7 ms·

> It relieves stress and anxiety, and also gives me an excuse to step out of the office for a few minutes for a break or to collect my thoughts. Should we real

• ThePadawan 8y ago
  As often as it is mocked, this is one of the things I really value in the whole "micro kitchens away from the open-plan office" lies.
• krrrh 8y ago
  There does seem to be suspicion around leaving your desk to do “nothing”. I once worked at a place where a lot of my colleagues would take smoke breaks and thought it was unfair. I loudly started taking gum breaks where I would go outside and smack peppermint gum for 5-10 minutes before throwing it in the trash and going back inside. Sometimes I would head out at the same time as the smokers so that I got to participate in the chitchat (which was unreasonably valuable from a professional perspective), and I would complain about how it wasn’t socially acceptable to chew gum at your desk like in the eighties when everyone did it. It was softly mocking, but no one objected.