Almost no doctors smoke any more, and great loads of nurses do.
(You can see them standing in forlorn outdoor nooks just outside the hospital walls)
This may have something to do with the fact that being a nurse is a hefty underpaid overresponsibility, with lots of nasty work, lots of tedious paperwork, and too much blame coming your way on a daily basis.
Or it just may be that nurses want to blow a cloud of Get-off-it at the dox.
We were just talking about this at a family party last weekend. My grandmother said she remembers when my dad (who is now 55) was born and she was in the hospital. She knew she’d end up staying the night, and her first thought was “I’ll run out of cigarettes before I can leave!” She also said the nurses would smoke in the patient’s rooms (obviously not if there was oxygen present or whatnot) and she’d sneak a puff of the nurse’s cigarette when she ran out.
Lots of elevators had ashtrays, and they were common enough at urinals, as well. In the 1980s I thought nothing of walking into our V.P.'s (who didn’t smoke) office with a burning cigarette.
When I was in college, the smokers usually sat near the (open) windows. I don’t know why, perhaps because I tended to take seats towards the front and center, but I never smoked during lectures.
I’m told that early into the prohibition on smoking on airplanes, one could lean into the sink in the bathroom and the vacuum drain on the sink would help defeat the smoke detector.
Recently I saw a photograph of a WWII era U.S. bomber’s tailgunner position and noted the ashtray.
In the not-so-long-ago 1970s, some county jails issued tobacco to prisoners, whether they smoked or not.
Without a cite, I seem to recall that just after WWII ~75% of adult americans smoked, whereas it’s now ~25% (that figure is at least a few years old).
I remember when you could smoke in shopping malls- Specifically, the one in the town where I grew up. As young teenagers, we used to skulk around corners and puff away, hoping against hope that no one who knew our parents would see us.
That was maybe 10 years ago. I feel old. 
I remember as a child, WAYYYYYYYYYY back when, Edward R. Murrow also interviewed celebrities and newsmakers while smoking.(who stole from whom?) He was an icon in journalism, people practically genuflected at the mention of his name. I wonder if his outrageous smoking habit filtered [ pun intended ] down to all those wannabe reporters and the like. Ignorance was bliss, glad the pendulum has swung the other direction.
In 1975, as a sophmore in high school, I took part in a “smoke-in” at school to demand the right to smoke in the courtyard during lunches and between classes. In the face of overwhelming student support, the school caved in.
We were still smoking legally in the courtyard in '78 when I graduated.
My, how things have changed.
My junior high school (and high school, as well) had designated areas for students whose parents had given written consent for their smoking.
Uvula Donor, if you were five or six years older, I’d say you went to my high school! We had an outdoor student smoking area when I was there in the late '60s. No parental permission needed, either!
I remember Arnold Palmer tossing his cigarette onto the grass, putting out, picking up the cigarette and smoking his little heart out. Hell, I remember when non-smokers were thought to be abnormal.
My high school (in Dallas, TX, 1979 - 1982) had a large “smoking” porch where we’d converge in the 5-minute breaks between classes (14-18 year olds! If you wanted to smoke the funny stuff, you went out into the school field). The strange thing is - despite that, no hard drugs were going around, and I remember it as a very safe environment. (But, at that age, I guess we all believe we’re immortal.)
When I took the CPA exam 15 years ago in Fort Worth, TX - you guessed it, there was a smoking section.
Yep, there was an outdoor smoking area in my high school. If your parent signed a form, your ID photo was taken with a colored curtain behind you, and all you had to do was show your ID to whoever was manning the door during lunch or study hall periods. A friend of mine once got a stern talking-to for smoking a filterless cigarette with a roach clip - and of course we ALL had roach clips, the ones with feathers on them, and we’d walk around with them clipped to our floppy suede hats. (Gosh, weren’t we fashionable back in the late 70s…)
In college, we were allowed to smoke in lecture halls, the commons or in the hallways, but not in any lab classes.
I don’t remember a lot of smoking when I was younger. Partly because I come from a non-smoking family, and a lot of my friends are non-smokers. But also, I suspect, because I am from California, which seemed to adopt non-smoking regulations just a little sooner than other parts of the country. (?) But I’m not sure about this.
I think I heard somewhere that the percentage of Californians who smoke is lower (and has been for some time) than the rest of the country. (I think it was a public service announcement.)
‘Jaws’ was on the other day (pick a day; it’s on TV once a week) and it was funny to see the mayor light up in the hospital emergency room.
We had a smoking “lounge” in high school (which was a walkway between two buildings).
They wouldn’t open it if the temperature was below 22 degrees --on really cold days, students would keep calling the time/temp. phone number, and when it hit 23 degrees, the principal was made aware – very aware. “OPEN THE GODDAMNED DOOR!!”
It’s now so bizzare that teens were allowed to smoke!!
Andy Griffin smoked on his show when he was the Sherriff.
I worked at a Health Insurance Company where they allowed smoking in certain areas inside, up until 1994.
11 years ago I was on a trans atlantic flight. There was a smoking section on the right hand side of the plane.
People used to smoke an awful lot more in movies, I saw glimpses of Ghostbusters a few months ago, and I think only 1 character in the movie did not have a perpetual fag in his mouth.
I think i’m too young to remember smoking being allowed in public buildings, though.
Oh, and in belgium, there were complete smoking compartments in trains, a whole carriage would be dedicated to smokers. Now it’s 8 seats per two carriages. And less and less people occupy the seats…
In the early 90’s any door was a smoking door at my high school, which I took advantage of. It has since changed and there is now no smoking on school grounds.
Another thing that’s changed? Ash trays in cars. My last two (Mazda and Saturn) had no ash trays at all, but my dad’s late 80’s GM has at least 5… (hrmm, main under radio and then 1 in each door handle and possibly one more in the back seat console.)
In the early 90’s at my high school there was no smoking area. At least officially. What that meant is that we all (well, the girls did, I don’t really know about the guys) snuck off to the girls’ restroom after lunch - it was the one next to the chemistry classroom & lab - lit one up and passed it back and forth under the stall divider.
Officially, if you got caught it was a three day suspension. They rarely checked though.
When I was in undergrad (91-95), part of the library (they called it “the street” because it cut through from one part of campus to another) was a smoking area. That’s been stopped though.
And now I’m here in the library (yes, I am working on classwork, really) in a smoking room. I have a hard time believing that they still have three of these rooms in the library, but they do.
In contrast, 20 years ago, no woman would ever have been caught dead smoking a cigar.
Not too strange, in some places today.
I grew up in the 1970’s. I remember many a time as a bored kid I’d get dragged into some office building or boring store with my mom. To pass the time I’d play with the “trap-door” style of ashtrays that were commonly seen inside such places. I also remember when cigarette vending machines were more common and you’d see them in places such as restaurant lobbies, the airport, etc. I remember when going to restaurants we’d sit in the no-smoking section (nobody in my immediate family smokes). Back then it was a small partition whereas the majority of the dining area permitted smoking. Nowadays it’s the opposite, that is, if the restaurant isn’t all non-smoking.
I was old enough to remember such things as well.
I’ve also got a good story. I think I was 8 or so, back in 81-82, my grandfather was pretty sick from smoking. He asked me to go down to the store and buy him a pack of cigs. The only question I was asked was if they were for me and I said no so they sold them to me.