Cigarette Break

Simon went out for a quick cigarette, as was his right. But as soon as the door closed behind him, Haley turned to the Monty, the intern.

“I don’t think that’s fair, do you?”

“Huh?”

“Smokers. get like five to ten minutes break every day.”

“Fair enough.” Monty chuckled quietly.

A few minutes passed before Haley turned back to Monty again. “That five minutes adds up, you know?”

“Oh- uh- I dunno. I think it’s fair.”

“You think so? You know they give non-smokers extra vacation days in Japan, right?”

Leslie walked in as Haley was finishing saying what she needed to say.

“You’re not still on about that are you?”

“I’m telling you, you should count out how much time all those breaks accumulate in a year.”

“Do your work Haley.” Leslie ordered kindly.

“I finished my work. I used the five minutes that Simon took to smoke and I finished-“

“Is she till on about that?” Simon said on his way in.

“Yes.” Leslie said from her desk.

“Let it go, Haley. You don’t call out Nabil for taking time to pray.”

“Don’t bring me into this, Nabil said.”

Monty laughed. Nabil had headphones in but it obviously didn’t help him ignore the ruckus and focus on work.

“That’s different and you know it.” Haley said.

“What do you think, Monty?” Simon asked, setting himself down in his chair.

“I thought it was pretty fair-“

“No…” Leslie said. “You can’t ask Monty, he’s still new, you’ll scare him away.”

“but…” Monty continued. “I can see where Haley’s coming from.”

“Ha!” Haley clapped her hands. “See? Monty knows.”