The rules

The rule at my library is:

Your break shall be directly in proportion to the difficulty of the co-worker(s) you are teamed with.

If you are working with one of the big three:

the one who stares blankly at the computer and mishandles each transaction in slow, exacting detail,

the one who turns the simplest transaction into a 45 minute chat, 

or the one who cheerfully deflects all actual work that comes directly at them and fails to notice everything else,

any of those and you get a two hour break, but you have to spend an hour of it meditating quietly in the willow hut in the children's garden.

If you work with any of the group that doesn't quite pull their weight, complains too much about the patrons, and isn't exactly clear on what we do at the front desk, but are too nice and aren't quite crappy enough to complain about, you get a 45 minute break and a homemade chocolate chip macadamia nut cookie.

If you work with any of our many, good enough, basically competent workers, you get a 20 minute break and you have to listen sympathetically, for at least a couple minutes, to those people who have to work with one of the big three, even if they do get to hang out in the willow hut meditating while you're slaving away shelving.

Is that fair? I don't know, but that's the rule.