Weary of Work

May 4, 2021 1:43 AM

Factories produced tired workers. A new frontier in fatigue studies followed.

This is an extract from Sick and Tired: An Intimate History of Fatigue by Emily K. Abel.

posted by sapagan (6 comments total)

Is a tea break at work good for productivity? (bbc)

This is a British example where a cultural tradition has arisen to address the need for rest during the working day. Where I live, Australia, we have smoko, which I'm pleased to find has a wikipedia page.

If the answer to the question asked in the BBC headline is yes, surely the tea break should be prohibited? I don't envy the person that has to tell the British worker that they may not drink tea. Good luck to them, the laughs they meet with are the beginnings of revolt.

You won't find the tea break or smoko in any written law, but their violation will not be borne without complaint.

The tension in the article is a fun one, is fatigue a problem for the worker or the employer? In the tea break scenario, I suppose both win, as the worker gets to take a break for caffeine, a stimulant that would make them worker harder. There is no beer break or weed break.

Incidentally, I've been to office supply warehouses where you can buy huge drums of the worst coffee in the universe. They're right between the staplers and the printers.
posted by adept256 at 6:50 AM on May 4, 2021 [1 favorite]

You won't find the tea break or smoko in any written law,

Bollocks.
posted by pompomtom at 7:02 AM on May 4, 2021 [5 favorites]

we have smoko, which I'm pleased to find has a wikipedia page.
and an excellent theme song which explains the concept well.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:33 AM on May 4, 2021 [1 favorite]

"In a 1930 article in Scientific American, Donald A. Laird, the director of the Colgate Psychology Laboratory, pronounced the “poor emotional adjustment of the individual” the “most treacherous and insidious source” of worker fatigue."
Plus ça change...
posted by All hands bury the dead at 12:52 PM on May 4, 2021 [1 favorite]

There is no beer break or weed break.

it's called wfh
posted by ryanrs at 1:12 PM on May 5, 2021

Well, there was this if you happened to enjoy a fortifying lager before bashing some heads.
posted by pompomtom at 6:50 AM on May 7, 2021