smokers get more than enough shit already, people here have seriously suggested banning smoking in one's own home (I thought they were making a reductio ad absurdum argument against the smoking bans at first). Leave Britney alone.

 

[Professor Idle]

Pokemon isn't a physical addiction, so I feel he was not justified in his desire for a Pokemon break.

Neither is smoking.

Entirely habitual.

But lets say for the sake of argument that smoking was a chemical dependence. Should I be allowed to take scotch breaks? Because alcohol can actually become a very real chemical dependence.

And I know I'm going to regret saying this because people seem to be obsessed with the idea that smoking is a chemical addiction. But I just really had to put my two bits in there.

Whilst neither a smoker or alcholic, I remain skeptical that nicotine isn't an addictive drug. I'm all for the argument that the worker shouldn't have let themself get addicted in the first place though.

The next point I make isn't out of experience and is merely food for thought, but alchohol does (in most cases) impede people's ability to work, whereas if a smoker does take his smoke break - hopefully in a break time that has been given to all workers - he will be able to work much more readily and won't have other things on his mind. It may be weak-minded and unhealthy in the long run, but it gets him to work efficiently and that's all the employer will care about.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

I think it's unfair that people get breaks for smoking, because as pointed out, there are plenty of other things people would like to do for 5 minutes that they can't because they're meant to be working. If smoking keeps you from doing your job, it's your choice to smoke, decide not to. I don't see people claiming they should be allowed to do a worse job than another employee because they're alcoholic. It's up to an individual to make sure they do their job properly, and if they can't do that without cigarettes, that isn't the employer's problem.

That said, I think it would be good form to have small breaks in between long hours for employees, but not just those that smoke.

As for gaming breaks, I think that's just as stupid an idea as smoking breaks, but I can see the point when smoking breaks do exist.

 

[keinechance]

I really don't want to go hunting down sources, I know they're out there but by god is it annoying having to go and find them all over again.

Just let me leave you with a bit of logic and see if that sates you for the time being, you're more than welcome to go look for the studies in your own time.

But if nicotine created a true chemical dependence, why wouldn't nicotine patches or gum satiate that chemical need completely? Often patches especially, contain and release far more nicotine than is contained within a single cigy. But they're one of the least effective methods of weaning someone off them. Whilst fake cigs and hypnotism are far more successful.

The answer is because it's the act of smoking which is, for lack of a better word, addictive. Not the chemicals they releases themselves.

The act of deep breathing, the holding of the cigarette, the almost automatonic way that smokers carry out the activity. It's a habit. Not a true chemical addiction like say heroine or alcohol. If it were then hypnotism really wouldn't work, and to break it by willpower alone would cause severe comedowns as your body is desperately trying to make you fix what joneses it.

Now lets be clear, your body itself does release different chemicals when you're smoking and that is part of why people find it such a hard habit to kick. Seriously, fuck you reward centre.

But gaming also changes your brain chemistry, as does sex and other non chemical taking acts. Infact the chemicals that your brain releases during coitus are much, much more geared to the reward centre than the dopamine released during smoking. Oxytocin being an obvious example. As is the serotonin release from eating chocolate.

It really all comes down to what you would call an addiction, personally I think unless your body actively punishes you for not taking a substance, it isn't an addiction. Just a habit, going without a cig might make someone irritable, but the same could be said for just about anything you do habitually. I've personally seen more violent reactions to facebook withdrawal than I have cigarettes.

...no, still not buying it. There are so many logic jumps in that post that there's no way I'm trusting internet person 001 over literally everyone else I've ever spoken to about the subject.

Anyway, boop [http://www.jneurosci.org/content/25/38/8593].

It is only in part the substance you are dependant on.

A smoker plans his daily life around his cigarettes.

Everyday he has to make time to satisfy his needs, while still trying to get all the other things in his life done on time.

If you have been smoking for a decade, then taking a smoking-break is as vital to your daily routine as your lunch-break.

This is why so many smokers have such a hard time quitting: they not only have to fight the chemical addiction, they also have to fight the learned behaviour they have been following for so long.

And many simply don't know what to do with the extra time they now have, as the time they had reserved for smoking has become free.

I actually just thought of a really good study that could be done to test the exact part that nicotine plays in cigarette addiction.

Do a study where long time smokers are given cigarettes by a group and they must use these instead of their normal brand cigs.

Within these have a control group who're smoking their normal brand in new packaging, and a tester group who're smoking cigarettes with no nicotine. But neither group will know what the test is about and think they're just product testing a new brand or something.

Give them all access to as many cigs as they need etc and after a month see if there's any noticeable difference between the control group and the testers.

I'd be hugely surprised if there was.

Since nicotine IS a physical addictiv substance, you will notice a difference as they will go into withdrawel.

But they will most likely not know why they feel so "under the weather".

After the physical withdrawel stops, they will feel better, and continue to smoke their cigarettes.

 

[keinechance]

You should have kept doing it anyway, then sued when he/she fired you.

Good luck. I believe there are smoke break regulations that allow employees them by law but no such thing for a nintendo DS.

Smokers get more than enough shit already, people here have seriously suggested banning smoking in one's own home (I thought they were making a reductio ad absurdum argument against the smoking bans at first). Leave Britney alone.

Yeah, I know. I've never bought onto this need to bully smokers. It's exactly their choice, and their right, to do what they want with their own lives. The disgust these forumites are expressing are ridiculously over the top; this is the type of irrational hatred our country needs to protect our minorities from, even minorities like smokers who are unfashionable to defend.

I agree, if you agree that your freedom to smoke stops at blowing your smoke into my face.

 

[keinechance]

Since nicotine IS a physical addictiv substance, you will notice a difference as they will go into withdrawel.

But they will most likely not know why they feel so "under the weather".

After the physical withdrawel stops, they will feel better, and continue to smoke their cigarettes.

It really isn't anymore physically addictive than chocolate or caffeine. In fact probably a lot less than caffeine.

The people who had both of their legs amputated because of "smoker's leg", and still continue to smoke heavily, paint a different picture.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thromboangiitis_obliterans