on breaks & breakrooms

by Jen Schneider


i never thought i’d miss the breakroom. not the windowless square with the bulletproof door. its hinges hardened. slow squeaks & rust the color of turpentine. a small vent. in the far-right corner. not the wall of posters. red mustangs & orange suns. desert camels & high-gloss desserts. all corners yellowed. of scotch tape & time. not the oversized aluminum folding table. nor the undersized wicker chairs. a fake potted cactus at the table’s center. no time to hydrate anything other than the humans. an old shoebox, stuffed with expired menus, on top of the metal cabinet. each of us assigned an individual locker. personal space for personal vents. i left black converse high-tops in my cube. i hope they don’t smell. i hope they don’t split. layers of stale coffee & stale breath. sweat-stained pits & discarded prunes. tupperware stocked of day-old lunch meat & one-a-day vitamins. the linoleum floor. a bed to magazines piles. people & vogue. hot rod & road trips. easy crosswords that were never easy. word searches with no keys. each of us always searching. letters with our names. plastic id tags. strings of syllables with our scent. all of us medium rare. silent vowels (& vows). the customer is always right. to be. or not to be. the best version of ourselves. & those we serve. no time to question. always new questions to press time. specials. daily. early birds. expiring. we’d wait. for a break. in the breakroom. i never thought i’d miss the wait. or the room.

10 ways to take/time a break

      1.    softly boil over-sized eggs in undersized pots 
      2.    welcome eruptions of time & temper
      3.    salt walkways with care
      4.    weave ways of life with saltiness
      5     solve crosswords slowly
      6.    confine cross words quickly
      7.    avoid weak coffee & strong crosshairs 
      8.    share stories of bad hair & broad humility 
      9.    pepper dishes with pinches & poise
    10.    dish complements in oversized heaps


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Jen Schneider is an educator who lives, writes, and works in small spaces throughout Pennsylvania. Recent works include A Collection of Recollections, Invisible Ink, On Habits & Habitats, and Blindfolds, Bruises, and Breakups.