# No smoking anywhere on a large corporate campus **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 9, 2017, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-smoking-anywhere-on-a-large-corporate-campus/786209 "2017-05-09T18:04:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-smoking-anywhere-on-a-large-corporate-campus/786209/81 "2017-05-12T06:34:28Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > Perfume lady making people sick also should be made to change, as she’s hurting other people in the office and reducing productivity. Perfume Lady is similar to smokers as aside from the People who are bothered by the smell, some People are actually allergic to it (or have medical breathing Problems), so it’s more than just a bother. However, the Problem for Perfume Lady is probably that some time ago somebody told her “You smell, you Need to do something against it” and so, to be sure, besides washing daily and wearing clean clothes, she puts on an ounce of perfume to cover the smell of normal sweat that appears during the day but is considered offensive in modern Society. That other People get sick from the smell is unfortunate, but less often a Problem than a dozen different People telling her “you smell!” or wrinkling their noses because of the sweat. And yes, I know that perfume doesn’t cancel the sweat smell, it mingles, so she really smells of sweat and perfume - but the accusations stop if the perfume smells so strong. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-smoking-anywhere-on-a-large-corporate-campus/786209/82 "2017-05-12T06:39:30Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > And I’m fine with a company banning caffeine if they want to …, has positive effect on productivity instead of negative, … Actually, I disagree with that. Studies have shown that esp. Americans, starting with Teenagers, are severely sleep-deprived, because it’s culturally not accepted to sleep Long, or leave the Office if your work isn’t done, although many studies have shown that the effect of sleep deprivation on the brain can be compared to alcohol: x hours of lost sleep = y Promille of alcohol (or .y BAC) So if the coffeeine is drunk because your employees are sleep-deprived and desperate to stay awake despite, you are Setting yourself up to a lot of mistakes, and higher potential for accidents. If your employees are only drinking coffe for the taste, and are well-rested, there is no health Problem. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-smoking-anywhere-on-a-large-corporate-campus/786209/83 "2017-05-12T06:43:22Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I’d think it’s a bit weird, but why not? I suspect they may have trouble getting employees to join up, but, philosophically, I don’t think it’s any worse than telling employees they can’t have a beer on the job. Fun Thing I always remember: Back in the 1980s, a case went to the Bavarian court for labour disputes: was a Company (in Bavaria) in the right to forbid their Cafeteria to sell beer during lunch breaks? The reasoning of the Company was that since beer contained alcohol, and employees were forbidden from being drunk on the Job, it made sense. The employee argued that beer was part of Bavarian culture, and lunch hour was time off, so it was his own decision what to drink, damit. The court made the Salomonic decision that the Company was wrong to infringe on the freedom of the employee to drink what he wanted for lunch; but also strongly reminded the employee that when he re-started work, he had to be sober. The court didn’t say how These things could be achieved at the same time, unless the employee could clock out for a couple of hours to get sober again; or choose an alcohol-free beer (which is Kind of blasphemy to a “real” Bavarian man). ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-smoking-anywhere-on-a-large-corporate-campus/786209/84 "2017-05-12T07:05:27Z")
A single beer is a enough to get a Bavarian drunk? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-smoking-anywhere-on-a-large-corporate-campus/786209/85 "2017-05-12T07:12:13Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > Its not so strange to me. The guy with the cross on his safety vest and Virgin Mary panel across his back car window annoys me and a lot of other people; do we fire or demand he change? The lady who puts her perfume on with a spray gun literally makes some of us sick; should we can her as well? If a work place or company is big enough, someone there is going to be doing something perfectly legal others find annoying; so the question becomes just how far do we want to take it? Are you seriously comparing wearing a cross necklass or having a religious sticker on your car to smoking a cigarette? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-smoking-anywhere-on-a-large-corporate-campus/786209/86 "2017-05-12T07:19:31Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > A single beer is a enough to get a Bavarian drunk? Funny. A proper measure for beer is the Mass = 1 Liter. And it’s real beer, so yes, one mug will put you over 0.0 Promille (or 0.00 BAC). It might not put you over the legal driving Limit back then (0.8 Promille, 0.08 BAC), but workplaces had stricter rules back then. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-smoking-anywhere-on-a-large-corporate-campus/786209/87 "2017-05-12T10:29:02Z")
Several of the biggest factories in which I’ve worked didn’t just have smoking banned but considered it a fireable offense of the “you do it once, you get tossed out and your clothes tossed out after you”. Chemical sector. One of them had had a dude die on the job when a potentially dangerous situation developed in one of the deposits of liquid monomer. Protocol was followed, people were standing beyond the sandbags, the firemen from town and from the factory itself were working out how best to proceed when this guy took off his hardhat and crossed the sandbags saying “c’mon, it’s not like the deposit’s going to explode!” According to those who told the story with relish to anybody who questioned the wisdom of safety protocols, “the hardhat wouldn’t have done him much good, that much is true. The chunk of steel got him in the torso.” ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-smoking-anywhere-on-a-large-corporate-campus/786209/88 "2017-05-12T12:48:08Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Recreational drug? Seriously? :dubious: There are valid arguments to be made about the ill effects of secondhand smoke. But calling tobacco a “recreational drug” is just fucking retarded. > > I suspect the real reason for your choice of words is to imply smokers are inferior human beings. How isn’t tobacco a recreational drug? Why go to “inferior”, we all know nicotine is extremely addiciting and a very hard habit to break. If a company wants to be smoke free, that is within their rights. Many (US) companies have policies about absolutely no drinking during work hours including your unpaid lunch. I don’t love it but if that is the policy, I have to live with it. I love the fact I was drinking a beer yesterday with my boss at lunch. Soon I’ll probably be in another job and I will probably not be able to have a recreational lunch time beer again. Again, I don’t love it but it is a reasonable policy well within their rights. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-smoking-anywhere-on-a-large-corporate-campus/786209/89 "2017-05-12T13:52:52Z")
My employer has a strict “no smoking while you’re on the clock” rule. It goes so far that we’re not allowed to leave the building during our (paid) breaks – that is, if we choose to take them. They also have camera situated at every exit. That’s how two of our night crew guys were suspended for sneaking out while on the clock. Our former employer had mandatory paid breaks. We could smoke but you had to do it in the back parking lot as far away from the entrance as possible. Yeah, I’m a smoker, I’m not happy with my employer’s policy but I’ll put up with it. OTOH it’s forced me to not to crave my first cigarette until almost lunchtime, which in turn cuts down the number I 'd otherwise have in a day. Some of my coworkers quit their jobs when the no smoking rule became enforced. Others have used it as motivation to quit completely. Our employer’s dangling carrot is that if you’re a nonsmoker, you pay a pittance for your insurance compared to somebody like me who is a known smoker and won’t lie about it in order to pay the pittance. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-smoking-anywhere-on-a-large-corporate-campus/786209/90 "2017-05-12T13:56:13Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Recreational drug? Seriously? :dubious: There are valid arguments to be made about the ill effects of secondhand smoke. But calling tobacco a “recreational drug” is just fucking retarded. It’s a drug that you take because you enjoy it and not to treat a medical condition, just like a lot of people do with alcohol, caffeine, or marijuana. So yes, smoking is recreational drug use. Your definition that a recreational drug has to render you unable to drive to count as recreational is not the one I’m using, and doesn’t actually make sense. > [@](#): > > I suspect the real reason for your choice of words is to imply smokers are inferior human beings. The vast majority of human beings use recreational drugs of some sort. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-smoking-anywhere-on-a-large-corporate-campus/786209/91 "2017-05-12T14:28:53Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > they would need to walk or drive their car off the campus, which is at least a quarter mile from the building to be able to light-up. Absent infirmity, why on earth would you even consider driving such a short distance? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-smoking-anywhere-on-a-large-corporate-campus/786209/92 "2017-05-12T14:30:33Z")
> [@kiz](#): > > My employer has a strict “no smoking while you’re on the clock” rule. It goes so far that we’re not allowed to leave the building during our (paid) breaks – that is, if we choose to take them. Good heavens! So you’re not allowed to go for a walk? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-smoking-anywhere-on-a-large-corporate-campus/786209/93 "2017-05-12T16:43:04Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > It’s a mild stimulant in the same way caffeine is. It doesn’t impair one’s judgement or alter one’s mind in the same way alcohol, cocaine, heroine, etc, does. > > If I can take said drug and still be as adept as I was OFF the drug, then it’s not a recreational drug. But Nicotine is seriously addictive, while caffeine is barely so. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-smoking-anywhere-on-a-large-corporate-campus/786209/94 "2017-05-12T16:44:35Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Well, I guess we have a difference of opinion on what constitutes a recreational drug. > > To me, recreational drugs helps one escape the tedium of reality. I infer from your posts any superfluous stimulant is a recreational drug. That’s a little broad for my definition. Then you are correct. Nicotine based upon this is not a\* recreational\* drug, it’s a \*addictive \*drug. Which kills 50000 non-users a year. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-smoking-anywhere-on-a-large-corporate-campus/786209/95 "2017-05-12T17:14:44Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Good heavens! So you’re not allowed to go for a walk? Yep. Leaving the building for an unexcused reason can be either grounds for suspension or, in multiple cases, dismissal. A few weeks ago my coworker had forgotten something in her car after she’d punched in, so she quickly ran out to get it. A day or so later she was called upstairs and was shown the videotape. She didn’t get suspended but she had to sign what’s called a disciplinary memo stating that if it happens again she will be suspended. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-smoking-anywhere-on-a-large-corporate-campus/786209/96 "2017-05-12T17:19:13Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Absent infirmity, why on earth would you even consider driving such a short distance? Walking gets him out of breath? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-smoking-anywhere-on-a-large-corporate-campus/786209/97 "2017-05-12T17:39:12Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Absent infirmity, why on earth would you even consider driving such a short distance? I have a friend who lives across the road from where he works, yet he drives. He parks in a garage at home and under an overhang at work, so by driving he doesn’t have to deal with weather. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-smoking-anywhere-on-a-large-corporate-campus/786209/98 "2017-05-12T18:57:54Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > It’s 2017. Who the hell still smokes? Everyone stopped smoking in Israel? When was that? ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-smoking-anywhere-on-a-large-corporate-campus/786209/99 "2017-05-12T19:06:56Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I have a friend who lives across the road from where he works, yet he drives. He parks in a garage at home and under an overhang at work, so by driving he doesn’t have to deal with weather. Where’s he at - Scotland? Seattle? Does it rain/ snow 200 days of the year? I have a real hard time understanding that your friend doesn’t want to get the minimal exercise of Walking a few hundred Yards (maybe with an Anorak on) to avoid the weather unless he lives in a truly terrible place. (Although: does he spend his off-time inside, too? Why not move where the weather is nicer?) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-smoking-anywhere-on-a-large-corporate-campus/786209/100 "2017-05-12T19:12:30Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > Where’s he at - Scotland? Seattle? Does it rain/ snow 200 days of the year? I have a real hard time understanding that your friend doesn’t want to get the minimal exercise of Walking a few hundred Yards (maybe with an Anorak on) to avoid the weather unless he lives in a truly terrible place. (Although: does he spend his off-time inside, too? Why not move where the weather is nicer?) How long is it that you have been observing these hoo-mans now? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-smoking-anywhere-on-a-large-corporate-campus/786209.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-smoking-anywhere-on-a-large-corporate-campus/786209.md?page=6)