Stretching a fifteen-minute break to twenty-five is still taking something. It’s just quieter.

Time is the thing being exchanged in a job, which makes an extra ten minutes the same sort of transaction as money. It feels different because nothing physical moves and nobody is standing there watching. Somebody is covering it, usually whoever is still on the floor while you are not.

Watch the clock on your own breaks this week and come back when you said you would. If the break is genuinely too short to be any use, say that out loud to whoever sets it. Asking for more is honest and taking it quietly is not.