Smoking at work........

**Dave A** · 08-Mar-13, 07:16 AM

Andy, your post should have come with a coffee warning.

Oh yes, today's going to be a great day

**tec0** · 08-Mar-13, 07:56 AM

If anything I would rather not smoke nor drink as I found the lifestyle to be demanding. But truth is tings hardly ever stay with a single subject. Escalation is a constant in human behaviour. First you force smokers out of your company who is next? Females because they are too much of a distraction? And it did happen less than a year ago. Men got upset because woman where doing there jobs... yea...

You can't make this stuff up...

See some industries are still caveman male dominated...

So where do you draw the line? The reality is human rights must be protected on the small things. If you don’t then normally escalation will follow and more rights would be lost. So if someone needs a smoke to keep her/him going introduce them to the electronic alternative or nicotine patches. Or if you want to accommodate them that is also a solution.

If you have a none smoker policy in your company then so be it. I cannot tell you what you can or cannot do. But know that toleration goes along way because there are many examples of systems with no toleration and oppression is a constant.

**adrianh** · 08-Mar-13, 10:18 AM

I have no tolerance for stupidity nor mediocrity. This country is far too tolerant of horse-crap. Less tolerance and more discipline, that is what is needed.

**Newretailer** · 08-Mar-13, 10:55 AM

Andy, you were lucky it ended there. I had the unfortunate privilege to watch a real blowout over smoking. I used to sell at a market where smoking was not allowed. At 5 o'clock when people packed up, the smokers would lit up where they were and not go outside. There was a man and woman next to each other who apparently didn't like each other. The woman deliberately lit up. First there was a screaming match. Then he went to fetch the fire extinguisher and blasted her with foam all over herself and her stall. All of this with a lot of screaming and shouting between them. It was a truly embarrassing incident.

The rest of us just stood there with mouths hanging open. I am very anti-smoking but wow! not quite that bad. Apparently his wife got astma attacks from her smoking. Both of them were difficult people with constant issues.

As you say, very emotive issue. I am just happy that I have the law on my side

**AndyD** · 08-Mar-13, 07:05 PM

As you say the law may be on the non-smokers side if there's a smoker plying his trade in stinky and life threatening second hand smoke but the amusing thing about the non-smokers is that they so often feel the need to become the 'police men' as well. The same non-smoker might ignore it when a buddy has a few too many to drink and gets behind the wheel, they'll also throw a blind eye maybe if they see someone ding another car in the mall car park or may happily pocket the 50 bucks if a cashier makes a mistake in their favour or even tell some 'white lies' on their tax returns but the minute there's a poor defenceless smoker shivering in the cold and the rain and standing only 19.5 meters away from a building instead of the 20 meters stipulated in the local bylaws then that's a much more serious matter and certainly one that warrants getting involved with much more hands-on resolve.

Maybe there's lessons that could be learned from this that might give us insight into what makes people this motivated to lead SA in this particular respect yet turn around and cast a blind eye in so many others.

**Blurock** · 08-Mar-13, 09:16 PM

People are generally selfish. They will be tolerant of everything until it affects them directly. e.g. people will campaign for a bus stop in their street, but when it is placed in front of their house, the bus stop is suddenly not such a good idea.

As an ex smoker (had to give up due to asthma) I can relate to both sides. As a youngster I was hitch hiking once and was given a lift by two gentlemen. They really freaked out when I started smoking in their car. Of course I could not understand it at the time, but we all know how bad a used ashtray can smell.

I am tolerant of smokers as long as they maintain a 3 meter distance and ensure that the smoke blows the other way. It is a dying habit any way...

**tec0** · 08-Mar-13, 10:21 PM

I sometimes wonder about people's priorities. It is not ok to smoke and people will stone you for doing so as seen on this thread. But where are there big mouths when it comes to more serious things. The big things?

How many lives did alcohol take last year? How much violence did it cause? Have you ever bothered to count the crosses on the side of the road? Do you even care?

Nah... This is just another form of persecution... A justifiable oppression nothing more.

**adrianh** · 09-Mar-13, 03:40 AM

The thread is about smoking at work not about the misuse of alcohol. Just for the record, I don't condone smoking or drinking at work.

**Newretailer** · 09-Mar-13, 05:11 AM

The most enlightening part of this thread, apart from finding out who smokes and who doesn't, is how freely strange attributes are assigned to non-smokers:

Because you are against smoking, it means that you:
- think you are God
- have a big ego
- think alcohol and drunk driving is ok
- turn blind eyes to someone dinging a car in a car park
- pocket mistakes cashiers make
- lie on your tax return
- don't care about road deaths
- are monsters
- wear funny clothes
- walk outside naked
- fill inthe blank with whatever you feel like...

I cannot quite see how that jump is made. I think you are just stating all the things that smokers are guilty of

Or maybe you just don't have valid arguments to defend a filthy habit that is certain to affect your health and those around you and you have to grasp at straws

**Justloadit** · 09-Mar-13, 07:05 AM

Originally Posted by tec0

I sometimes wonder about people's priorities. It is not ok to smoke and people will stone you for doing so as seen on this thread. But where are there big mouths when it comes to more serious things. The big things?

How many lives did alcohol take last year? How much violence did it cause? Have you ever bothered to count the crosses on the side of the road? Do you even care?

Nah... This is just another form of persecution... A justifiable oppression nothing more.

I refer to my previous post again with respect to alcohol

Whilst I do not approve of drinking and driving, it is interesting that we judge alcoholics killing people, but if statistics be done, many many more people die from the effects of smoking than drunken driving.

How Many People Died from Smoking? yearly in the US over 440,000
About how many people die each year from drunk driving accidents? yearly in the US about 12,000