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Asia Minute: Break Rooms Without Coffee

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Most office spaces around the world include break rooms. That’s generally where people can have lunch or a snack, and chat casually with colleagues. But in Australia, a different kind of “break room” is growing in popularity.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporationsays “break rooms” are sweeping the country.

These are not places for coffee or comfy chairs or foosball — these are places for breaking things. With baseball bats.

One establishment explains that “everybody wants to blow off steam in their own way”—adding that “at the Break Room, we hit things. With bats. It’s a little more liberating than the gym.”

ABC reports that similar enterprises are in business in Melbourne and Perth, and the section of eastern Australia known as the Gold Coast.

And in Sydney, they’ve gotten a surprise — about 75-percent of the clients are women.

The general rules are similar no matter the location — participants suit up in protective gear, pick up baseball bats, sledge hammers or crowbars, and start smashing things.

Plates, glasses, bottles, refrigerators – even computer monitors or laptops for a price. At some places, you can bring your own stuff to smash.

There’s a debate about how long-lasting any positive psychological release may be – or even whether it’s a good idea to act out with feelings of aggression.

But one “Break Room” in a chic Melbourne neighborhood does provide options.

On the same page as details of its smashing experiences is a banner ad talking up its yoga classes.

Bill Dorman has been the news director at Hawaiʻi Public Radio since 2011.
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