# Look, goddamnit. Throw your cigarette butts in the trash! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 24, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918 "2011-08-24T17:13:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [August 25, 2011, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/21 "2011-08-25T17:18:05Z")
That’s better than what I had in mind, **Merneith** - I was just going to suggest picking up all the butts and dumping them on her desk. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/22 "2011-08-25T17:19:41Z")
Gather her butts up. Then start randoming spreading them around various crime scenes… ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/23 "2011-08-25T18:17:11Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > At work, I’ve been trying for years to get one of my employees to stop flicking her butts all over the place. I finally had it under control and then she dumped her ashtray in the parking lot, followed by an “it wasn’t me” to which I replied “So someone else dumped 30 Newport butts right next to your driver side car door in the last 5 minutes?” > > Anyways, in winter her excuse was always “I flicked them in the snowbank, it’s not like anyone can see them.” ☹ > > I’m constantly hearing her say “Well, those could be from anyone” “No, they really couldn’t, there’s not a lot of people who smoke Newport Light 100’s in this neighborhood that stand by the back door _and_ only smoke them half way down” > For a while I started taking the butts and putting them under her windshield wipers. That sort of slowed it down. > > My biggest problem was when she was going out of her way to hide the butts from me. She would, literally, go 20 feet past the back door to flick the butt behind a soda machine (where I would see it anyways), when if she would, literally, have walked 20 feet in the other direction she could have flicked in the dumpster like the rest of us. I think that this woman just volunteered for permanent parking lot cleanup. Too bad you can’t get her to do it on her own time. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/24 "2011-08-25T18:57:50Z")
Does your building not have a janitor? Sounds to me like they are not doing a very good job. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/25 "2011-08-25T19:29:18Z")
Unless that janitor is checking the area every half hour, the butts are gonna accumulate. The problem isn’t janitorial. The problem is that some people are slobs, and if they are slobs who smoke, they’re gonna pitch their butts without regard to any trash cans or ash trays or whatever. They need to grow up and take responsibility for cleaning up after themselves. But they won’t. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/26 "2011-08-25T19:32:18Z")
Ogre, does this mean you fell off the wagon? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/27 "2011-08-25T19:33:14Z")
I’ll add a peeve of mine. Parking lot ashtray dumpers. Gross, man. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/28 "2011-08-25T19:36:51Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > Ogre, does this mean you fell off the wagon? Tumbled off right onto my butt, so to speak. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/29 "2011-08-25T19:41:47Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > I put up a politely-worded sign on the brick wall - “Please help keep this area clean. Throw your butts away below. Thank you!” You might try a sign like the one in the warehouse where I worked as a teenager. There were “butt cans” nailed to the walls here and there with signs reading: “Put your butts in the can or we’ll can your butt.” Everyone pretty much put their butts in the can. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/30 "2011-08-25T22:45:29Z")
We had pretty much the same issue as everyone else here (except when one of our bushes next to our building caught fire from a butt), except I (the employer) wasn’t gonna be a Nazi about it. I bought 2 of [these receptacles](http://www.americangasproducts.com/shopping/product/smokers-ceasefire-cigarette-butt-receptacles-6840.cfm) to be used in the front and back of our building. I had a staff meeting and told them they can continue to have their “privilege” as long as they put their butts in these receptacles. The choice was up to them whether they want to continue to have that privilege. My smoking employees actually surprised me for the most part, and disposed the butts properly and even took turns dumping out the container on Monday mornings. I didn’t even have to pick a single butt up. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/31 "2011-08-25T22:54:07Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I think that this woman just volunteered for permanent parking lot cleanup. Too bad you can’t get her to do it on her own time. When she first started working for us she used to volunteer to clean up the parking lot, then I found out one of the reasons she was flicking butts all over the lot was so that she could smoke while she was cleaning them up. I didn’t realize she was smoking while she was doing it and quickly but a stop to it. She was 16 or 17 and looked 12, I quickly banned her from smoking anywhere where customers could see her. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/32 "2011-08-26T12:41:00Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > Your business should have a policy about this. Where I work, you can only smoke on one side of the building, and pretty much everyone uses the little cigarette receptacle they provided to put them out. Doesn’t always work. I often walk past smokers standing outside the entrance to my building. They’re standing directly in front of the NO SMOKING sign. In fairness, there’s a butt-receptacle right there and I’ve never noticed piled-up butts near it. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/33 "2011-08-26T15:34:14Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > When she first started working for us she used to volunteer to clean up the parking lot, then I found out one of the reasons she was flicking butts all over the lot was so that she could smoke while she was cleaning them up. > I didn’t realize she was smoking while she was doing it and quickly but a stop to it. She was 16 or 17 and looked 12, I quickly banned her from smoking anywhere where customers could see her. Why is this woman still working for you, then? I’m serious. Can’t you find a better worker, one who isn’t a slob, who doesn’t try to get away with shit like this? If she’s family, that’s one thing, but if she’s not…surely you get several applications every day? ---
**Author:** ![kath94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kath94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kath94)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/34 "2011-08-26T17:50:32Z")
I don’t have this problem at work because there is a very specific “smoking permitted in this area only” location, and special snuff-out-your-cigarette containers. I s’pose it helps that there are cameras everywhere. This is one of my BIGGEST peeves. People who smoke & just toss their butts on the sidewalk, wherever they are. Do they not realize what a mess this is? I’ve embarassed my husband on more than one occasion when I point out to the perpetrator, “Excuse me, you dropped something.” They act like I’M the crazy one! “Yeah, duh, it was just my cigarette butt.” Oh, how I wish I could pick it up and flick it into their shopping bag or purse or car or whatever! :mad: ---
**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:** [August 26, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/35 "2011-08-26T18:29:00Z")
I see folks flick butts out their vehicle windows constantly, despite spring and early summer dry conditions and fire warnings in our region. ---
**Author:** ![MBScott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ed655f/32.png) [@MBScott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MBScott)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/36 "2011-08-26T18:37:47Z")
Stop worrying about the butts. Instead, put a fake (but realistic-looking) camera aimed at the can. Oh, hell. Put a real one. 🙂 M ---
**Author:** ![Bamboo\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@Bamboo\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bamboo_Boy)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/37 "2011-08-29T14:01:47Z")
You have my complete sympathy. I’m an occasional smoker and I will NEVER understand this attitude people have that butts somehow aren’t trash. The same people who would bristle at other people throwing random garbage on the street will happily flick with bravado their butts pretty much anywhere. My SO is like this and it makes me want to strangle him. I think for a lot of guys doing the responsible thing is seen as being too ‘soft’. A REAL man would throw butts where he wants and kick the ass of anyone who challenges him. I really do think there is an element of this mindset at work with the problem. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/38 "2011-08-29T14:39:36Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > Does your building not have a janitor? Sounds to me like they are not doing a very good job. So, in your office people just throw paper and trash on the floor, and then the janitor comes along every so often and sweeps it up? ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/39 "2011-08-29T14:45:47Z")
Until recently I owned a townhouse, and I was appalled at the number of slobs who would toss their fucking butts all over their own and their neighbors’ lawns. Yeah, that makes the place look and feel classy. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/40 "2011-08-29T14:57:40Z")
I think I’m opting out of the passive-aggressive ash can war by taking another run at quitting. No smokes since Saturday night. Let’s see if I can make this one stick. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918.md?page=3)