How much leeway do we have for making actions in-character without using our once-per-turn Special Action? 

For example, eating, drinking, looking at the map that's already been Examined by another character - assume this is all fine to do within a post without using my Special Action, but then if I wanted the Labourer to pocket another beer for the road - this is a Collect action? Can I pick up the boltcutters, snip the top of a food can, and tear it open to eat what's inside within a post without using a Special Action, or are all of these a Special Action combined, or even separately (i.e. Collect for boltcutter, Attack to use boltcutters on can, Examine to check and eat the food)?

I don't want to step on toes by taking multiple actions within one post when they should be separate uses of Special Actions across several turns - but also, using a Special Action is a tricky and strategic choice as-is, especially as more Special Actions get introduced, so if I have to be even more careful around what the Labourer is doing each post then it might slow me down.