First of all, sorry for any typos or formatting; I'm on mobile. Also, it's kinda long so there is a TLDR at the end.
So there's a lot of things I currently hate about my job (My boss not knowing what I am supposed to even be doing, micromanaging, being pulled different directions by different managers, having to train new people when I am fairly new myself, being told to “make” coworkers work when they won't even listen to me, the list goes on far too long to write it all here right now). I was already thinking of quitting, but I think this was the straw that broke the camels back. We are supposed to be getting a bonus within the beginning of March, and then one of my coworkers (the only other one in my department that actually knows and does the job) put in her two weeks recently and her last day is March 11th, so I'm thinking of quitting on her last day. The department is just getting into its busiest time of year (it's called 100 days of hell) so if I leave when she does, my boss will only have new, untrained people, and then the people who literally do nothing left in our department. I know it may be bad to say this, but leaving them when they need me most will feel liberating and will honestly make me happy.
Okay, so onto the story. My coworker who is leaving soon (I'll call her Emily), someone from another department (I'll call him Brandon), and I were taking our break outside in Brandons car. We're not technically allowed to leave the property during our break, but we are allowed to sit in our cars in the parking lot. Brandon and I both vape, but Emily does not. Smoking during breaks is not an unusual thing where I work, and a LOT of people who work in the same building as me do it (some people who work outside will even vape as they're working, and that has never seemed to be a problem).
So basically as we were taking our break, the manager of the whole store came out to Brandons car where we were sitting and said “after your break, come see me in my office, and bring Karen (the name I'll give my boss for this story). We're thinking “oh, there must be a special project he wants us to work on or something”. About 10 minutes later, Karen pages all of us on our work phones we use and says “how much longer do you have on your break?” We lied and told her we had less time than we actually did cause it seemed like it was something important and we wanted to see what the heck was going on.
When we got inside, they gave us a big lecture about how we're not supposed to be smoking on company property, and how we're lucky they're just giving us a warning because this was grounds for termination. Then they also said it was something we were notified about during orientation so we should have all known (not a single one of us were told or read about it during orientation, and I even asked a coworker who onboarded this week and he also said he wasn't ever notified.) Both my boss and the store manager tried to sympathize with us saying “we get it, we're smokers too, but you're still not allowed to.” Then they proceeded again to tell us it was still grounds for termination, and we we're lucky this was just a warning.
After they were done talking, I told them “first of all, I want to put it out there that Emily doesn't smoke or vape, she just sits and talks with us.” Then I asked them a few questions like, “what about with the doors closed and the windows rolled up?” (thinking maybe it was the smoke leaving the car that was the problem). I was told it still wasn't allowed. Then I asked “what about during our lunch break?” I thought maybe it was some sort of weird thing about being on the clock (we have to clock out during lunch). I was told it would only be okay if we left the property during our lunch.
After asking more questions, I was basically told it was a “brand image” thing cause we where wearing our work shirts (even though we could and would gladly cover up with jackets), and to, and I quote, “keep insurance prices cheap.” So basically, not only are we not allowed to vape/smoke on any of our breaks if we are still on the property, BUT we are also not allowed to vape/smoke after we clock out until our car completely leaves the parking lot.
I know this is very minor compared to a lot of other things posted on this sub, but it aggravated me just enough to post this so yeah. Thanks to anyone who read through it all.
TLDR: Boss said we are not allowed to smoke or vape in our own cars if we are anywhere in the parking lot, even if we are clocked out, or else we will be fired.