The coffee break is considered a kind of refuge in modern working life. It offers the opportunity to get away from a busy working day for a short time, breathe in the smell of coffee and enjoy a drink that will energize you until the end of the evening work. If you work the night shift, this cup of coffee becomes an even greater necessity. We all know more or less the relationship between caffeine and sleep. Coffee slows down your sleep for a while by replacing the sleep hormone melatonin. In this way, our body can stay awake for a while even during tired working hours.
Of course, coffee has benefits for sleep and energy, but let’s say that bosses actually use this feature of coffee. We view coffee as a relaxing escape or an energy boost because that’s how we’re programmed to experience it. So have you ever thought about why we are programmed this way? Why do we take a coffee break?
The coffee break is actually based on the journey of caffeine and capitalism.
Journalist and caffeine enthusiast Michael Pollan says, “Capitalism and caffeine go hand in hand. If you want proof of this, just look at the tradition of the coffee break… Employers not only offer you a free drug at work, but also a place and time in the day to enjoy it.” “Do you think employers would do this if it didn’t provide them with more benefits than costs? Clearly these breaks benefit employers. They enable people to work more hours.” he said. So, we understand from this statement that employers do not actually take coffee breaks to make you happy. The main purpose of these coffee breaks is to make you more energetic and enable you to work harder during and even beyond working hours.
In fact, what we think of as a “coffee break” dates back to a 1955 case that took place in the United States.
The acceptance of the coffee break in society is directly tied to Phil Greinetz’s Los Wigwam Weavers case. Greinetz ran Los Wigwam Weavers, a tie factory in Denver, and was a member of World War II. After World War II, he had difficulty finding personnel for his tie factory. Especially in these years when the male population decreased, it was necessary to benefit from the power of women in heavy work. However, women could normally be tired because they were dealing not only with work, but also with housework and children.
To encourage productivity, Greinetz introduced mandatory coffee breaks to energize workers to complete their shifts while remaining fully awake. In fact, the term “coffee break” wasn’t popular until 1952. In these years, people were getting used to coffee breaks with the Pan-American advertising campaign. With these ads, people are told: “Give yourself a coffee break and get what coffee gives you.” It was emphasized that coffee and business world go hand in hand.
Greinetz wanted the workers to work harder, but he didn’t want to pay them for the time they spent drinking coffee.
Of course, employees started to rebel against this situation. It was not something they could accept for people who were barely trying to make ends meet with the little money they earned, and also receive less money because of the short time they had to rest and drink coffee. Ultimately, the U.S. Department of Labor stepped in and the court ruled that employers must cover caffeine-filled workers’ coffee breaks for their positive impact on work.
Are we all numb workers ritualizing our own daily drug habit? Probably yes, but still, a hot, strong coffee is a great help to wake up for the day.
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