# Ahh, the aroma of ashtrays **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 26, 2005, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahh-the-aroma-of-ashtrays/305655 "2005-05-26T20:01:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GaWd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahh-the-aroma-of-ashtrays/305655/21 "2005-05-27T00:53:40Z")
It sounds like the OP needs to bitch about her management team, and not her smokers. I’m a 5 minute break smoker. I don’t socialize, I just fix. About 5 minutes per hour is all I ask for, not 2 15 minute breaks. I also take short lunches, or no lunches and do work at my desk and arrive early for the day. Honestly, the non-smokers can kiss my ass if they have a fucking opinion. I’ve never asked anyone to do my work while I go outside and kill myself, and probably never will. Bitch about your managers not stepping up to the plate and disciplining the smokers, don’t bitch about the smokers. They’re only doing what their managers have allowed them to get away with for their tenure. Sam ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahh-the-aroma-of-ashtrays/305655/22 "2005-05-27T01:28:39Z")
Do what I used to do - go out with the smokers every damned time they go. To hell with the scowling bosses. You want some change around there - start rocking the boat. There is absolutely no reason that you should have to take up the slack for these addicts - and I do blame the smokers, too, not just the management. Anyone over 18 should know that you only get the breaks assigned to everyone, not 20 minutes on the hour because you’re an addict. ---
**Author:** ![GaWd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahh-the-aroma-of-ashtrays/305655/23 "2005-05-27T01:29:46Z")
I don’t know a single smoker who takes 20 minutes per hour to smoke. I have a hunch that you and the OP know some really rude smokers… ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahh-the-aroma-of-ashtrays/305655/24 "2005-05-27T01:43:59Z")
> [@GaWd](#): > > Bitch about your managers not stepping up to the plate and disciplining the smokers, don’t bitch about the smokers. They’re only doing what their managers have allowed them to get away with for their tenure. You mean there are no bad dogs, only bad owners? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Aangelica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Aangelica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aangelica)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahh-the-aroma-of-ashtrays/305655/25 "2005-05-27T03:14:50Z")
Bah - bullshit. The smokers are totally aware of the fact that if they’re not at their desk _somebody_ has to do their job. When I’m at lunch I know someone has to do my job. This is why we carefully stagger lunches to make sure someone’s there all the time. It’s not the managers - they’re adults and they are certainly aware of the fact that they’re seriously inconveniencing their co-workers. They just don’t give a shit. Or they give more of a shit about getting their fix. They don’t work through their lunches, they don’t come in early or stay late. They just bail out. Half the damn time I turn around and they’re GONE - without saying anything. I’d say it’s just the corporate culture, but it’s not. It’s EVERY place I’ve worked with smokers. So I can either sacrifice my own work ethic and integrity (it’s a crappy job but dammit I **will** do the best job I can at it) and bail out with them or refuse to cover for them (covering for their absence is a part of my job - as covering for mine is part of theirs), or I can just grit my teeth and bear it. Like I said, there are probably considerate smokers around - but there are a lot of inconsiderate ones too. And I’ve noticed that even considerate smokers are AMAZINGLY quick to shift the blame off onto the person getting stuck with the work. I should slack on MY job because they slack on theirs? Oh, not only no but HELL no. This, for me, is one of the little daily irritations of life. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahh-the-aroma-of-ashtrays/305655/26 "2005-05-27T04:33:44Z")
Bah- smokers! I was actually going to pit what happened to me yesterday, but instead I’ll just throw my little rant in here: Last night I was at a huge country concert here in town (Garth Brooks performed and proposed to Trisha Yearwood…that’s about all that made it worthwhile). There were 8,000 people crammed shoulder to shoulder with hardly any room to breath and a couple mullet-wearing\* jerks light up and start smoking. Forget that their ashes were getting all over the people around them, forget that there will little kids choking on their nasty addiction- is it even legal to smoke in large crowds like that? It just seems dangerous. Even if it is legal in CA, the tickets said no smoking. Don’t get me started on the people who were pouring their beers on the ground. \*No seriously, all the smokers had mullets. Mullets are great (hello? Joe Dirt!), but it just stuck out to me as a strange fact. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahh-the-aroma-of-ashtrays/305655/27 "2005-05-27T06:11:21Z")
> [@Aangelica](#): > > The ladies could smoke on their lunch (which is more than generous enough) How is that generous at all? ---
**Author:** ![MidnightRadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@MidnightRadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MidnightRadio)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahh-the-aroma-of-ashtrays/305655/28 "2005-05-27T12:05:05Z")
> [@Ellis Dee](#): > > > [@Aangelica](#): > > > > The ladies could smoke on their lunch (which is more than generous enough) > > How is that generous at all? I think she meant that there’s more than enough time for them to smoke on their lunch breaks. My two cents: I understand that smokers need to get their “fix” every so often, but does it have to be _so_ often? I mean, everyone’s expressed shock at these women taking twenty minutes per smoke break, but what’s got me floored is that they can’t go more than an hour without a cigarette. What do they do when they go to the movies? I’ve worked with plenty of smokers before and (while the kind of work we were doing may have been different—you didn’t say what kind of work you do) they took maybe a couple of extra ten-minute breaks _per day_ to smoke. Nowadays, I work in a call center where we get two fifteen-minute breaks and a thirty-minute (or forty-five-minute when you work ten-hour days like me) lunch break. The length of time between breaks can be anywhere from two hours to three hours and fifteen minutes (if you work the long shifts). Sure, we have smokers there, but they’ve learned to control their need for nicotine—at least to the point that they don’t have to have a cigarette every hour. So, I’d have to agree with whoever said that (and this is paraphrasing) these women aren’t feeding an addiction so much as they’re taking advantage of the management not putting their foot down. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahh-the-aroma-of-ashtrays/305655/29 "2005-05-27T12:10:16Z")
I hate how coffee drinkers have to take bathroom breaks so much. Ban the coffee! ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahh-the-aroma-of-ashtrays/305655/30 "2005-05-27T12:56:35Z")
> [@Aangelica](#): > > It’s not the managers - they’re adults and they are certainly aware of the fact that they’re seriously inconveniencing their co-workers. No, it IS the managers. THEY are the ones in charge. THEY are the ones telling you to cover for the smokers. THEY are the ones allowing smokers to be away from the desk 20 minutes per hour. THEY are the only ones who can effect change to this behavior. If you are responsible for covering, log the times that you cover for this person. Then go to your boss and tell him that you are doing 25% less work for his budget dollar because you are covering for someone else all the time. You can also mention your resentment over logging far more actual work hours but not getting recognized for it in your paycheck. ---
**Author:** ![GLWasteful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f05b48/32.png) [@GLWasteful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GLWasteful)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahh-the-aroma-of-ashtrays/305655/31 "2005-05-27T13:14:53Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > This October, our entire institution is going tobacco-free. Not just for inmates (it’s that already) but for staff too. Tobacco will actually be contraband, and bringing it into the prison will result in discipline. No smoking whatsoever will be allowed on the prison grounds. Out of curiosity, how did the whole making-the-inmates-smoke-free thing go over? I’ve always thought that instituting such a rule would be met with just a skosh or so of resistance. Waste ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahh-the-aroma-of-ashtrays/305655/32 "2005-05-27T13:22:30Z")
> [@GaWd](#): > > I don’t know a single smoker who takes 20 minutes per hour to smoke. I have a hunch that you and the OP know some really rude smokers… Or is exaggerating. I’m going to go ahead and assume it’s really only 10-12 minutes, and she’s padding it out for sympathy points. Are any other smokers here sick and tired of being treated like 2nd class citizens, and shouldering the blame for everything from baby-killing to nuclear war? I’ve had enough of this shit. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Bird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Little\_Bird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Bird)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahh-the-aroma-of-ashtrays/305655/33 "2005-05-27T13:31:52Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Or is exaggerating. I’m going to go ahead and assume it’s really only 10-12 minutes, and she’s padding it out for sympathy points. Mayhaps you missed this bit: > [@Aangelica](#): > > In response to **tdn** because of the security in my office and the architecture, it takes 5 minutes to get out of the building at a minimum. So even a 5 minute smoke = 15 minutes. This is assuming they go out, smoke and return IMMEDIATELY. They never do. They always go in groups and hang out and socialize for a while. Two of the girls sharing my work space and responsibilities smoke - they go together. Every hour. > [@tdn](#): > > Are any other smokers here sick and tired of being treated like 2nd class citizens, and shouldering the blame for everything from baby-killing to nuclear war? I’ve had enough of this shit. Well golly! I surely am sorry this nasty, disgusting, deadly habit of yours is causing you so much pain. Maybe you should, oh I dunno, **QUIT**? I know it’s hard. Life is hard. Deal with it. It’s gonna kill you and while that’s in the works it makes you smell bad, look bad, and cough when you climb stairs. I lost a grandmother and a father in law this summer to smoking. So sorry if I seem a little bitter. Actually, no, I’m not sorry. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahh-the-aroma-of-ashtrays/305655/34 "2005-05-27T13:47:52Z")
> [@Little Bird](#): > > Mayhaps you missed this bit: > Well golly! I surely am sorry this nasty, disgusting, deadly habit of yours is causing you so much pain. Maybe you should, oh I dunno, **QUIT**? When I quit it’s going to be because it’s a decision I’ve made on my own, and not because some sanctimonious prick called me nasty and disgusting. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahh-the-aroma-of-ashtrays/305655/35 "2005-05-27T14:03:52Z")
> [@Little Bird](#): > > It’s gonna kill you and while that’s in the works it makes you smell bad, look bad, and cough when you climb stairs. That’s entirely up to me, isn’t it? Matter of fact, I’m wearing a nicotine patch even as I type this - pissant attitudes like yours make me want to rip it off and go buy a pack of straight Camels. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahh-the-aroma-of-ashtrays/305655/36 "2005-05-27T14:04:35Z")
> [@ENugent](#): > > My secretary at my last job smoked. She only smoked outside, and was very careful to hold her cigarette downwind from her body. She never smelled like smoke. Don’t you just love the smokers who take such care to avoid getting smoke on their clothes and hair, but have no problem drawing it deep into the bottom of their lungs? And among them are the contemptible smokers who in social gatherings carefully hold their cigarette away from themselves to avoid the smoke coming off it, and thereby ensure it blows in someone else’s face. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahh-the-aroma-of-ashtrays/305655/37 "2005-05-27T14:09:07Z")
> [@This Year's Model](#): > > That’s entirely up to me, isn’t it? Matter of fact, I’m wearing a nicotine patch even as I type this - pissant attitudes like yours make me want to rip it off and go buy a pack of straight Camels. Sing it. What most non-smokers don’t seem to get is that smokers tend to be non-conformists. It’s probably the reason so many of us started in the first place. Try to shame us and prod us and tax us into your squeaky-clean fresh-air world of mindless conformity, and it just makes us want to put a butt out in your eyeball. For spite. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahh-the-aroma-of-ashtrays/305655/38 "2005-05-27T14:14:14Z")
> [@Futile Gesture](#): > > Don’t you just love the smokers who take such care to avoid getting smoke on their clothes and hair, but have no problem drawing it deep into the bottom of their lungs? Geez, try to stay non-smelly out of consideration for your cow-orkers, and this is the thanks you get. Fucko off. > [@](#): > > And among them are the contemptible smokers who in social gatherings carefully hold their cigarette away from themselves to avoid the smoke coming off it, and thereby ensure it blows in someone else’s face. Wrong again. Most smokers who try to hold their cigs away do it to avoid offending others. Who apparently will get offended no matter what. Futile gesture, indeed. ---
**Author:** ![GaWd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahh-the-aroma-of-ashtrays/305655/39 "2005-05-27T14:46:25Z")
> [@](#): > > Don’t you just love the smokers who take such care to avoid getting smoke on their clothes and hair, but have no problem drawing it deep into the bottom of their lungs? What in the **fuck** do you care how deep they inhale, ir if they inhale at all? Remove your sanctimonious nose from their asses, and get off your fucking high-horse, all of you prick nonsmokers. I am sick to death of this new anti-smoking attitude. It makes me want to light up in certain places where the attitude towards smoking is so negative, just to piss people like you off. Christ. Do any other smokers feel as if they are being cowed into quitting just because other non-smokers are so militantly against smoking? Pisses me off to no end. Sam ---
**Author:** ![GaWd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahh-the-aroma-of-ashtrays/305655/40 "2005-05-27T14:48:13Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Geez, try to stay non-smelly out of consideration for your cow-orkers, and this is the thanks you get. Fucko off. > Wrong again. Most smokers who try to hold their cigs away do it to avoid offending others. Who apparently will get offended no matter what. Futile gesture, indeed. **tdn** , I’m sure the irony will be lost on him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahh-the-aroma-of-ashtrays/305655.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahh-the-aroma-of-ashtrays/305655.md?page=3)