# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/41 "2011-08-29T15:38:05Z")
Good luck, Ogre! It can be done. Mr. Strong killed a twenty year pack-a-day monkey. ---
**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 29, 2011, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/42 "2011-08-29T16:05:34Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > 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? Other then that fact that she smokes like a chimney and flicks her butts all over the lot, she’s one of our best workers and has been since she started working for us 11 years ago when she was 16. Don’t get me wrong. If the cigarettes where just ‘another thing’ on the list of crap I had to put up with at some point she might have heard me say “If I find one more of your butts in the lot…” but it’s not the case. The only person working here that’s a better employee then her is my ex-wife…awkward. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/43 "2011-08-29T16:14:54Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > I see folks flick butts out their vehicle windows constantly, despite spring and early summer dry conditions and fire warnings in our region. Well, you don’t want them to get their ashtrays all dirty and nasty. According to my unpublished research, approximately 99.99999% of the time you see a driver tapping ash off their cigarette out the car window, the butt will follow within a couple of minutes. The evidence is still unclear as to whether this type of behavior has has been stable in recent years, or deteriorating as part of a passive-aggressive response to anti-smoking regulations. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/44 "2011-08-29T16:33:00Z")
Our apartment complex has a “no smoking in your apartment” policy that is stated anytime a prospective tenant submits an application. There’s a clause in the rental agreement–I don’t know the legality of it, but it hasn’t been challenged as far as I know. That usually scares smokers off–I guess they don’t want the hassle of having to go outside to smoke. The end result is a wonderful experience, an environment free of butts. A smoker did move in a few months ago and it was immediately obvious…cigarette butts started showing up along the walkways and in the common areas. Complaints were made and the new tenant was asked to dispose of his litter in an appropriate container. So, what does he do? He walks out to the front of the complex and dumps his butts in the street. :smack: ---
**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 29, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/45 "2011-08-29T16:42:29Z")
Can someone explain that to me? How can people just dump an ashtray full of butts on a street or in a parking lot? What rationale do they use? ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/46 "2011-08-29T22:08:50Z")
**Ogre,** I empathize with you. I fear you are running against the wind, though. For several years, I worked in a 49-acre factory as a janitor. Smokers have a firm habit of flicking the butts far enough from them so they can’t smell the smoldering. One year, the company bought a lot of red striped 3-gallon steel cans with wire grids on top. The first batch was labeled Cigarette Butts. Somebody must have objected, so the rest said Cigarette Ends. Despite the big labels, people threw regular trash in the cans. Smoldering cigs set fire to the trash, and the aroma of burning cigarette butts is dramatic. Soon, the cans disappeared. Tossed butts were troublesome, too. I had several brooms and dust mops catch fire. ---
**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 30, 2011, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/47 "2011-08-30T06:49:40Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Can someone explain that to me? How can people just dump an ashtray full of butts on a street or in a parking lot? What rationale do they use? The smoker’s ashtray is full, and s/he can’t use it properly. Here is a nice area on a large street or parking lot, and if the smoker dumps the ashtray there, then s/he doesn’t have to bother finding an appropriate, safe place to dispose of the ashes and butts. Because Og forbid that the smoker has to spend a few minutes and a little effort to find a place that’s appropriate to dump that ashtray. It needs to be dumped RIGHT NOW, during that red light. ---
**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 30, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/48 "2011-08-30T18:21:56Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Can someone explain that to me? How can people just dump an ashtray full of butts on a street or in a parking lot? What rationale do they use? If they don’t care which way the smoke blows, do you think they care which way the butts blow? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/49 "2011-08-30T18:35:41Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > . One year, the company bought a lot of red striped 3-gallon steel cans with wire grids on top. The first batch was labeled Cigarette Butts. Somebody must have objected, so the rest said Cigarette Ends. > . Too bad management couldnt come up with some creative acronyms. I’d love to see Cigarrette D.I.C.K.S. and Cigarrette C.U.N.T.S. lableled cans. That teach people to bitch about “butts”. ---
**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 30, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/50 "2011-08-30T20:29:52Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > The smoker’s ashtray is full, and s/he can’t use it properly. Here is a nice area on a large street or parking lot, and if the smoker dumps the ashtray there, then s/he doesn’t have to bother finding an appropriate, safe place to dispose of the ashes and butts. Because Og forbid that the smoker has to spend a few minutes and a little effort to find a place that’s appropriate to dump that ashtray. It needs to be dumped RIGHT NOW, during that red light. > [@Yeticus\_Rex](#): > > If they don’t care which way the smoke blows, do you think they care which way the butts blow? Still not getting it, but I think that’s me, not your explanations. I blame my parents for raising me to care about how my actions affect other people. 🙂 ---
**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 30, 2011, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918/51 "2011-08-30T21:20:16Z")
You are getting it…because there are smokers who do care which way their smoke goes and they also probably care about disposing their butts properly. Instead, I pointed out the other side of the coin that so many of us are familiar with. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-goddamnit-throw-your-cigarette-butts-in-the-trash/593918.md?page=2)