Question for all smokers

[natasha123]

So what is the proper protocol when it comes to smoking at work. I know you should go outside other than that. I personally don't try to wave my smokes around or let the entire floor know that i am going outside for a smoke break. Because of which i think not too many people knew i smoke... which is ok.. i smoke for myself not for them to know.... anyways getting to the point some of the people who sit right by me where standing around my cube and saw my pack of smokes... they seemed offended that they didn't know i smoke.... my question is why??? did i do some wrong??? Is it the proper eticates to let people know you smoke or what??

[Storyrider]

Maybe they are offended that you are smoking alone, rather than going with them on the official, social smoke breaks for friendly people.

[natasha123]

As Far as i know they dont smoke

[whichwayisup]

Maybe they had no idea and now knowing, they're just surprised because you don't look like a smoker or they've never smelled it on you. I don't know.

 

Try not to let it bother you.. If they get in your face about quitting or make a comment that's none of their business, THEN be bothered by it.

[Tony T]

So what is the proper protocol when it comes to smoking at work. I know you should go outside other than that. I personally don't try to wave my smokes around or let the entire floor know that i am going outside for a smoke break. Because of which i think not too many people knew i smoke... which is ok.. i smoke for myself not for them to know.... anyways getting to the point some of the people who sit right by me where standing around my cube and saw my pack of smokes... they seemed offended that they didn't know i smoke.... my question is why??? did i do some wrong??? Is it the proper eticates to let people know you smoke or what??

 

There is no significance whatsoever to their reaction, which was mostly of surprise and the lack of knowing how to properly react. You did nothing wrong, you are entitled to your privacy, you don't need to tell people you smoke as long as you smoke outside and away from people who may be allergic to smoke, etc.

 

Chances are good that those people who seemed surprised at your smoking were actually hurt that they thought they were much closer to you than they have learned. In other words, if I have a person I hold as a close friend and suddenly I learn that they smoke I have be stunned by that. Because I've had a lot of therapy in my days, upsetting myself because I found out somebody I know smokes is something I would consider highly irrational and borderline insane.

[The Collector]

They are just jealous because smoking is cool and tough and they are not.

[natasha123]

thanks... i will try not to let it bother me

[mopar crazy]

I wouldn't let it get to you either.

 

 

This kind of reminds me of my own situation. I was a regular smoker up until about a year ago. I tried to quit but still smoked when I drank. My supervisor added a new position onto my current one and the stress was overwhelming that I started smoking again on a regular basis.

 

Even though it's none of my supervisor business she seems to look down at her nose at me for smoking and I feel that way by all the ppl in my office that don't smoke. Out of about 14 of us there are three of us that smoke.

 

We were out other day and we stopped to get lunch. There was a group of four that went. Three of us being smokers, one which wasn't. When we stepped outside after lunch to smoke she said to me "I thought you quit smoking." I didn't feel that I needed to explain to her I still did.

 

She just stood there as we had a cigarette and just looked kind of disgusted w/ us smoking. While I do agree smoking is a bad, stinky habit, I enjoy it and I should be looked down upon by co-workers who don't smoke.

[High Plains Drifter]

anyways getting to the point some of the people who sit right by me where standing around my cube and saw my pack of smokes... they seemed offended that they didn't know i smoke.... my question is why??? did i do some wrong??? Is it the proper eticates to let people know you smoke or what??

 

 

There are a lot of emotions that could come across as "seeming offended."

 

They might have been disappointed. Maybe you dashed their vision of you.

 

They may have been angry: Many people associate cigarettes with the death of a relative from lung cancer.

[allina]

Maybe they're annoyed because they realized that that's where you have been sneaking off during work?

[Terminator]

Maybe they're annoyed because they realized that that's where you have been sneaking off during work?

 

Why are you assuming OP is "sneaking off during work"? Does your place of work not have breaks dear? (I for one based on your snide response will asuume you are a non smoker)

[nopainnogain]

I work construction so I can spark it up whenever. On a ladder, reading blueprints,in the porta poddy , etc....

 

Mostly commercial sites and new construction residential.

 

But T.I work and remodels we dont smoke. unless down the street.

 

I gotta quit this crap however.

[I Luv the Chariot OH]

We avoid to smoking. Never smoking on public place.

:lmao:

 

I've had jobs where smoking was absolutely taboo, and others where you HAD to smoke during break in order to be socially accepted. I guess it really just depends where you work. Either way, it's ridiculous for people to get "offended" by the fact that you had a pack on your desk. Tell your co-workers to remove the sticks from their youknowwheres.

[allina]

Why are you assuming OP is "sneaking off during work"? Does your place of work not have breaks dear? (I for one based on your snide response will asuume you are a non smoker)

 

I thought that when the OP said she's going outside for a smoke break it seemed like she may be leaving to go smoke during times other than lunch and breaks. That is the impression I got from her wording, there is no need to call my response snide, as I was serious. My workplace, like all workplaces obviously gives us breaks.

 

Further, my response was partially based on the fact that I have had to meet with a co-worker who was a smoker and left the building constantly to smoke, to bring up the issue and explain that taking 6 20 minute smoke breaks was unacceptable.

 

Last, I enjoy the occasional smoke, it's rare, usually when I'm out at a club drinking. Either way my post wasn't motivated by my being anti-smoking.

[RecordProducer]

I believe people (who don't smoke) in the US do look down on smokers. It doesn't bother me one bit. I am glad that there is such strong discrimination against smokers because of my children.

 

I used to go out with a cigarette to put my kids on a school bus. Two years later I realized that it was as horrible as going out and waving to your child in the school bus with a half-empty bottle of vodka in the other hand (in the eyes of American non-smokers).

 

I really want to quit (but it's very hard); I wish people called me bad names every time they saw me smoking, so I can finally get myself to quit.

 

Even in Europe, where everybody smokes and drinks, I was told in college "You smoke and drink beer? Wow, we thought all you did all day was study, cuz you're such a good student." It's a social cliché. How is smoking and drinking related to your academic success, unless they saw me getting drunk every day (which I was doing)? Secondly, I didn't study all day for my grades. I am bringing this because I do believe there is some truth in what another poster said: you don't look like a smoker (bad girl) and they were surprised to see you sin.

[AriaIncognito]

I enjoy it and I should be looked down upon by co-workers who don't smoke.

 

Hey mopar, interesting freudian slip there... ;-)

 

In response to the thread, I dont think you had any need to tell anyone. If you were dating them or something, sure, but otherwise, no. I was surprised by my current bf on our 2nd date when i smelled smoke on him because i had no idea he was a smoker (we met in a social situation but i never saw him leave to smoke and you can't smoke inside here in NJ). That situation was a little more awkward. If you're just coworkers with them, none of their business really.

[Siciliana]

Whatever you do, stay clear of the door. Nothing worse than having to walk past a cloud of smoke when you are a non-smoker trying to enter the building. And, you never know who is going to be trying to enter the building while you are outside smoking. Don't make the CEO walk through your cloud of smoke. Also, I feel really bad when I see mothers trying to enter a building with their kids and they are forced to walk through smokers to get in. It's not fair to the kids. And, I don't care what anyone says, second hand smoke is horrible and kids should not have to suffer it affects. I personally will go out of my way to avoid smokers by a door. Even a quick pass by a smoker is enough to leave my clothes and hair with the smell of smoke . As far as employees who smoke... I prefer to hire those who don't as they will (1) not waste company time taking more breaks than those who don't smoke, and (2) are less offensive smelling to our clients that they interact with.

[konfuzd]

i tell the there is NO solid PROOF and FACTS that second hand smoke kills, there are just theories.

 

Tell this to an asthmatic.

[mopar crazy]

Hey mopar, interesting freudian slip there... ;-)

 

In response to the thread, I dont think you had any need to tell anyone. If you were dating them or something, sure, but otherwise, no. I was surprised by my current bf on our 2nd date when i smelled smoke on him because i had no idea he was a smoker (we met in a social situation but i never saw him leave to smoke and you can't smoke inside here in NJ). That situation was a little more awkward. If you're just coworkers with them, none of their business really.

 

LOL! I didn't realize I put that until you quoted me.

[Al_Bundy]

Here's a question for ya. If a smoker doesn't mind smoking in public, say in a restaurant, and has the attitude like, "$%^$% 'em, I can smoke and blow it at them if I want", then what would any of you that are smokers that don't care about anyone else do if someone came up to your table, turned their ass right towards you and let out the biggest fart they could muster?

 

Afterall, if someone has to smell your crap, you can smell someone elses.

 

"Now thats a man's flush!"

[Rejected]

Second Hand smoking is more dangerous for reason that they haven't build up their immunity against the toxins the cigar gives off.

[Kenyth]

Nobody is saying smoke is mothers milk, but I think the whole "one step below nerve gas" hysteria is blown waaaaaayyyyyy out of proportion. Tobacco is similar in it's composition to other plants with the exception of Nicotene, which certain plants have evolved to deter insects from eating them. All smoke is carcinogenic and leaves deposits in sufficient concentrations, so Tobacco isn't unique in that respect. People have been burning plant matter in their homes for a very long time. It's used for heat and to cook food. Central heat and gas stoves are pretty recent inventions.

 

Deliberately concentrating and inhaling smoke is a very bad idea, no matter where the smoke came from, so I'm not advocating it. But IMHO, the "second hand smoke" hysteria has been primarily invented to demonize people who choose to smoke. Sure, the smell of tobacco smoke can be offensive, but it's no more dangerous than any other environmental smoke in similar concentrations.

[konfuzd]

Where on earth are you getting your information from? Do you honestly think that when you buy a pack of cigarettes from the corner store that it's all natural?? Straight up tobacco leaves?

 

From Canadian occupational health and saftety:

 

What is the general composition of tobacco smoke?

 

Tobacco smoke consists of solid particles and gases. More than 4,000 different chemicals have been identified in tobacco smoke. The number of these chemicals that are known to cause cancer in animals, humans, or both are reported to be in the range from 30 to 60.

 

The solid particles make up about 10 percent of tobacco smoke and include "tar" and nicotine. The gases or vapours make up about 90 percent of tobacco smoke. The major gas present is carbon monoxide. Others include formaldehyde, acrolein, ammonia, nitrogen oxides, pyridine, hydrogen cyanide, vinyl chloride, N-nitrosodimethylamine, and acrylonitrile

[Dexter Morgan]

As long as I don't have to smell it, I don't care what anyone else does with their lungs.

[Kenyth]

Where on earth are you getting your information from? Do you honestly think that when you buy a pack of cigarettes from the corner store that it's all natural?? Straight up tobacco leaves?

 

From Canadian occupational health and saftety:

 

 

 

You believe those chemicals aren't present in any other smoke except tobacco? Honestly, with the exception of more Nicotene, what would be the incentive benefit of adding toxic chemicals to the dry cured tobacco? When organic matter is burned, it breaks down into other chemicals.