Title: Workday Nap, Anyone?

[MUSIC]

Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. After all that today from Katherine Wu, Elie Mystal, and Meredith Lee Hill from Politico at the beginning of the show, we're going to end on a lighter note. Here's a question. If you miss sleeping, for whatever reason, last night and need to pick me up this afternoon at work, are you going to grab an extra large coffee or maybe a quick nap? Which would be more acceptable to your boss?

Here's the two-part question. Has anybody listening now ever taken a nap at work? A nap at work. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. How do you relax at work in a sort of professionally acceptable way if napping would be looked askance at by your boss? 212-433-WNYC. How do you relax at work when you take a little break? Is anybody listening right now, a person who's ever actually taken a nap at work? 212-433-9692.

Why do we even think to ask this? Well, there was an AP article that says there are people who choose napping and even some companies that encourage it. Is yours one of those? Are you one of those? If you nap during the workday, how did you work it out? Did you tell your boss, "Look, I just want a little private room somewhere where I can actually go to sleep on my 20-minute break? Did anybody say that's okay or that's not okay? Maybe you tell them you're going to meditate and that sounds a little more acceptable? 212-433-WNYC.

Some of you may remember that napping on the job did not go so well for George in an episode of Seinfeld, once upon a time. There are companies, the article name's HuffPo, Ben and Jerry's, that offer a nap room. Hiding out under your desk like George did wouldn't be required. Who naps at work? What does the company say? What are your other alternatives or strategies for recharging yourself other than recaffeinating yourself when you're at work? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692, as we end a little bit on the lighter side today and we'll take your calls right after this.

[MUSIC]

Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Do you nap at work? Is that okay with your boss? How else do you relax during a break at work? Karen in Bergen County, you're on WNYC. Hi, Karen.

Karen: Hi, Brian. Thank you so much. I am a frequent caller as well as a daily listener and we've spoken before. I spent more than 45 years as a mergers and acquisitions and securities offering lawyer. It was commonplace in that field for us to do multiple successive all-niners. What I did, and what many of my colleagues did, whenever there was a break in the action was to take a break and take a nap any place we could find to do that. Sometimes it was under a desk.

Brian Lehrer: The George Costanza model. Anywhere else?

Karen: Pardon me?

Brian Lehrer: Anywhere else besides under your desk?

Karen: Occasionally, if you could find a sofa or a big chair, you use that, but sometimes those were already taken by other lawyers and parties in the room.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much. We are getting some texts from listeners who say, "I take naps at work and our company has a designated nap room." Couple like that. Someone else writes, "Nurses nap so we don't kill you. Another listener, David in Westport, you're on WNYC. Hi, David.

David: Hi, Brian. I love your show. I'm a retired ophthalmologist, and I was fortunate that our exam chairs in the office are reclinable, so I would crash on those. Interestingly, my grandfather who was an old-fashioned eye, ear, nose, and throat specialist, did the same thing.

Brian Lehrer: There you go. In the office, lay back in the chair. Not everybody has an office. What do you do, folks, if you're on the open office floor plan like so many places are these days? Deanna in Morristown might have a solution to that. Dina, or is it Deanna, you're on WNYC. Hi there.

Deanna: It's Deanna.

Brian Lehrer: Hi.

Deanna: Hey, Brian. It's Deanna. Thanks for having me. I worked in an open office of a creative team, very small office in San Francisco some years ago and I was pregnant and could not keep my eyes open much of the day. I would crawl into a crawl space behind the mailroom and put cardboard boxes over me. I got caught because I had rug smash in my face. My co-workers, actually when I told them the truth, said they were so happy I hadn't revealed my pregnancy yet. They said they were so glad they thought I had cancer because I looked like hell.

Brian Lehrer: Under cardboard boxes in the mail room. Wow. The lengths to which people have to go to get a little rest. Another listener. Here's another location. A listener writes, "Set the watch and snooze in a bathroom stall." Michael in Boston, you're on WNYC. Hi, Michael.

Michael: Hi. I worked at a post-startup company run by people who weren't as anti-human as Mr. Musk and friends. They worked us long hours, but they gave us an explicit nap room with comfortable chairs and some cushions. It was an example of basic humanity in the high-tech industry, which I guess has fallen out of favor.

Brian Lehrer: An actual nap room. Thank you very much. I think Michael in Brooklyn, as we move from Michael in Boston to Michael in Brooklyn, has that too or has had it. Michael, hi. You're on WNYC.

Michael: Yes, that confused me for a second. All right. Hey, look, I work for one of the five biggest law firms in the world. I'm not a lawyer. I'm like a mid-level IT drone. We have copy nap rooms all over the place. Amazing facilities. Just the point. They're for lawyers, not for support staff. Explicit policy. They will give us all the free coffee we want, and it is good coffee, I'll give them that.

Brian Lehrer: What do they say about the nap room?

Michael: They say these are for lawyers. I mean, that's what they say. It is explicit policy. It's like support staff, we can work from home or we can come in and reserve a desk. Certain floors are only for lawyers. Certain floors are only for support staff. There's an amazing class distinction in the mega law firms in the United States. It's just a point. Now I don't need a nap. I need a cup of coffee, but it's a point.

Brian Lehrer: Thanks for pulling the veil on that. Listener writes-- Oh, they're coming in so fast. It flipped off my screen already, so I'm going to go to another caller. Kathy in Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Hi, Kathy.

Kathy: Yes, we would take naps because we were in a place where we had to wait for sometimes two hours for an assignment, and even the supervisor sometimes would nap also.

Brian Lehrer: Where, how, what was the kind of workplace?

Kathy: Well, it was a city job. I guess we're always known as slackers and stuff. Anyway, we had to transport kids to various places.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much, Kathy.

Kathy: Okay.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you. Thank you. Another maybe surprising location. Listener writes, "I slept under tables with long tablecloths in one of the dining rooms in the restaurant I work in. A client came in with my boss and I was so scared I'd get caught, I had to lay quietly for 30 minutes." Wow. Carol in Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Hi, Carol.

Carol: Hi. This was not deliberate. I just fell forward into a snooze and my head hit the desk. [unintelligible 00:08:32] I had fallen asleep at work and I don't know how long it was, but somebody discovered me because I felt a very gentle hand tapping my shoulder or shaking my shoulder. When I lifted up my head, the guy said, "Oh, thank God."

Brian Lehrer: Ah. Oh, yes, they thought the worst, right?

Carol: Yes.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, my goodness, Carol, that's a story. Thank you very much. Tessa in lower Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Hi, Tessa.

Colleen: Hi, I'm Colleen. I used to work at the Battery Park City Parks Conservancy. We purposely designed in benches with cushions around our conference room, lunch room. It was a multipurpose room because we had a fine tradition of napping. It was useful every day. Plus, during 9/11, that's where those of us who didn't leave the site would sleep.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much. All right. Benches with cushions in a break room. At least they had cushions, right? Bench doesn't sound very comfortable to nap on, but I guess cushions are well-placed. Bench is long enough. Listener writes, "My husband is French and lunch breaks are two hours. He always naps. Now that he lives here in the USA, he continues this tradition even though his lunch is shorter. He finds a way to nap, even just going to his car to lay down. Now he runs his own business as a French baker and is up at 3:00 AM, so naps are critical. He's napping now or I would have him call in."

Let's see, I think we can get one more here or two. How about Rick in Rockland County? Rick, you're on WNYC. Hi.

Rick: Hi, Brian. Years ago, I worked for an art dealer on the Upper East Side out of a townhouse. I shared the basement with the packing department. I was a framer. When the packing department left at late afternoon, I would be there for a few more hours. I would just roll out the bubble wrap on the packing table and take a nap.

Brian Lehrer: Since we can't do the napping on the bubble wrap story, I think you're going to be the last caller.

Rick: All right. Thank you.

Brian Lehrer: Rick, thank you very much. All right, that's The Brian Lehrer Show for today, produced by Mary Croak, Lisa Allison, Amina Srna, Carl Boisrond, and Esperanza Rosenbaum, who can all now go to sleep. Zach Gottehrer-Cohen, however, jumps up to edit our daily politics podcast, which is an edit of this show. Our intern this term is Henry Serringer. Megan Ryan is the head of live radio, and we had Juliana Fonda and Milton Ruiz at the audio controls. Have a great weekend, everyone. Stay tuned for Alison.

[MUSIC]

Copyright © 2025 New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information.

New York Public Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline, often by contractors. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of New York Public Radio’s programming is the audio record.