Winter is unquestionably a nasty time of year for office workers who smoke. It’s never fun having to step outside into the freezing cold in order to satisfy that pesky nicotine craving, your fingers and face turning ever bluer with every wheezy puff.
Such hardship clearly hasn’t escaped the attention of Japanese engineering firm Ryonetsu, according to a report on Wednesday from the Sankei Shimbun. Having apparently spotted a gap in the market, it recently launched a “compact and attractive” one-person smoking room designed especially for the office. Need a ciggie? Why, just hop into your personal smoking space, close the door, and get puffing.
Tokyo firm has started sales of one-man smoking rooms. https://t.co/5WpkOThvDM pic.twitter.com/RGUdvp9lbu
— Mulboyne (@Mulboyne) October 13, 2016
Considering Japanese employees’ reputation for long hours and hard work, the box is a winner on multiple fronts. For starters, there’s no space for an additional person, a thoughtful design feature that prevents time-wasting chit-chat with co-workers. Secondly, the room can be placed right beside your desk so you don’t have to use up valuable work minutes making your way to and from an outside smoking area. This also means that if your job ever gets particularly stressful, you’re only two steps away from a soothing smoke.
Thanks to the room’s (fairly) high-tech design, office-based smokers can make their personal ciggie space super-comfortable as it incorporates not only a deodorizing air freshener, but also a filter and air conditioner.
And should you happen to die while inside it from a smoking-related illness, or possibly karoshi, then its coffin-like shape means one less expense for your next of kin. Brilliant.
However, the ingenious one-person smoking room doesn’t come cheap. With a 216,000 yen (about $2,100) price tag, this particular piece of office furniture is surely aimed at only the most dedicated of smokers.
