High-tech building + no smoking = ...



  • My company is relocating to a "high-tech purpose-built state-of-the-art facility", but it's located on a completely non-smoking estate.

    The solution to this problem apparently isn't using some of that tech to cater to the smokers... The solution is:

    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Chodgman%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml" rel="File-List"><style> </style>

    We will certainly be strongly discouraging employees who smoke from standing too close to main roads and from taking extended breaks from work to go further afield to smoke. We’d therefore like to take this opportunity to suggest and encourage employees who smoke to consider – over the next few weeks, and over Christmas and New Year break – quitting.

     



  • Wow, I got a 2nd WTF for free! C&P from a word document and you get style garbage with this editor...



  • @ActionMan said:

    Wow, I got a 2nd WTF for free! C&P from a word document and you get style garbage with this editor...


    TRWTF is you had to paste from Word. Which means you most likely got the memo as a Word doc instead of part of the email body.



  • Where's the first WTF? Quitting makes a whole lot more sense than expecting your employer to install a suicide booth for you. Would they even be allowed such a booth on a 'completely non-smoking estate'?



  • I sympathise. We recently had an ill-considered memo from estates stating that "smoking within 10 feet of the building invalidates our insurance" and requesting (nay, demanding) smokers move at least this far away.

    Out back, you have to climb over a 7' wall to get that far away. Out front (the high street incidently where the smoking public are passing by every minute - less than 10' away) you have to stand in a 4' gap between a cycle lane and a pond. The nearest sheltered area is about 200 yards away, under a road bridge. Nice.

    Fortunately I've nearly quit, but this sort of shit isn't going to make me more likely to, it's just going to piss me off.



  • We're supposed to go 100 yards from the building. Which would presumably mean standing in front of somebody else's building. If the other building had the same policy they would just stand in front of ours.

    The double-WTF though is that we share a building with another company who have no such stupid rule, so they can happily stand out front and smoke,

    But as we're a satellite office with no HR in it I ignore the stupidity.



  • @NSCoder said:

    Where's the first WTF? Quitting makes a whole lot more sense than expecting your employer to install a suicide booth for you. Would they even be allowed such a booth on a 'completely non-smoking estate'?
     

    Yes, I won't listen to my mom, or my wife, or my kids, nor my doctor, or my dead uncle (who died of lung cancer), but I'm sure that if my company decided to send me a memo like that, I will stop being an addict and quit smoking. 



  • I heard a rumour that the World Health Organisation won't employ smokers at all, because during lunchtime/breaks they would all stand outside, so you'd end up with a bunch of people all standing outside the World "Health" Organisation, smoking.

    I guess they're not fans of irony!



  •  Sounds good to me. I'm so fucking sick and tired of taking in random lungfuls of smoke because it's a bit windy and some guy 5m away just has to have that cigarette or he'll die from withdrawal symptoms. As far as I'm concerned smokers should be "moved on" until they cannot possibly annoy anyone. May I suggest some place around the middle of the Pacific?

    I mean seriously was peer pressure in highchool so strong that you have to die before your time gasping from breath? Grow a pair and stand up for yourself. Or was it so difficult to understand that when EVERYONE said smoking is bad for you then maybe, just maybe, it's bad for you?



  • @fatdog said:

    @NSCoder said:

    Where's the first WTF? Quitting makes a whole lot more sense than expecting your employer to install a suicide booth for you. Would they even be allowed such a booth on a 'completely non-smoking estate'?
     

    Yes, I won't listen to my mom, or my wife, or my kids, nor my doctor, or my dead uncle (who died of lung cancer), but I'm sure that if my company decided to send me a memo like that, I will stop being an addict and quit smoking. 

    Maybe having to stand out by the road would be an extra encouragement to quit, maybe not. It's up to you whether you quit smoking or not (yes, really, it's not impossible) but there's no point whinging if you're not allowed to do it on a non-smoking estate, and expecting everyone else to accommodate your addiction. It's your addiction, you deal with it.



  •  

    @DOA said:

     Sounds good to me. I'm so fucking sick and tired of taking in random lungfuls of smoke because it's a bit windy and some guy 5m away just has to have that cigarette or he'll die from withdrawal symptoms. As far as I'm concerned smokers should be "moved on" until they cannot possibly annoy anyone. May I suggest some place around the middle of the Pacific?

    I mean seriously was peer pressure in highchool so strong that you have to die before your time gasping from breath? Grow a pair and stand up for yourself. Or was it so difficult to understand that when EVERYONE said smoking is bad for you then maybe, just maybe, it's bad for you?

    I agree.  And to add one more thing - just because your 80 year old grandma has smoked since 15 and is still alive, doesn't mean you'll live for 65+ years smoking a pack per day too.

    TRWTF is that people willingly destroy their health by smoking.

     



  • @ActionMan said:

    My company is relocating to a "high-tech purpose-built state-of-the-art facility", but it's located on a completely non-smoking estate.

    The solution to this problem apparently isn't using some of that tech to cater to the smokers...

    What part of your company's business makes it necessary for the employees to smoke?  The real solution is to stop smoking, it will save your health too.


  • @NSCoder said:

    Maybe having to stand out by the road would be an extra encouragement to quit, maybe not. It's up to you whether you quit smoking or not (yes, really, it's not impossible) but there's no point whinging if you're not allowed to do it on a non-smoking estate, and expecting everyone else to accommodate your addiction. It's your addiction, you deal with it.

    I agree despite (or maybe because of) the fact that I'm a former smoker myself. Instead of preaching to our kids about not smoking, my wife and I just react to people smoking the same way we would if they reached inside their pants to scratch their butt and then licked their fingers.



  • @NSCoder said:

    Maybe having to stand out by the road would be an extra encouragement to quit, maybe not. It's up to you whether you quit smoking or not (yes, really, it's not impossible) but there's no point whinging if you're not allowed to do it on a non-smoking estate, and expecting everyone else to accommodate your addiction. It's your addiction, you deal with it.

    Who is winining about anything? IMO the memo was stupid. That's it, don't make this into a political pro-anti smoking debate.

    If a company doesn't want to deal with smokers and all the issues they bring, just don't hire them, or give them a booth or poison them to accelerate the process, I don't care, but the memo is just stupid.

    But I guess since you failed to see the WTF I saw about the memo, you might have also have failed to see the sarcasm of my post, so we are probably on different wavelengths* here.




  • @DOA said:

     Sounds good to me. I'm so fucking sick and tired of taking in random lungfuls of smoke because it's a bit windy and some guy 5m away just has to have that cigarette or he'll die from withdrawal symptoms. As far as I'm concerned smokers should be "moved on" until they cannot possibly annoy anyone. May I suggest some place around the middle of the Pacific?

    I mean seriously was peer pressure in highchool so strong that you have to die before your time gasping from breath? Grow a pair and stand up for yourself. Or was it so difficult to understand that when EVERYONE said smoking is bad for you then maybe, just maybe, it's bad for you?

     

    <sarcasm>Wow, your comments are always so insightful.</sarcasm>

    Maybe you should be the one to stand out in the middle ofthe Pacific.   We're sick and tired of you all whining about it just as much as you are.  Smoking is not illegal.  To say that you have more rights than any other citizen because you are a non smoker is just retarded. 

     

    I agree that smokers should be removed from the front of the building, and that they should be placed somewhere that does not interfere with the general traffic in and out of the building.  I agree with non-smoking facilities.  What I don't agree with is trying to stomp out smokers because you don't like it.  Just give them a place to smoke that is out of the way and that non-smokers do not have to walk past, end of story.  If people want to smoke let them.



  • @Zagyg said:

    I sympathise. We recently had an ill-considered memo from estates stating that "smoking within 10 feet of the building invalidates our insurance" and requesting (nay, demanding) smokers move at least this far away.

    Out back, you have to climb over a 7' wall to get that far away. Out front (the high street incidently where the smoking public are passing by every minute - less than 10' away) you have to stand in a 4' gap between a cycle lane and a pond. The nearest sheltered area is about 200 yards away, under a road bridge. Nice.

    Fortunately I've nearly quit, but this sort of shit isn't going to make me more likely to, it's just going to piss me off.

     

    I guess I'm ignorant on smoking with regards to insurance, but I'm curious as to why smoking within 10 feet of the building would invalidate your insurance?  Is it just a fire hazard thing? </SeriousQuestion>



  • @tdb said:

    I agree.  And to add one more thing - just because your 80 year old grandma has smoked since 15 and is still alive, doesn't mean you'll live for 65+ years smoking a pack per day too.

    TRWTF is that people willingly destroy their health by smoking.

     

    Actually I think that TRWTF is that smoking related illness is still paid for by the NHS... If its your fault through stupidity or ignorance then why should everyone elses tax pay for it?



  • @amischiefr said:

    <sarcasm>Wow, your comments are always so insightful.</sarcasm>

    Maybe you should be the one to stand out in the middle ofthe Pacific.   We're sick and tired of you all whining about it just as much as you are.  Smoking is not illegal.  To say that you have more rights than any other citizen because you are a non smoker is just retarded.

    Fact: Legal or not non-smokers always end up gasping and choking on your second hand smoke.

    The rest are half-arsed excuses smokers have made to themselves over the years to justify the idiot choices they made in life.

    Did I say middle of the Pacific? Let's round them up and shoot them into the sun.

     



  • @NSCoder said:

    Where's the first WTF? Quitting makes a whole lot more sense than expecting your employer
     

    Right.  Because the one and only reason we're all here is to serve our employers in whatever way enriches them most, not to have lives of our own or anything else.  Take five minutes out for a smoke?  Get back to work, economic unit!  Isn't it bad enough we permit you to have eight hours off every day to sleep?  What do you mean you want to spend time with friends and family?  How does that benefit your employer?  REMEMBER YOU ARE A SERF NOT A CITIZEN.

     



  • @DOA said:

    I mean seriously was peer pressure in highchool so strong that you have to die before your time gasping from breath? Grow a pair and stand up for yourself. 


    Translation:

    @DOA said:

    If you had any strength of character you'd DO EXACTLY WHAT I SAY.  WHY WON'T YOU UNQUESTIONINGLY DO WHATEVER I TELL YOU TO DO?  HAVE YOU NO MIND OF YOUR OWN?  IF YOU DON'T DO WHATI WANT YOU MUST BE SOME KIND OF WEAKLING!  YOU DON'T WANT TO BE A WEAKLING DO YOU?

    That kind of emotional blackmail / self-image manipulation bullshit is the first trick in the book for scientologists and brainwashers.  Anyone who tries to use it in an argument sucks donkey cock.



  • @DOA said:

    Fact:

    STFU right there, 'tard.  Things don't become "facts" just because you say them. 

    @DOA said:

     

    Legal or not self-righteous assholes always end up pissing and moaning about something or other.

    FTFY.


  •  People can still smoke in their cars right? sounds like a perfect compromise to me.

     

    How come smokers are allowed to wander out of work for smoke breaks but I don't get 10 - 20 minute breaks every hour to stand around and gossip?



  • @fatdog said:

    If a company doesn't want to deal with smokers and all the issues they bring, just don't hire them, or give them a booth or poison them to accelerate the process, I don't care, but the memo is just stupid.



    As I understand it, the company has already hired smokers, they're relocating. The place they are relocating to is an entirely non-smoking estate, something which does not appear to be in the control of the company. There's no reason why they should pay smokers to have longer breaks so that they can go somewhere else and smoke. So what else can they do? ActionMan suggested a smoking booth, I wondered whether they'd be allowed to install such a thing in an 'entirely non-smoking estate', and nobody has responded to that yet. What do you think the memo should have said, that smokers should stay later in the evening to make up for their longer smoking breaks? Should the company have looked around for different premises just to make life (or the shortening of it) easier for their smoking employees? Should they have fired all their smoking employees just before relocating? I don't know whether you would consider any of these less stupid. It seems like they didn't have very many choices and they chose the one that would make their employees healthier without costing the company anything.



  • @DOA said:

    Fact: Legal or not non-smokers always end up gasping and choking on your second hand smoke.

    The rest are half-arsed excuses smokers have made to themselves over the years to justify the idiot choices they made in life.

    Did I say middle of the Pacific? Let's round them up and shoot them into the sun.

     

    I do not justify my idiotic choice.. I enjoy killing myself slowly with nicotine, alcohol and other drugs. It's my choice. I also enjoy raping your lungs with my smoke. It makes me happy to see people choking with my smoke. It connects us in a very spiritual level. I also feel empowered by the fact that I can blow my smoke in your face and the worst that will happen to me will be getting kicked out of wherever I am. My cancer is your cancer. I love to share.

    I'll be waiting for your daughter under the pacific sun, when se begins smoking just to piss you off. 

    (rolleyes) 



  • I propose that all the smokers at the facility submit a proposal to building management, requesting permission to install a smoking booth on the premises, on the conditions that the smokers' coalition will be responsible for purchasing and paying for the maintenance of the booth.

    That's a resonable concession for management to make.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @DeLos said:

    but I don't get 10 - 20 minute breaks every hour to stand around and gossip?
    Have a word with your union about getting water coolers installed.



  • @NSCoder said:

    As I understand it, the company has already hired smokers, they're relocating...

     

    Well you might be right, but even if it was the best/only choice for the company it doesn't make it less stupid in my eyes.

    On the other hand, the industrial revolution ended many years ago, and I'm pretty sure slavery was abolished in most of the free world. So If someone has to take a longer break let them. They are responsible to do their tasks and their jobs, and they should be allowed to manage their time as they wish. but this will start a whole new offtopic debate.  



  •  the high tech solution is ...

    electronic fags



  • @DOA said:

    Fact: Legal or not non-smokers always end up gasping and choking on your second hand smoke.

    The rest are half-arsed excuses smokers have made to themselves over the years to justify the idiot choices they made in life.

    Did I say middle of the Pacific? Let's round them up and shoot them into the sun.

     

    In your ignorant rant you left out the part of my quote that said I agree that smokers should be moved to a place where non-smokers would not have to walk past them, thus "choking" on our second hand smoke.  You once again show how selfish and ignorant your comments here are. 


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @DeLos said:

    How come smokers are allowed to wander out of work for smoke breaks but I don't get 10 - 20 minute breaks every hour to stand around and gossip?
    As opposed to hanging out on TDWTF?



  • @boomzilla said:

    @DeLos said:

    How come smokers are allowed to wander out of work for smoke breaks but I don't get 10 - 20 minute breaks every hour to stand around and gossip?
    As opposed to hanging out on TDWTF?

     

    HAhahahahahah, perfect!  I bet this asshat spends more time on here than I do in smoke breaks all day.



  • Oh, this is all so heartbreaking. Those poor little dears are suffering so much unless we indulge their desperate need to poison themselves with their filthy nicotine habit. How can we possibly just expect them to refrain from getting themselves hooked on their addiction. After all, every smoker took his first suck on a cigarette because somebody held a gun to his head and forced him to inhale, right? So now we must indulge them with our sympathy. Weep, weep, weep.

    Let's give them time off too step out at work to surrender to their need, while the rest of us work harder to cover for them. Sob sob sob, These pathetic losers need our sympathy.

    Most of us have other habits. Some of want to take a hit on a bottle of booze, or snort cocaine, or masturbate, or make phone calls, or just stand around and gossip - let us too have time off to do it as often as we need to.

    Cigarette smokers are so attractive - they are just as charming as nose-pickers, farters and spitters. Surely we must forget all cleanliness and let the smokers have their way. Oh yes, smokers are just as employable as any other job applicant, and we will all happily pay higher insurance premiums so these junkies can suck away all day on their Camels until they cough their lungs out in the cancer ward.



  • @amischiefr said:

    HAhahahahahah, perfect!  I bet this asshat spends more time on here than I do in smoke breaks all day.
    But... you're on here, too...?



  • @DeLos said:

     People can still smoke in their cars right? sounds like a perfect compromise to me.

     

    How come smokers are allowed to wander out of work for smoke breaks but I don't get 10 - 20 minute breaks every hour to stand around and gossip?

     

    not in maine, smoking is illegal in cars with anyone under 18.



  • @DaveK said:

    @DOA said:
    I mean seriously was peer pressure in highchool so strong that you have to die before your time gasping from breath? Grow a pair and stand up for yourself.
    ranslation:@DOA said:
    If you had any strength of character you'd DO EXACTLY WHAT I SAY.  WHY WON'T YOU UNQUESTIONINGLY DO WHATEVER I TELL YOU TO DO?  HAVE YOU NO MIND OF YOUR OWN?  IF YOU DON'T DO WHATI WANT YOU MUST BE SOME KIND OF WEAKLING!  YOU DON'T WANT TO BE A WEAKLING DO YOU?

    That kind of emotional blackmail / self-image manipulation bullshit is the first trick in the book for scientologists and brainwashers.  Anyone who tries to use it in an argument sucks donkey cock.
    So resisting negative influenses from your peers = do what I say?

    Damn, not only do you need to quit smoking, you also need to get off crack.

    @DaveK said:

    STFU right there, 'tard.  Things don't become "facts" just because you say them. 
    STFU right there, 'tard. Show me one smoker whose second-hand smoke never ended up in a non-smoker's face.

     

    @fatdog said:

    I do not justify my idiotic choice.. I enjoy killing myself slowly with nicotine, alcohol and other drugs. It's my choice. I also enjoy raping your lungs with my smoke. It makes me happy to see people choking with my smoke. It connects us in a very spiritual level. I also feel empowered by the fact that I can blow my smoke in your face and the worst that will happen to me will be getting kicked out of wherever I am. My cancer is your cancer. I love to share.
    Now I feel too connected to you on a spiritual level to flame you.

    Damn you

    @amischiefr said:

    In your ignorant rant you left out the part of my quote that said I agree that smokers should be moved to a place where non-smokers would not have to walk past them, thus "choking" on our second hand smoke.  You once again show how selfish and ignorant your comments here are. 
    Then allow me to correct my oversight. I agree with you, however this doesn't happen in real life. In fact you may have noticed it took a while to post a reply. It's because I was on my way home from work. During that trip I stumbled on three smokers whose little cloud of suffocating death I had to endure. In fact the very last one was on the escalator on the way out of the subway station. This prick had gone for about 15 minutes without a smoke and couldn't wait 20 more seconds to light up. No, he had to do it right there and then and since it's windy at the subway entrance ALL that smoke landed on my face.

    So you'll excuse me if I'm bitter enough to be sceptical of any solution to this plague sort of a firing squad.

     


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @DOA said:

    It's because I was on my way home from work. During that trip I stumbled on three smokers whose little cloud of suffocating death I had to endure.
    Well, thank goodness you made it before the second hand smoke caused you cancer of the toenail.  We'd have hated to have missed this post.  Why does the smoke bother you so much?  Especially when it's so dissipated (from being outside in a windy environment)?  Why don't you just drive, like normal people?

    @DOA said:

    So you'll excuse me if I'm bitter enough to be sceptical of any solution to this plague sort of a firing squad.
    I almost always find compainers about smokers more annoying than the smokers themselves.  Much more annoying are the people talking on cellphones or listening to their iPods so we can all hear them.  I'm certain the increased blood pressure I get from them is much worse than any effects of the second hand smoke.  Let's shoot them, too.

     



  • @boomzilla said:

    Well, thank goodness you made it before the second hand smoke caused you cancer of the toenail.  We'd have hated to have missed this post.  Why does the smoke bother you so much?  Especially when it's so dissipated (from being outside in a windy environment)?  Why don't you just drive, like normal people? So you'll excuse me if I'm bitter enough to be sceptical of any solution to this plague sort of a firing squad. I almost always find compainers about smokers more annoying than the smokers themselves.  Much more annoying are the people talking on cellphones or listening to their iPods so we can all hear them.  I'm certain the increased blood pressure I get from them is much worse than any effects of the second hand smoke.  Let's shoot them, too.
    So the problem is not me chocking on these assholes' smoke, it's speaking up? What... the... fuck....?



  • @Steeldragon said:

    @DeLos said:

     People can still smoke in their cars right? sounds like a perfect compromise to me.

     

    How come smokers are allowed to wander out of work for smoke breaks but I don't get 10 - 20 minute breaks every hour to stand around and gossip?

     

    not in maine, smoking is illegal in cars with anyone under 18.

     

    When you're at work, you have an under 18-year-old just sitting in your car all day? WTF!

    I hate threads like these, because they always make non-smokers look like judgemental assholes. I don't smoke, but you know what? I don't care if other people smoke. I agree that smoking is unhealthy, but I don't buy any of the BS about "second-hand" smoke, and I loathe the government removing civil liberties in the name of "second-hand" smoke. (As my state has done, ugh!)

    The thing that bothers me most about smokers is that most of them litter by just dropping their cigarette butts on the pavement.I mean, I don't want them starting trash fires, but just spend the 5 seconds to make sure the cig is out and throw it away.Other than that, I'd much rather see smokers over, for example, people who hock up disgusting loogies on the sidewalk.

    I'm guessing all these holier-than-thous on this board have their own disgusting habits, probably just as unhealthy as smoking.



  • @fatdog said:

     I also feel empowered by the fact that I can blow my smoke in your face and the worst that will happen to me will be getting kicked out of wherever I am.

     

    Here's another "fact" to "empower" you:  if you blow smoke in the wrong person's face, the worst thing that will happen to you will NOT be getting kicked out of wherever you are.



  • @fatdog said:

    Who is winining about anything? IMO the memo was stupid. That's it, don't make this into a political pro-anti smoking debate.

     

    I'm pretty sure complaining that your company not coming up with some hi-tech solution to cater to smokers is a big WTF counts as whining.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @DOA said:

    So the problem is not me chocking on these assholes' smoke, it's speaking up?
    So now calling for the mass execution of law abiding citizens is "speaking up?"   I'm just trying to understand.



  • @campkev said:

    Here's another "fact" to "empower" you:  if you blow smoke in the wrong person's face, the worst thing that will happen to you will NOT be getting kicked out of wherever you are.

     

    What? are you gonna hit me with that stick you got up your ass?

    You think that's gonna hurt more than chronic bronchitis and ephisema?




  • @amischiefr said:

    @DOA said:

     Sounds good to me. I'm so fucking sick and tired of taking in random lungfuls of smoke because it's a bit windy and some guy 5m away just has to have that cigarette or he'll die from withdrawal symptoms. As far as I'm concerned smokers should be "moved on" until they cannot possibly annoy anyone. May I suggest some place around the middle of the Pacific?

    I mean seriously was peer pressure in highchool so strong that you have to die before your time gasping from breath? Grow a pair and stand up for yourself. Or was it so difficult to understand that when EVERYONE said smoking is bad for you then maybe, just maybe, it's bad for you?

     

    <sarcasm>Wow, your comments are always so insightful.</sarcasm>

    Maybe you should be the one to stand out in the middle ofthe Pacific.   We're sick and tired of you all whining about it just as much as you are.  Smoking is not illegal.  To say that you have more rights than any other citizen because you are a non smoker is just retarded. 

    It isn't, but smoking in enclosed public spaces (that is, "anything not open-air") is now prohibited by law, nationwide (Mexico). 6 months before the federal ban went active, a similar law was passed here in the Federal District (Mexico City), which I must say, was cheered on by the non-smokers over here.

    Why? Because there were a bunch of idiots smoking everywhere, even in places with no ventilation, making the rest of us cough on second-hand smoke. Before the actual ban, the only place guaranteed to be non-smoking was the subway.

    So what happened? Well, smokers now take smoking breaks right outside the building, non-smokers don't choke on second-hand smoke, and everyone's happy. The OP's case, however, is an employer that doesn't even want to give smokers that privilege. Baaaad.



  • <rant>I've never understood how smoker's got special privileges in our society.  I used to work in construction and work hard doing my job, and some yokel gets to take a five minute break to go smoke every hour and gets paid the same.  If I'm an alcoholic should my workplace allow my to step outside every hour and chug a beer, just because something is legal doesn't make it an appropriate thing to be doing at work.</rant>

    <serious>I think if the employees are allowed to smoke in their cars than that would probably be a good solution for all involved</serious>



  • @boomzilla said:

    @DOA said:
    So the problem is not me chocking on these assholes' smoke, it's speaking up?
    So now calling for the mass execution of law abiding citizens is "speaking up?"   I'm just trying to understand.
    No, you were trying to argue a hopeless point and now you're clutching at straws. As for mass execution... did you perceive "firing squad" as a serious proposal?

    Now smoke-activated shock collars on the other hand... 



  • @DOA said:

     Sounds good to me. I'm so fucking sick and tired of taking in random lungfuls of smoke because it's a bit windy and some guy 5m away just has to have that cigarette or he'll die from withdrawal symptoms. As far as I'm concerned smokers should be "moved on" until they cannot possibly annoy anyone. May I suggest some place around the middle of the Pacific?


    Wow. Get over it, man. For the record, I do not smoke and have never smoked. Well, once. One puff of one cig a few decades ago just to try it. Hated it. In fact, I did my thesis on COPD (the thing that kills smokers if cancer doesn't get them first), and I am currently flanked by labs that work on smoking related illness. I could tell you in excruciating detail what that secondhand smoke is doing to your lungs.

    And you should be a HELL of a lot more concerned about what the city mass transit system is doing to your lungs. Diesel exhaust particles are a much greater threat to your health than the random passing smoker that's 5m away or 1m away. COPD tracks more closely with distance to the next busy road than it does with secondhand smoke. For that matter, the stress you exhibit from the exposure is probably doing you more damage than the stray smoke particles that wander your way.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @DOA said:

    No, you were trying to argue a hopeless point and now you're clutching at straws. As for mass execution... did you perceive "firing squad" as a serious proposal?
    Well, maybe as serious as toenail cancer.  Why is my point hopeless?  Can't I be annoyed by you just like you're annoyed by the smokers?  I suppose both of our points are probably hopeless, in that smokers aren't going away any time soon, and neither are the complainers.



  • @DeLos said:

    How come smokers are allowed to wander out of work for smoke breaks but I don't get 10 - 20 minute breaks every hour to stand around and gossip?
    I got annoyed at smokers who got to take breaks when I didn't, so I keep a bloodletting machine right next to my desk.  two or three times a day I stop what I'm doing and hold my hand on it for 10 minutes or so.  I'm starting to feel woozy.

    But seriously, I'm glad I don't smoke.  They have to go outside all winter a few times a day.  Not to mention the hacking and coughing and smelling bad.

    I don't agree with feeling all high and mighty and self-righteous because I'm not sucking on the end of a "cancer stick" or whatever they think is offensive these days.



  • @AJAXdrivenBuzzwords said:

    <rant>I've never understood how smoker's got special privileges in our society.  I used to work in construction and work hard doing my job, and some yokel gets to take a five minute break to go smoke every hour and gets paid the same.  If I'm an alcoholic should my workplace allow my to step outside every hour and chug a beer, just because something is legal doesn't make it an appropriate thing to be doing at work.</rant>

    If you don't like it, quit your job or complain to your boss or start your own fucking company.  If an employer is fine letting people have smoking breaks, then that is their business.  Nobody is forcing you to do a goddamn thing, but they have a right to decide what is appropriate and inappropriate at work.

     

    Personally, I smoke and I wouldn't care if my employees did (outside, please).  Then again, I'd be fine if an employee took a 10 minute break to stretch their legs or chit-chat or buy a cup of coffee, because I'm not some kind of a control-freak asswipe.

     

    @AJAXdrivenBuzzwords said:

    <serious>I think if the employees are allowed to smoke in their cars than that would probably be a good solution for all involved</serious>

    Unless you are one of the millions of people (like myself) who smoke and work in a city where there is no car nearby.



  • @fatdog said:

    @campkev said:

    Here's another "fact" to "empower" you:  if you blow smoke in the wrong person's face, the worst thing that will happen to you will NOT be getting kicked out of wherever you are.

     

    What? are you gonna hit me with that stick you got up your ass?

    You think that's gonna hurt more than chronic bronchitis and ephisema?


     

    In my younger and dumber days, that might have lead to a fight, but not because I have a stick up my ass, but because blowing smoke in someone's face is a dickhead thing to do.  Personally, I don't give a rat's ass if you smoke.  Second-hand smoke doesn't really bother me personally.  But the sense of entitlement displayed by SOME smokers, like the OP, pisses me off.  You don't have a right to smoke at work, and your employer certainly isn't mandated to cater to you.  And if you blow smoke in the wrong person's face, you are going to get your ass beat.  And yes, getting your ass beat and having chronic bronchitis and emphysema hurts more than just having chronic bronchitis and emphysema.


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