FIVE MINUTES .........

A five minutes break…hmmm...five min breaks?? Ok...five min breaks!! Emmm sounds harmless, right?? Not when in an 8 hr working day you are only allowed to take two FIVE MIN BREAKS...so now Lets go back and say it again FIVE MIN BREAKS!
I entered my office on a Monday morning and all I could hear was a buzz out of which I could only hear three words that were being stressed upon “five minutes break”. I wondered what was going on; I settled in my chair as I was already late. I logged into my system to check my roster (schedule) for the day and the coming month. A wave of shock ran through my spine and finally I understood the five minute break. Our company had a note on the roster in BOLD and CAPITAL just to give the extra effect of authority. It read:
“YOU ARE ONLY ALLOWED TO TAKE A BREAK AT THE DESIGNATED TIME. YOUR LUNCH BREAK HAS BEEN REDUCED TO 30MINS AND YOU ONLY HAVE TWO COMFORT BREAKS, EACH FOR JUST FIVE MINUTES. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO OTHERWISE KEEP YOURSELF UNAVAILABLE.” We also were told that the same was proposed for faster and better customer service.

My eyes popped out reading the new terms and conditions and I was tensed. I was tensed because I had forgotten to relieve myself before I logged in for work. My bladder suddenly became nervous but it was only 09.30 and my break was at 10.35. My passengers rambled on the phone and I didn’t understand anything they had to say because all I heard was the clock ticking on my very full bladder. My hearing senses were almost giving up, I could hear ‘pee’ instead of ‘leave’ and ‘loo’ instead of ‘sue’. The irony of one of the calls I got was that the passenger wanted to sue the company for something I was going through. He complained that the airhostess did not allow him to go to the toilet minutes before the plane was going to land. I empathized with him more than I had to; I guess I had already started improving our customer service as I understood his plight more than anyone could have at this moment.

Time passed by slowly, it was just 10.17 and there were just 18 minutes to go. My bladder ticked with every second, the gush getting stronger and I couldn’t take it any longer. The next call punched in and I could hear a woman laugh. I introduced my company name, my name, how may I help (though I needed more help at this moment than who was calling). She laughed again as if she knew what I was going through, I heard her say sorry wrong number and she hung up.

It was 10.30 and I was slurping, I never knew I could sit and dance. Just one minute and I could visit the place I was longing to go, the loo. At 10.35 I went for my much needed comfort break. I entered and saw a queue. No one spoke to anyone. Finally I entered and sat in peace doing something I wanted to do for a long time. Just then I heard a knock at the door, someone screamed “Its six minutes, now get out “.


--- edited by sunshine