So a story. Loosely related to topic. And I’m feeling like giving it.

Firstly I don’t smoke and never have. And if you have ever had service jobs or any number of other jobs, you probably realize that a lot of the times, only smokers get actual breaks.

So I was working for this western shop. Small family owned.
Literal 3 generations of “men” worker there. The grandpa , who thought he was boss, the dad, who was probably actually the boss. Definitely thought he was. And the son. Who was like 30. He thought he was running everything. He wasn’t. The wife of the dad also was a frequent visitor. They went to some fancy church in st. Louis. (A 3 hr drive away) And constantly told everyone what great christians they were.

Anywho. That’s just flavor for the story. Not super relevant.

So when I worked my 8 hrs doing repair work (boots, bags , leather stuff) I was told I got 2x 15 min breaks (paid) and 1 half hour lunch. Unpaid.

Since I don’t smoke I would go to the break room and read. This was like 20 years ago. So I brought in a paperback.

Well one day the boss dad’s bitchy wife came in. She also thought she was the main boss.

She saw me in the break room reading and was like “what are you doing back here !?!”. I explained I was on my break, Reading. Not bothering no body.

She said “if you are just going to sit back here. You don’t deserve a break.”

She talked to dad-boss. Next day, boss dad says they aren’t required by law to give me those 2x paid 15 min breaks and that I wouldn’t be getting them anymore. And to suck it up.

But literally every other co worker smoked .

So they still got their breaks. Only I was no longer allowed my breaks.

I said this to boss man and told to get back to work. And said legally it was a privilege to have given me the breaks in the first place and I should be grateful I ever even had them.

Honestly dealing with the 3 men who all thought they were my boss. Telling me to do 3 different things. Then getting bitched out by each of them telling me not to listen to the other two and constantly threatening to fire me. … was not great but I needed the job.

But after the break b.s. I think I just had enough.

Plus one incident kinda tipped me to the breaking point. I was working at my station and concentrating and didn’t hear a customer come in to the store (the front of the store sold boots and Western crap). And the dad boss came up behind me. Leaned in and whispered in my ear that if I failed to notice a customer walking in , one more time, and didn’t go out and help them immediately,I was fired. Because the floor girl was on her smoke break. Of course. And I was supposed to do both jobs during her break.

I waited until Thursday, pay day, and then said , for all to hear. I wouldn’t be coming in tomorrow but I would be back in 2 weeks for my last check.

And the three boss guys had the audacity to ask me why. Had something happened? What was the problem?

It really put me in a bad place financially because I had no family or anything to lend me money but I did survive until I found a new job.

Also I made minimum wage. Was like $6.50 at the time I think.

No insurance. No dental. I did miss a few days of work due to my wisdom teeth being impacted. Which I could not afford to remove. And bosses gave me shit about that until I said if you paid me better I’d get them removed but it was $1400 upfront. (Took me 3 more years before I could afford to get them removed with regular abscesses and near constant discomfort).

The title of this post reminded me of how “no break” or “no prayer” is actually likely just a way to punish a specific person or group.

I doubt it applies to Christians.

Just like the smokers still got their break.

Also fuck the lack of labor laws in this country. And how dental care is considered a luxury. (20 years ago and I still remember how much my mouth hurt all the time and how fortunate I found a dentist that would keep writing me prescriptions for antibiotics for 3 years without going to his office cause he knew what situation I was in).

Oh and how reading a book makes people insecure about their intelligence so they punish you for their shortcomings.

One of the worse places ive ever worked. Not the worst. But up there.

Not going to name the company but it’s located in the small city of Quincy IL.

I don’t live there now so I’ll drop the city name. The dad boss had these goofy commercials that ran on TV all the time. People were surprised when I told them that the goofy guy in the video was a serious POS.

Also I wish I knew my skill value more when I was younger. Not too many people can sew or do leather repair work.

I should definitely have been paid more.