How Do You Manage? Case Study: Smoking Gun

By Michael Rogers -- Library Journal, 3/1/2006

“There goes the chimney,” Kathleen Groh said under her breath, watching fellow parapro Phyllis Wright heading toward the door of the Vickers Public Library, a cigarette and her lucky Zippo with the four-leaf clover on the side clutched tight in her fist.

Groh looked at her watch and scribbled the time on a slip of paper retrieved from the pocket of her skirt. Putting out the daily papers and tidying up the magazine racks in the periodicals area gave Groh the perfect vantage point to observe Wright puffing away while reading an article and chatting with patrons coming or going.

Wright exhaled a final plume of smoke and crushed out her Camel in the ashtray on the library steps. She reentered the building and went back to work. Groh recorded the time. Eight minutes had past. It was the fourth time that day that Wright had taken a cigarette break while Groh and the other staffers continued working. Wright went out several more times before her shift ended in the evening; Groh recorded each one.

After a month of observing the smoking habits of Wright and two other coworkers, one of whom took six breaks daily to smoke and talk on her cell phone, Groh had all her statistics ready to present to library director Val Chillme.

“Have a seat, Kathleen,” Chillme said, welcoming Groh into her office. “What can I do for you?”

“I came to complain about a few people,” Groh said, nervously picking at a piece of invisible lint on her sleeve.

“What's this about?” asked Chillme.

“Well, I've been observing a few of my coworkers' smoking habits,” she said, pulling her notes from a pocket, “and I don't think it's fair that a handful of people essentially get to work shorter hours because of a dirty, unhealthy habit.”

“I don't understand.”

“The people here who smoke work less time than everyone who doesn't,” Groh said.

“I see you're annoyed, Kathleen, but you're talking about a minute here and a minute there. What's the big deal?”

“It's the principle,” responded Groh. “These people smoke. I play tennis. Would it be all right if I went outside eight times a day and hit a ball up against the side of the building for five minutes? Plenty of people like to drink, but do you see them standing outside knocking back a six-pack every day? Why is taking multiple smoking breaks acceptable while doing the same for other addictions, or habits, or whatever you want to call them is not?”

“And it's actually much more than a minute here and there,” Groh continued, handing Chillme her chart. “I made a record of how many times Phyllis Wright, Jim Dargan, and Felicia Valerio went outside to smoke everyday and how much time they spent on these makeshift breaks while the rest of us, including you, worked.” Chillme leaned forward in her seat to scan the pages.

“Jim and Felicia aren't too bad,” Groh went on, “but Pat might as well stand outside all day and just throw the books in through the window. She spends 30 minutes a day outside smoking. That's two and a half hours a week. That's ten hours a month, 120 hours a year! Divide that by an eight-hour workday, and Phyllis Wright works 15 fewer days a year than I do for the same salary, vacation, and benefits. And that's just not fair. Unless you want to give the rest of us three weeks extra annual vacation?”

“My…well…that does sound severe when you add it up like that,” Chillme said, flustered. After further discussion, Chillme promised to look into the matter. With Groh gone, Chillme collapsed into her seat. She knew Groh would not let it drop. And the woman did have a point. She sat considering her options, fumbling mindlessly with a pen on her desk. Although Chillme had quit a decade ago, all she could think of was, “Boy, I sure could use a cigarette.”