I’m a non-smoker. I may have one cigarette perhaps every three or four months, but I don’t think that disqualifies me.
A small percentage of my friends and acquaintances smoke. It doesn’t bother me in the slightest. I would never dream of harassing them about it. Judge not.
Aside: it looks like the laws in my state will soon change, prohibiting smoking in bars and clubs. I look forward to that change (I don’t especially like the smell of smoke on my clothes), but I’ve never avoided going to places for fear of smoke.
Talk about splitting hairs! Sure, in straights there’s allegedly formaldehyde and saltpeter, and all sorts of other nasty preservatives, in trace quantities. But what you smell is burning vegetation.
I take a piece of rolling tobacco and make a roll-up, or light a pipe, or a cigar, all of which are 100% unadulterated tobacco leaves, I’m sure you’ll complain just as much.
Quite frankly, it’s NOT just burning vegetation. And it’s NOT just the smell that bothers me; cigarette smoke is by far the worst of my known asthma triggers. Even diesel fumes don’t come close. And, well, buses don’t generally blow fumes within a few feet of places I have to enter in order to perform my daily living activities.
So do smokers have a greater right to smoke within a few feet of the front door of my office building than I do to be able to breathe as I walk through the front door of my workplace? If you have to go outside anyway, is it really that big a deal to walk far away enough from the door that you don’t inconvenience others, or worse?
What if my asthma were bad enough that an attack generally sent me to the emergency room? Would that change your opinion of whether smokers’ convenience is more important than non-smokers’ right not to breathe toxic fumes?
I tell friends, often, how much they reek after smoking. Nobody smokes in my house, and I can smell it a mile away so don’t even bother trying to sneak it. I’m allergic to, and I’m repulsed by tobacco smoke. I am ashamed to say that I developed the allergy much to late - only after I quit smoking after 17 years.
Considering that second hand smoke is a direct cause of cancer and suspected of many other nasties I do not want to be exposed to it at all any more than I would want to be exposed to a “little bit” of asbestos floating in the air at the entrance of the store… even though only once or twice it probably isn’t a big deal.
But you know what I hate the most out of it? The smell. Its awful. And as been mentioned before, you really don’t know how bad it is until you quit. It gets everywhere.
Mrs. Bernse and I went out to dinner last weekend and sat in the non-smoking area of the resturant. I specifically asked to be as far from smoking as possible and the hostess happily obliged.
When we got home, I had to wash my clothes (including jacket) and shower to get rid of the stench. It can be really offensive if you don’t smoke.
My MIL has Asthma (as do millions of other people). It can be outright hell for them to be forced to walk through a cloud of it.
Oh, plus even secondhand smoke is one of two major risk factors for cervical cancer. Considering I had surgery for surgical cancer 4 weeks ago today, although I had no known risk factors, I never care to go through that experience again. So there.
As I mentioned before, Maryland has some pretty tough no-smoking laws. You can’t smoke in most workplaces.
Restaurants must have separate smoking areas, not just a couple of tables over in a corner; they must have their own ventilation system. Many restaurants are completely smoke-free, other than the bar areas, since those areas are usually separate.
My husband has asthama. We went to a wedding a few weeks ago, and at the reception, at a private club, the wait staff starting passing out ashtrays after dinner. I was surprised, since you never see that anymore, but assumed since it was a private club, that they could maybe get around the law somehow. They entire table next to us lit up immediately, 10 people, and they all just chain-smoked like crazy. I guess they were just glad they didn’t have to go outside (and 50 feet away from the door!).
My husband started wheezing, and had to go out to his car for his prescription inhaler. We ended up leaving early, it was so bad.
It bothers me, too. It makes my eyes water, and I can feel it in my chest. If I were around it all the time, I assume it would trigger asthma-like symptoms.
And it just freaking STINKS. You honestly have no idea how bad you smell until you quit, really.
I have been reading this thread, and I’m kind of sorry I even opened up this can of worms.
Of course you feel that way, Green Bean, because you are a non-smoker.
I don’t really know what else to say.
I really didn’t start this thread to make anyone look bad, or anything. I just honestly wanted to know if the friends of people who on the boards are always saying things about how much smokers stink, and smell awful, and cause problems to all the non-smokers actually said these types of things to their friends who smoked.
Yeah, but unless you’re spitting bits of chocolate on people when they come within three feet of you, it’s an apple and orange comparison.
None of my close friends currently smoke, and most of them ever have. I’m not sure why this is, because I haven’t spurned anyone’s offer of friendship upon finding out they smoke; I just haven’t made friends with many smokers. I don’t see the point in telling it’s bad for them since most people I would care to associate would be bright enough to know that already and have accepted their risks.
That’s OK, Breezy. Unfortunately, smoking vs. not smoking is one of the more passionate issues in society, not just here.
FWIW, I’m a light smoker, and a considerate one at that – I don’t smoke around nonsmokers, I don’t leave butts lying around, I always ask permission before lighting up, etc. Most of my previous SOs were nonsmokers. Only one vehemently complained about it, and was the only nonsmoker in his family.
For the first time in my working life I’m the only smoker in my department, and I’m razzed for it – the smell, especially. True, I can’t smell it on myself, but sometimes think if I really “stink” as much as they claim I do, I can only imagine what a heavy smoker must smell like to them…:eek:
My best friend is a smoker… and he’d kick the crap out of me if I were to nag him about it. Nothing pisses me off more than someone giving me a lecture, so I don’t do it to others. I grew up with two smoking parents, so I can put up with smoke when I have to. [Oddly enough, my dad is now a rabid anti-smoker. “Yeah, well now you see how it was for us growing up!”]
However, I’m Queen of the Manor at home and nobody smokes there. And since I live on the 8th floor, that I don’t have a balcony and that my building has the slowest elevators in the history of mankind, it’s a pain in the neck for the smokers. Only two of my friends are smokers but I seem to have a knack in picking boyfriends who smoke. Go figure.
Me too. I think this is a big part of it for me; the fact that other people, especially my friends, smoke directly affects me in a very negative way.
And no, I am not allergic to pot or pipe-tobacco. Neither have pleasant smells to me, but they’re not any kind of trigger for my asthma (pretty much started because of second-hand cigarette smoke).
I just really wish that people would stop telling me to suck it up cause it’s not really so harmful. It is. It’s a devastating influence in my life.
I am an ex-smoker and I have asthma. Even a very brief exposure to smoke will trigger my asthma. Sometimes it is just a little extra gunk in my throat and sometimes it is so bad that I require increased doses of my inhalers and a few breathing treatments to get it back under control. I have been hospitalized on two occasions for high dose IV steroid treatment.
Knowing this I make every effort to avoid unnessary exposture to known triggers. I do not allow smoking in my house or car and I make it a point to avoid places where I might be exposed to triggers. I can avoid standing next to an automobile, diesal truck or pile of burning vegetation. A group of adamant smokers congregating in an area that is supposed to be smoke free is a bit more of a challenge.
Yes smokers, you stink. Yes you do. Just because someone is too polite to mention it does not mean the stench isn’t there. When I am forced to walk through clouds of smoke I smell it on myself as well.
I believe smoking is a personal choice. I do not want to take awayyour cigs or lecture you on the evils of tobacco. I do not <b>perceive</b> that smoking triggers my asthma and makes me smell bad, I know that it does.
I have asked this very recently in a similar thread but it bears repeating. Can someone explain to me why a smoker’s desire to stand in the doorway and smoke, (knowing full well that it is not allowed and harmfull to people like myself) is more important that my right to breath air that is smoke free?
guess I’ll stand up on this one. If the regulation does not specify a min. distance from the door, then I am within my rights to stand next to (not in front of) the door. Don’t like that answer? get the law rewritten.
I’ve dealt with the escalating restrictions for 11.5 years, and I must say the backlash has gotten worse not better. Some smokers (myself included on certain days) are approaching their breaking point. One of these days someone is going to make a snide remark about my smoking and suddenly realize that they should have kept their trap shut.
All that said, my friends know better than to harrass me about the dangers of smoking. I don’t smoke in their home or vehicle. My car? My house? My rules. Don’t like it? Don’t let the door hit you in the ass!
My family gets a little leeway, but i think they are starting to realize that when they get persistant, i don’t talk to them for a little while.
Why these people would give any of you the time of day, much less -befriend- you is absolutely beyond me.
And you would be absolutely wrong. I smoke because I enjoy smoking. I enjoy it like I enjoy eating chocolate and fried foods and drinking alcohol. All of these are “disgusting” habits, but I’d much rather be a bit less healthy than have any of you mistake me for one of your own. =)
Smoking is a great way to filter out obnoxious people.
I don’t currently have any close friends who smoke, but I have in the past. They were always very considerate about not smoking in other people’s houses or in the car, and I think the closest I ever got to criticizing their habit was to decline invitations to spend much more than five minutes at their house ("'Cause, sorry, Aaron, the cigarette smell bothers me. How 'bout you come to my place instead?")
However, I’ve posted some pretty strong screeds against inconsiderate smokers. If you keep your smoke to yourself, it’s none of my beeswax. Your body, your choice. Unless you’ve been living in a cave on Mars, you know the risks.
You start smoking where I have to breathe your smoke, though, I suddenly become less tolerant. No friend of mine would make me breathe their smoke.
Whoa there. I think you are getting just a little too defensive. This is exactly why I have suggested doing whatever you can to reduce your exposure to triggers but don’t say anything to the smokers who insist on standing right by the door with a big chip on their shoulder ready to snap any moment if ONE MORE PERSON says anything about their smoking. People like that know they are barely following the rules yet act like they are being persecuted when called on it.
I don’t think smoking is the problem, it’s inconsiderate smokers. Do what you want with your own body and allow me to do the same with mine. Since you don’t have your own private air supply we will need to share it in as considerate manner as possible. As long as we have to share it, we have to follow the rules This mean everyone.