Smoking.
I quit this lovely horrible habit last year and, other than the occasional drunken slip up and some festive indulgence during December, I've found giving up to be quite easy.

I do miss the opportunities it gave for time wasting, however. This is an extreme version, but it demonstrates just how much time I could waste with a single smoke:

Step One: email a few people to see if they fancied a cigarette.

Step Two: Spend as long as possible creating The World's Finest Rolley.

Step Three: Spend about 10 minutes engaged in puerile banter with those I emailed in step one, before arranging to meet downstairs in about 15 minutes time.

Step Four: Meander through the office, talking to people along the way and inviting any smokers I happen to pass to join me for a cigarette.

Step Five: Make my way downstairs, eschewing the lift in favour of a slower and more healthy descent via the stairs.

Step Six: Enjoy the masterpiece I gently crafted in step two. Depending on how warm it is, and how many people were already downstairs, this could last up to half an hour.

Step Seven: Eschew the stairs in favour of a quicker and less energetic ascent via the lift; I don't want to wear myself out, what with all the work I have to do.

Step Eight: Since I'm passing, I should really avail myself of the facilities; it's a far more efficient use of my time, and I'm sure I probably need a shit by now.

Step Nine: Stop for an impromptu meeting on route back to my desk to discuss that really important thing that I really need to discuss with that person I don't actually work with in any capacity but somehow seem to speak to quite a lot anyway... ahem.

If done properly that's over an hour wasted and no questions asked. No wonder non-smokers complain about not getting an equivalent... it's almost enough to make me want to start again.
( Moey, Fri 9 Jan 2009, 11:02, 11 replies)

a half hour fag break?
sounds like a very lax place you work for! ten minutes max for me and even then i can feel the glares from my boss when i walk past him on my way back into the office
(TheManWithThePlan cussed your mum on, Fri 9 Jan 2009, 11:05, closed)

I am quite lucky.
I have the sort of boss who doesn't really care how and when I do it, so long as I get my job done... which I almost always nearly manage to do, kind of.
( Moey, Fri 9 Jan 2009, 11:07, closed)

So if all you had to do was get the job done.....
you were wasting your own time? No wonder you quit.
(Wallilay has been bored of this shit since, Fri 9 Jan 2009, 11:09, closed)

I still have to be in the office from 9 to 5.
And as I'm left to my own devices with very little interference I'm pretty much free to waste as much time as I want... and blag a little bit every now and then.
( Moey, Fri 9 Jan 2009, 11:11, closed)

Good for your boss!
Why the hell should you get paid for not working when the non-smokers who will not have so much time off sick as well are doing your work. I say ban all smoking breaks
( SiX and his hat, Fri 9 Jan 2009, 11:11, closed)

Hear hear!
I completely agree- or they could at least give non-smokers an extra week or so off a year to make up for the lost time.
( uberdeity Wondered why Owen Lars knew of the term "hell" on, Fri 9 Jan 2009, 11:19, closed)

I can't speak for everyone.
I take so little time off sick (probably one day a year, tops) that that argument has never really worked as far as I'm concerned.

Either way, there's no one to do my job when I'm not doing it; whether I'm not doing it because I'm ill, smoking, or just because I'm very lazy indeed.
( Moey, Fri 9 Jan 2009, 11:33, closed)

Ahhh,
Just returned from a fag break myself. Hmmm, the rich golden aroma of fine Virginia tobacco. MMMMmmmmmm. Though in truth I only took five mins - not because I want to work, its just too fucking cold outside and I thought my cock was about to shrivel up and drop off. Im gonna sound like Aled Jones for the next fifteen minutes.
( SpankyHanky, Fri 9 Jan 2009, 11:14, closed)

Wait, what?
Are you wearing a Kilt or just smoking in the nip?

Unless you're in one of the colder bits of Canada it's pretty unlikely that would happen. Or you're from somewhere "down south" in England where 1/2 an inch of snow is a blizzard and a snowdrift.
( uberdeity Wondered why Owen Lars knew of the term "hell" on, Fri 9 Jan 2009, 11:17, closed)

Im in fuckin freezin
London. Camden to be precise, and yep I'm technically what you'd call a soft southern shite. Its parky out. My nipples went hard and everything...
( SpankyHanky, Fri 9 Jan 2009, 11:42, closed)

you know the drill
pictures or it didn't happen


erm
(Halfy By light alone, Fri 9 Jan 2009, 17:10, closed)