I've been with this company for exactly one month. My first payday was yesterday.
It's a small family business of around a dozen people. Everyone on my team – save for myself – smokes and takes regular smoke breaks (around 6-7/shift).
There is no workforce management a.k.a. Teleopti. Our team consists of six people and we all work our 9-6 shifts. Because there's no Teleopti, we can go on our breaks pretty much anytime we want. Within reason, of course. There is a timesheet that indicates when we can go on our breaks, but no one, even my manager, sticks to that and I was assured by the said manager that our CEO is not going to be angry if our breaks differ from what's written on that piece of paper.
Today, with less than two hours left on the clock, my teammates leave on their traditional smoke break. I don't go with them because 1) I don't smoke, as already mentioned, and 2) it's cold outside. Instead, I lean back in my chair, put on my headphones, and open YouTube on my phone.
Some minutes later, I'm suddenly interrupted by loud coughing. I turn my head and see the CEO. He asks me in a curt voice why I'm not working. I tell him that I – and the rest of the team – are on our break. He asks, “were you not informed of the official break times?”
Perplexed, I look around the office: there's no one around beyond me and the CEO. My co-workers are all still smoking nonchalantly on the balcony. I look back at him and say, “well, yes, but as you can see, the rest of the team went on a break, so I'm following their example.”
The guy goes silent for a second and then, without batting an eye, says, “this isn't what I'm paying you for; the next time I catch you watching movies and not working will be your last.”
I think my facial expression remained largely emotionless, but I know I blushed. It took every ounce of my willpower not to retort with an acidic 'you paid me for 10 days of training only,' or 'the law demands you pay for our 30 minutes of break time' or something along those lines. But, in reality, I just stared intensely into his eyes and recapped just how much I did before my break.
I dearly wish I could've said, 'fuck off, buddy,' and then go back to my video.
I've been here for a month only, but I think I'll start looking for other opportunities.
…Okay, granted, I was watching YouTube with my legs on the desk, but I only started doing that after I saw more senior co-workers doing just that. Perhaps the CEO said what he said because of the strict no-legs-on-the-desk policy he forgot to tell me.