Smokers' exhibition

In the lab, I sit by the window, at a corner near the front of the building, and just far enough away from the phone. From my seat, I see people entering and leaving the building, I see the parking lot (to which I move my car after office hours), but what I see most of all are the smokers on break.

It's frightening how often some of them take a cigarette break: some people are out there 4 or 5 times in as many hours! I wouldn't be entirely surprised if some of them spent more time outside puffing away on their cancer sticks than inside working.

There's a mini-patio at the recessed front door, so it's a little unnerving to have someone smoking, leaning on the side rails of the concrete walkway, less than 2 meters away from me. The big window between us doesn't put up much of a barrier. I keep the blinds half-closed so that I don't feel like an exhibition. "And over here on the right, we have scholasticus eruditus, a species that spends much of their time indoors, away from natural light. They are a philanthropic species, constantly investigating and studying methods to progress the homo sapien species, however sometimes, we never see the fruits of their labour."