My old supervisor at the auto plant was right about taking breaks

I used to skip every break and eat lunch at my desk because I thought it made me look more dedicated. Mark, my shift lead with 20 years at the Ford plant in Dearborn, kept telling me I'd burn out before I hit 30. After 18 months of 50 hour weeks without a single real break, I had a panic attack on the assembly line and missed three shifts. He sat me down and showed me how the top techs always took their full 15 minutes and still hit their targets. Now I take two breaks a day and my error rate dropped from 4% to 1% over six months. Has anyone else had a boss push back on your 'no breaks' approach?

2 comments

2 Comments

mason7981mo ago

A panic attack on the line? That had to be terrifying, man.

noahclark1mo ago

Wait, what line was this on? I heard about a guy who had a full blown panic attack on a CTA train last week and the whole car shut down because nobody knew what to do. That sounds like a nightmare, honestly, being stuck in a metal box with strangers while your brain just short circuits. I had a buddy who had one on the Eisenhower expressway once, and he said the scariest part was feeling trapped with no way to pull over. Did the crew handle it okay or was it just a mess of people yelling?