Dear stupid people smoking inside the bus shelter:

[Brigid]

There are great big NO SMOKING signs prominently on display. Said signs also mention fines and arrests for violators. Can't you read? There is a pregnant lady standing next to me, I have a heart condition, and there are kids around here too.The world doesn't revolve around you and your stinking habit! I hope a cop having a bad day comes by.

[progressivebydesign]

1. ugh. Totally agree.

Yesterday I was going into the post office, and some guy walked by twice, smoking, man that stench went on forever. They can't smell themselves. My Mom has a severe reaction to smoke, and I feel sorry for her when dipshit employees stand outside a biz and smoke on their breaks. The most ironic was the pharmacist from Rite Aid that used to smoke outside the store.

[L0oniX]

6. When I was a small child I knew a heart surgeon that smoked.

Nothing surprises me about smokers.

[onehandle]

2. Tell me about it. The train station into Philly, walking distance from our home...

...has no smoking signs everywhere.

There are Always people smoking. Not at the edge of the crowd, but in the crowd waiting for the train.

Drug addiction, seemingly, trumps courtesy.

[IggleDoer]

3. Do ya' think ...

... if they don't care about their health, why would they care about yours?

[L0oniX]

4. Smoking at the entrance to restaurants and food stores is always nice too.

[MoonRiver]

64. Yes, just so appetizing.

[mikeysnot]

77. and exhaling when they get INSIDE!

[Codeine]

85. I HATE that.

People always save a lungful for when they get into my store. Assholes.

[mikeysnot]

115. They do it on purpose

We associate it to the equivalence of dog or cat peeing to cover other animals scent.

[SheilaT]

129. Maybe you should keep a little thing of febreeze or some room freshener

and simply spray directly on the person who does that to you.

[pipi_k]

103. Yech

There's a little mini-mall with a restaurant the Mr and I go to on a regular basis.

More times than not, there are one or two people smoking right outside the entrance to the restaurant. Not the hair place. Not the dry cleaners. Not the convenience store.

The restaurant.

And then there's a Family Dollar store across the street where the workers gather in small groups to smoke on their breaks. In the handicapped area. Right next to the door. Most likely because there's a guard rail there for them to sit/lean on. And they're usually in the very first spot near the door, so we usually end up parking out in the general area even though Mr Pipi has a handicapped placard...instead of disturbing these poor little 20-somethings who have to sit while they smoke. And so we don't have to walk through clouds of stink just to get in the door.

As a former smoker myself, I understand how difficult it can be to quit. However, what I don't understand is lack of basic common sense/courtesy.

[Nye Bevan]

5. I was pumping gas a few days ago, and a car pulls up at the pump right next to me.

The driver was smoking, with his window open, his cigarette out of the window, flicking his ash around, less than 10 feet away from where I was pumping gas. I asked him politely to stop but he told me he had every right to smoke.

The combination of the smell of gas and the smell of cigarette smoke made me somewhat uneasy.

[Brigid]

7. Smoking near gas pumps?

What was he trying to do, blow up the neighborhood?

[RebelOne]

61. As a smoker, I consider that a definite no-no.

I would never smoke near a gas pump mainly because I do not want to go up in flames.

[dickthegrouch]

22. I have called the cops when that happens

Given the license plate and a description of the stupid.

The gas station has a material interest too, tell them after you've called the cops that they might be coming and the they (the gas station) should ban that driver for life if they want to preserve their insurance.

[Mopar151]

28. It is much more difficult to start a gasoline fire with sparks than with flame

And modern "Vapor Recovery" systems make refueling a lot safer. BUT - Stupid is still stupid, and gasoline vapor is the devil incarnate. My uncle hauled petroleum for 30+ years, and some of his "Why am I alive?" stories will keep you awake at night.

[mnmoderatedem]

56. that's happened to me twice

I had to admonish some moron casually lighting up while pumping gas at the pump next to me.

While the No Smoking signs are there, they really shouldn't be needed in that situation should they?

[datasuspect]

117. you have a better chance of the fuel igniting due to static electricity

than because SOMEONE AT LEAST 10 FEET AWAY FROM THE PUMP IS SMOKING. IN THEIR CAR.

sheesh.

[Nye Bevan]

120. Silly me. Guess I overreacted.

You are obviously better informed than I am on this subject. How many feet away from a working gas pump is it prudent to smoke a cigarette while flicking hot ash around? 5 feet? 2 feet? Is it safe to do this if you are the person pumping the gas?

One thing I like about DU is that there are experts here on almost every subject who are willing to share their knowledge with the rest of us.

[datasuspect]

122. if the pump has vapor capture

and it is of relatively modern vintage, you could probably smoke WHILE you are pumping.

grey ash is cold when it falls from a cigarette. unless the smoker is flicking off the hot part (and has to reignite the cigarette each time they take a puff), if you're at least 10 feet away from a pump, there is hardly any danger.

yes, you did overreact.

[Nye Bevan]

123. OK. They really should remove those "No Smoking" signs, then. (nt)

[datasuspect]

124. that's because of an overabundance of caution

me, i leave the motor running, twirl sparklers, smoke stogies, and have a beer in the cupholder when i refuel.

but then i am a product of a more manly time.

[wercal]

131. It is very unlikely that ignition will occur...

Conditions have to be perfect.

But on rare occasion, they could in fact be perfect.

Its generally accepted that you're not supposed to smoke near a pump. Most pumps have signs...in some states it is actually illegal.

Why push the issue?

BTW, every once in a while, a smoker loses more than just ash (and every once in a while, this starts a forest fire btw). I've seen a smoker lose his ember at night while driving. The 'wind' from falling stokes the ember a little, on the way down. Then it hits the ground and breaks into dozens of sparks. I really wouldn't want to see that happen around gasoline, no matter how unlikely ignition is. Its just playing with fire.

[ronnie624]

127. As you fuel your vehicle,

there is a column of vapor rising from the fuel receptacle on your car and collecting in a cloud beneath the canopy of the fuel station that can be easily ignited by a spark or a burning cigarette. A person should never use their cell phone, get in and out of their car or smoke while fueling their vehicle.

[Arugula Latte]

8. Ugh. Disgusting, selfish, inconsiderate.

God I hate cigarette smoke. I always wonder if the smokers realize how much they reek (just their clothes and hair) and how much they are bothering other people who have to walk through their stink clouds.

[bunnies]

25. I wonder if non-smokers realize how much it SUCKS to be addicted to cigarettes...

and to be constantly glared-at, belittled, put down, and made to feel sub-human. I smoked for 20 years before I was finally able to quit. Its a horrible addiction. Not a hobby intended to "bother" you. They know you cant stand them. Believe me.

[Arugula Latte]

50. Yeah, I guess you're right

But I'm really super low-tolerance of smoking (obviously). I do have sympathy for people who started smoking years ago and can't quit, but I look at these late teen/20-something hipsters who stand around outside at a nearby college puffing away and I think: WTF? Why would you get yourself into that in this day and age? You can't tell me you didn't know the dangers when you started. And why would you voluntarily sign up for a habit that will not only sabotage your health and looks, make you a social pariah, but will cost you $5 to $15 or so bucks a DAY? What the hell are they thinking by taking that up in the first place? And if they do it to metaphorically flip their middle finger at disapproving people like me, well, sorry, but that is just effing stupid.

[bunnies]

55. I agree with you on that.

I started smoking at 14 when we figured out we could steal cigarettes from my best friends drunken father. He always had cartons of Winstons and never noticed when a pack went missing. Then in Jr. High, which for me was 7-9th grade, we had "smoking sections" at the school. One of them was a courtyard right off the cafeteria. Literally a square open-air spot right in the middle of the building. Same for high school. And back when I first started stores would sell cigarettes to anyone who came in the door with $1.10. Didnt matter if you were 25 or 12. There was never any issue.

Now though? Things are totally different and I do NOT understand why anyone chooses to get hooked. Nor do I understand how they can afford it. I sure as hell couldnt.

[pipi_k]

104. That's what

I don't get, either.

Years ago, smoking was almost glorified. We weren't being inundated with horrible pictures of blackened lungs or people with voiceboxes in their throats or missing parts of their lower jaws, etc.

Now we see that all the time, and kids STILL choose to pick up that first cigarette that gets them started down the road of addiction.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

[TheDebbieDee]

9. I had no idea how badly some of us smokers smell until a couple of months

after I quit smoking. My sense of smell returned and I was sometimes able to smell a heavy smoker from several feet away - not a good smell........

[arely staircase]

69. yeah it is amazing isn't it?

when you realize how much you smelled to other people without knowing it. This December will be two years for me after over two decades of smoking. I still hit the vaporizer occasionally when I get a big urge. Those are fewer and farther between. I keep it around when I am out having a few drinks and more likely to get the urge and make a poor decision.

[pnwmom]

79. I'm glad you're succeeding in getting off the stuff.

I know it's hard.

[arely staircase]

113. thanks

I don't think one ever completely rids themselves of the occasional craving even if they don't give in to them.. I once went eight months without a cig and then one day on a long road trip I just whipped into a store and bought a pack. A friend did that once after 3 years without a smoke.

[wercal]

132. I made the smell discovery

Both my parents smoked heavily when I was growing up. In the house, in the car, constantly...almost always one burning in the ashtray.

Years later, after smoking indoors in most places was banned, I started really noticing how bad the smokers smelled, even when they weren't smoking.

I'm sure I smelled like Winstons when I was a little kid.

[snooper2]

10. Reminds me of a song

The Tesla version, nah, we'll go original

[FredStembottom]

17. Ooooo!

Certainly enjoyed hearing that this morning.
Rockin' Wurly piano!

[Capt. Obvious]

11. Do the smokers post/read here?

[Brigid]

12. Maybe. You never know.

[starroute]

18. Oh, they're around

The last smoking thread where I mentioned how hyper-sensitive I am to cigarette smoke, one of them suggested I should wear a gas mask whenever I went outdoors.

Those people are seriously in denial about the distress they cause to those around them.

[mecherosegarden]

101. I do. I am a smoker.

I respect everybody's opinion. I am aware of health, cost, smell, etc issues. But I do enjoy smoking. One day I will quit...again. At my own time. I don't go around telling people what to do-or not to do. I also don't smoke in public places where I could bother people who doesn't smoke. I do enjoy my oral fixation .

[SheilaT]

130. What you may not understand is that no matter where you smoke,

you still smell strongly of cigarettes. Especially if you smoke in an enclosed place, such as your car, out of consideration for others. All the cigarette smoke stays in your car and really gets into your clothes and hair.

Let me give you an example. When my sister sent me some baby clothes when I was expecting a baby, as soon as I opened the package they reeked of cigarette smoke and I had immediately to wash them. Why? Her husband smoked. She didn't, and her first child who'd previously worn them certainly didn't. But just being inside that house they got the smell.

So while we appreciate the fact that you don't smoke directly in front of us, trust us, we can still smell it on you.

[KittyWampus]

13. Ex-smoker here, and now I cannot stand it excepting tobacco that does NOT have chemicals in it.

Good, quality tobacco sans the chemicals in pre-rolled cigarettes actually is pleasant to me. In vaguely similar way a neighbor's fireplace burning wood or a bonfire smells enjoyable.

When I smoked, I rolled my own Drum tobacco. Moister, long strands, no chemicals.

A huge part of what offends me in cigarette smoke is what RJ Reynolds laces them with.

I can't stress enough the horror that is pre-rolled cigarettes.

[kestrel91316]

39. I agree. I was walking on the street behind a guy not long ago and he was smoking a cigarette

(NOT weed, lol) but instead of making me cringe and cough, it wasn't a bad smell. Not pipe tobacco, and certainly NOT a cigar. But no more objectionable to me than weed.

I suspected at the time it was a natural tobacco cig.

[laundry_queen]

51. Both my grandfathers smoked.

One smoked regular cigarettes (non-filter) since he was 11, and the other smoked a pipe and was very particular about his tobacco, he wanted natural stuff that was like what he used to grow himself and he could only get 'his' tobacco in the States (we're in Canada) so my grandmother would smuggle it in her bra. I don't know why she had to smuggle it - I was a kid at the time - but she was never searched, as they lived 5 minutes from the border and did all their shopping in the US so the border guard knew them and who wants to search a little old lady?...anyway....

When I'd stay at my pipe-smoking grandfather's house, I never noticed anything. I'd play cards with him all the time with smoke all around us the entire time. When my cigarette smoking grandfather stayed with us, I'd get sick right away with a cold, or sinus infection. I'd wake up every morning with a sore throat and my eyes were always swollen shut when I woke up. There was a huge difference.

Both lived long lives too. The cigarette smoking grandfather lived to be 97 and the pipe-smoking grandfather lived to be 102. I'm not sure if the pipe meant the extra 5 years though, lol.

[Liberal_in_LA]

90. some cigs smell like incense sticks

[kestrel91316]

96. THis wasn't like that. It was just sort of a mild tobacco smell but

without that acrid sharpness that makes me choke. I almost ran up to him to ask what it was.

[nebenaube]

135. organic american spirit... n/t

[kestrel91316]

137. Wouldn't surprise me if that's what it was. And if everybody smoked that one,

I'd have a hell of a lot less objection to public smoking.

[Skittles]

14. just curious but I hope you told them the way you're telling us?

[Brigid]

15. No, but I did tell them I was sending you . . .

To kick their cigarette-smoking asses. All four of them.

[Skittles]

16. seriously though, speak up

that was the main reason I quit smoking - non-smokers made it such a hassle

[Laura PourMeADrink]

19. Can't blame them at all. They have been banished and treated like pariahs. Forced

to stand outside in the freezing cold.

It always amazes me ...the Smoking Nazis.....they have won every single battle....and want more.

[liberal_at_heart]

20. That is how people think you get things done these days. Shame and bully people

into doing what you want. Democrats like to claim that only republicans act this way, but democrats do it too.

[bunnies]

24. These threads are always a perfect example of that.

Unfortunately. As if no one on DU smokes. I cant only imagine DU's smokers feel when reading the amount of hatred and disdain their fellow DUers have for them.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

32. You are SO right. I go home to Dem CT and there are SO many rules for everything now. Went to

beach and there were actually cops walking up and down looking in coolers to make sure you don't have any booze. A friend from Michigan said the cops were at a park and literally taking a drink of punch from containers to make sure no booze. And heaven forbid how you are made to feel if you put a can in the wrong recycling bin.

[laundry_queen]

57. Unfortunately Democrats never do it to Republicans. lol.

But yeah, I hate the whole shaming thing. My parents do that - they are absolutely intolerant of smokers and when they run into one are always mumbling, "Disgusting, what an idiot, so gross, moron" under their breath, as if people can't tell what they are saying. One of my good friends met her husband online and he is a smoker, but she's super happy with him, and first things my parents said, "OMG, how could you marry a smoker, that's DISGUSTING!" I said, "Maybe he's a super nice guy!" and my mom said, "I don't care how nice he is, he clearly is a stupid idiot if he smokes." Nice. They also shame and bully me for being fat, so it's not just smoking. You are right, it's how people think you get things done.

I personally have asthma and dislike walking through a cloud of smoke, but if it's outside, unless it's someone smoking close to a door that has one of those 'no smoking within 15 meters' signs, I don't care. I hold my breath and walk fast, lol. And try not to cough. Cold air does the same thing to me, but living in Canada, I can't really avoid that either. So I deal with it. Not like my parents trying to show their disgust in a passive aggressive manner. If I had to pick between a nice partner who was a smoker or my PA narcissistic parents, I'm pretty sure I know who I'd pick.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

59. think society as a whole, has become so incredibly judgemental. Wonder why that

is It's like we are going back to the Scarlet Letter mentality. I think it probably adds so much stress to people's lives and hurts self esteem so much. As kids, we used to sit on the open taligate of a station wagon and drive around. Now, a parent would be stoned on the town square for no proper car seat.

[Ikonoklast]

26. They choose to stand outside in the freezing cold. No one is forcing them to do anything.

Bad choices usually lead to worse outcomes.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

33. Hmmmm. don't agree - they are being forced to go outside if they want to smoke. Wish

people who talk really loud on their cell phones were forced to go outside in a designated area. LOL

[Amaril]

41. And people who drown themselves.......

.....in half a bottle of perfume or cologne.

A passing whiff of cigarette smoke while walking by a smoker won't trigger my asthma, but getting stuck in an elevator with an overly-perfumed or cologned person will send me scrambling for my inhaler within seconds after the doors close.

[liberal_at_heart]

42. I've become more sensitive to perfume myself. It gives me headaches.

[SomethingFishy]

65. Can't smoke anywhere except home and car anymore.

But I can carry a gun anywhere.

I'm quitting now, I am down to smoking e-cigs. And I still get nasty looks even though there is no smoke and no second hand danger..

[Mariana]

91. Just get an e-cig that doesn't resemble a cigarette.

Mine looks like a black pen, and I've covered the LED with a bit of electrical tape. I use it everywhere and no one pays any attention as long as I don't blow huge clouds of vapor around.

[SomethingFishy]

92. I've got a Blu.. It looks like a pen I guess...

I'll have to try to cover the LED... Thanks.. I'm still trying to get the balance of getting a big enough hit without having too much cloud. I only started on them this week. Really helps though!

[Mariana]

94. If you exhale slowly

the vapor tends to dissipate before it can form a noticeable cloud. Also, try not to hold it like a cigarette - either hold it by the LED end or let your fingers encircle the whole thing, even if you've covered the LED. It's impossible to hold a cigarette that way, so even when someone is looking right at you, they won't really "see" that you're "smoking".

Congratulations and good luck to you!

[kestrel91316]

40. Boo hoo. And drunks aren't allowed to wander the streets, chugging all day long either.

[Dragonfli]

46. We should beat them all up! All addicts suck and their disease should give us licence to

prove our pristine holiness by making them suffer as much as possible. They should issue little clubs to help us in our righteous endeavor to wipe out the disease the only way we can, through judgement and hatred!

And those cancer patients with their bald chemo heads, someone should do something about them as well, they are less than beautiful and we shouldn't have to witness it without a little good old fashioned retribution.

It is so hard to be righteous in a world of diseased people, no one seems to understand our need to judge and harm them as much as possible. Maybe we can start a war on addicts and put as many in jail as possible, we can call it the "war on drugs. smoking and drinking". With enough enforcement and militarized police, we can take their property and get their labor for pennies an hour while they properly suffer in their cells thus making the world better for the truly holy among us.

I'm with you brother!

[kestrel91316]

68. That's not what I'm saying and you know it. I just think addicts shouldn't be able to inflict their

substances on others. You don't get to force me to drink your booze and you don't get to force me to inhale your ghastly tobacco smoke.

[Dragonfli]

71. I don't smoke, but tell me since I also don't drive, how much more of YOUR smoke

am I forced to inhale as compared to someone's cigarette? The exhaust from a vehicle would seem to me to be an ocean of piss compared to a puddle of pee.

Seriously, compare the volume of smoke emitted from your car to that emitted from some addict's cigarette.

If you wish to be addicted to your gas sucking, drive in the privacy of your own home and stay out of public with that thing I don't like breathing in ten thousand times the smoke a cigarette user inflicts on me just from your driving by.

Somehow you do not feel the same level of hatred towards drivers when they are the actual problem rather than the convenient addict scapegoats you love to hate, hypocrisy much? You guys pretend that there is more pollution from cigarettes than there is from burning gasoline, are you blind or simply not very bright in this regard?

You don't have to make the bullshit implication that smokers are out to inflict their smoke on you, most will by habit, or when asked politely, refrain from doing so in your presence, the same can not be said of drivers.

I would like a study on why vehicle exhaust is not considered the major culprit in the effects of environmental smoke health issues and why the effects of that exhaust are conveniently all tied to smokers exhaust instead.

What is your argument? "my care farts perfume and oxygen". Or perhaps. "everyone knows a car emits far less smoke than a burning cigarette".

Take that exhaust pipe sized log out of your eye before playing self righteous avenger against the cigarette speck in your neighbors eye.

Ask politely, try even to offer advice on how to quit an addiction in the least painful way. Most smokers that are vilified as Satan will comply because they are people like you and not actually the embodiment of evil.

While your at it, please consider my polite request, "don't drive where your exhaust will enter my lungs", perhaps you will also comply like most addicts will, or so I hope.

[pipi_k]

105. Kind of not

the same.

Over the years I've seen the same old arguments about how second hand cigarette smoke isn't harmful, blah blah blah.

One could argue either way. It is harmful/it's not harmful.

But that's not my problem with it, actually, and why driving shouldn't be compared to having to walk through/be subjected to someone else's second hand smoke.

Whether or not second hand smoke is harmful...just like auto emissions...if I'm out riding around in traffic, I never go home stinking of gas fumes.

Whereas, walking through a cloud of cigarette smoke, or having it blown in my direction, has me smelling like a filthy ashtray. Hair. Skin. Clothing. Everywhere.

I won't argue that people have a right to smoke if they want to.

But they don't have a right to make everyone around them stink, especially if...as in the case of that bus stop shelter...there's a sign asking people not to smoke.

[ScreamingMeemie]

63. Well, they sort of are here in Houston and down on Galveston Island...

so, bummer...

[LanternWaste]

45. I feel like neither a pariah nor banished; merely a bit stupid for continuing to smoke...

As a smoker, I find it rather easy to blame any individual who smokes in places where it is not merely prohibited, but also simply uncivil, regardless of how I used to rationalize it otherwise. I feel like neither a pariah nor banished; merely a bit stupid for continuing to smoke...

"Smoking Nazis", however, compels me to think that the speaker has neither intellectual nor moral ground to stand upon, and resorts to petulant name-calling for lack of anything better... as is done so often on grade-school playgrounds.

And if I don't want to smoke and stand outside in the cold, I can always and simply choose not to smoke at that particular time.

[Nye Bevan]

47. I won't consider the battle "won" until smoking is banned in all public places.

Beaches, parks, streets, etc.

[Arugula Latte]

52. Oh please.

Other people should be forced to inhale their dangerous exhalations inside and if they don't go along with it they're smoking Nazis? Give me a fucking break.

[alphafemale]

72. I was called a smoking Nazi years ago because I wouldn't let someone hold my baby while smoking.

Smokers are more likely to enjoy portraying themselves as persecuted that right-wing Christians.

Crazy as hell.

[SoCalDem]

89. reminscent of the house GOP

[AngryOldDem]

107. Fact is, they are breaking the law. There are signs posted all over about that. n/t

[Mariana]

108. Then the police should be called.

People who refuse to report criminal activity when they see it happening are part of the problem.

[AngryOldDem]

110. Yes, but reading and comprehending the signs would be helpful, too.

[Mariana]

112. They read and comprehend the signs just fine.

Like most criminals, they know perfectly well that what they're doing violates the law, and they do it anyway.

[Zorra]

21. People look so silly when they smoke I can't even stand to look at them

because I am embarrassed for them.

Nicotine is a tragic, terrible, life controlling addiction, and the Republican individuals corporations that produce tobacco and promote the use of tobacco are nothing but sociopathic murdering dope dealers intent on hooking children for life on the deadly substances they profit from.

My mother died of smoking when I was 10, her sister, her sister, my aunt, died of smoking two years later, and one of my beloved relatives has a death by smoking sentence hanging over his head right now. Another beloved friend died of smoking 5 years ago. And almost all of my friends who smoke cough like they have a wet pretzel stuck in their lungs, and can hardly walk half a block without gasping for air like a fish out of water.

I think of how horrible it must be, lying on the operating table, staring up into the cold fluorescent lights, the Marlboro lights I call them, as they remove parts of your lungs in a desperate futile attempt to keep you alive.

Smoking is so cool and glamorous, isn't it?

[liberal_at_heart]

23. I'm sorry you lost your mom. Smoking like many other things is an addiction. I myself am addicted

to sugar. Many on here think I am simply stupid for not paying attention to all the news about how sugar harms me. Unless you are afflicted by an addiction you don't know how hard it is to stop. Luckily for smokers there are gums and patches. I wish there were gums and patches for sugar addiction. I understand your attitude because you lost your mother, but try to have some compassion and understanding.

[pnwmom]

27. Your sugar addiction doesn't blow sugar into other people's lungs.

I can have compassion for nicotine addicts, but that doesn't excuse them from no-smoking laws.

[Dragonfli]

36. Yes you appear to be just overflowing with compassion

You are truly superior. Holy even. I am in awe!

[pnwmom]

70. I am a person with asthma

who has had several bouts with pneumonia, a couple of which occurred while I had to work in a room with a bunch of chain smokers.

Smokers who force their habit on other people get as much compassion as they deserve -- maybe not a whole lot.

[Dragonfli]

73. Same could be said of drivers whose emissions are far greater and pose an exponentially higher

risk to your health.

A compassionate man would simply speak to a fellow human and ask politely of them not to smoke in his presence, if you explain it's affects on your health, being human, they will likely understand and comply. I do it all the time, it works nearly all the time. I even give them literature on the effects on their health and methods for them to beat their addiction which is also an illness, but that may be to much compassion for you to handle at first, ease into that one.

I suppose it is more fun to hate them tho, so there is that, it's fun to hate.

Compassion is only for the "deserving" after all. I think that is even a libertarian bumper sticker so you can put it on your car that expels ten thousand times as much smoke as those you love to hate. That way your exhaust can harm your asthma while at the same time your bumper can proudly display your conditional humanity.

[pnwmom]

74. Auto-emissions in my city are far LESS of a risk to my health than working with

a roomful of smokers. (Which no longer happens thanks to no smoking laws.) Auto-emissions testing has done a great deal to improve air quality over the last thirty years. And I drive a Prius, so my own contribution is minimal.

If there are public no-smoking signs, no one should have to ask a smoker to refrain, much less have to explain personal health issues.

And no one should have to do this with a roomful of co-workers.

I don't hate smokers, but I do hate their cigarettes.

[Dragonfli]

76. If auto emissions were less of a health risk than cigarette smoke as you arbitrarily claim

Then people smoking in a room would die while being in a closed garage with a running car would not kill you.

You believe nonsense like some climate deniers I know - even a Prius will kill you if you pipe the emissions into your window in a suicide attempt, people do not commit suicide by smoking in a car with a closed window however, hard to explain if auto emissions are so much safer, unless you live in a fantasy.

I wonder in fact, how many cigarettes one would have to smoke in a car to commit suicide? The smoke they put out is so much more voluminous and deadly than that coming out of the exhaust pipe IYO so I imagine maybe 2?

[pnwmom]

78. You example is completely beside the point. The point is that

cigarette smoke is often confined in a room -- unlike auto emissions -- or otherwise in-your-face (as in, outdoors in a bus kiosk). No sane person sticks their face up to a car exhaust and breathes in the direct fumes.

But until we had indoor smoking laws, sane people had to breathe in fumes from smokers in small, confined places like offices, restaurants, and airplanes. And we still have to deal with smokers emitting their gases at face level, clustered near door openings and crowded under bus kiosks.


http://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20040823/smoking-worse-than-exhaust-for-air-pollution


Aug. 23, 2004 -- Three cigarettes can cause more air pollution than a diesel car's exhaust, according to an Italian study.

The study compared levels of air pollution particles produced by cigarettes with those coming from a late-model "eco-diesel" engine. The research team was led by Giovanni Invernizzi of the Tobacco Control Unit of Italy's National Cancer Institute.

Environmental tobacco smoke is a contributor of air pollution particles. These fine particles are a risk factor for chronic lung disease which can be debilitating and sometimes fatal. They can lead to conditions such as asthma, bronchitis, and emphysema, and are also a risk for lung cancer, write the researchers.

The test was conducted in the small, northern Italian mountain town of Chiavenna, which has unusually low outdoor levels of air pollution.

The experiment was conducted in a closed, private garage with six small vents, which were kept open during the experiment in accordance with Italian law.

SNIP

[Dragonfli]

82. Interesting study, all about just particles, the weather is cool today so there is no climate change

you can stand at a bus stop and claim the vehicle in front of us is not emitting shit into my lungs all you want and a guy standing ten feet from me with a cigarette will result in my certain death, it doesn't mean anything to me because I can smell and feel that "pure clean" exhaust enter my lungs. and if I am in a garage with a diesel engine running it will kill me regardless of your believe it is more harmless than three burning cigarettes (and someone smoking three cigarettes will kill me even quicker than that according to you also apparently), sure, I'm sold. Petrol addiction is healthy, got ya.

The answer to my original post above appears to be three cigarettes burning in the ashtray of a car would suffice to aid my suicide, I stand corrected, I had imagined you thought it would be two of them, I was a bit off.

The issue was never "is smoking healthy", or even more appropriate to the conversation, "is someone smoking near you healthy"

Of course it isn't! Neither is burning diesel or gasoline! You are the one trying to claim one is relatively harmless, exhaust is far far more abundant in the air and our petrol addiction is killing an entire planet! I advocate neither! you are in denial about one of them a rather strange denial at that.

My point has been and always will be how one treats addicts, and the need of some to hate and vilify them rather than try to help them!

My God, how could you miss what I have been saying were it not willfully so?

I do not feel addicts are fair game to attack, I am of the unusual view they should be pitied and helped if at all possible! No wars on their addictions, no prison terms for addicts, no singling out for hatred and shaming of them, but rather simple compassion and TREATMENT.

This is why I dislike arguing with conservatives, compassion has no place and it is always about who is to blame and how to go about punishing them for having a disease.

I suppose you support the war on drugs as well that locks up those bastard addicts I used to council, plenty of pounds of flesh for you there, I suggest you join the DEA and get some pay back on those evil humans with that disease that should only be punished, addiction.

I don't think you will ever see what I have tried to explain to you, so, don't, move along and hate all you like, I have nothing to do with it and never could.

[Dragonfli]

31. People enjoy hating people, God I hate people like that! (bad joke sorry, but true about the hate)

As usual, people only appear to feel good about themselves when they feel superior, holier, or just plain better than others. When I did work with addicts ranging from alcohol to heroin, self esteem issues were always a very large part of impeding progress that was already nearly impossible for them to make. Rather than try to understand the disease and try to offer support and compassion on what is a very difficult journey, for some reason people (like on this thread) prefer to spit on, incarcerate, judge, even assault in cases those that are already suffering (adding to the self esteem barriers to health).

If they see an addict with a needle, they do not try to offer compassion and help to the individual or act as a sympathetic soul that will listen to their troubles waiting for the opportunity to offer assistance when or if the addict is ready for treatment.

No. What they do is glare in disgust, call the police to have them locked up like animals, shame and insult them, or as with the truly "righteous" get together with a few friends of like holiness and beat the crap out of them. People are vile and ugly when convinced of their superiority and most are even hypocrites that have their own addictions they consider "OK".

Addicts of hate love judging and abhor helping, they do not favor treatment for disease but enjoy the hope of punishment instead. They do not feel compassion but rather a false sense of superiority, they will call the objects of their fix of hatred stupid, not realizing that there is nothing quite so stupid as an idiot that thinks hatred is preferable to compassion and who also think that sense of righteous superiority they feel is more than just a self satisfying illusion, the world does not (as they think) revolve around their disgusting habit of displaying the worst of what resides within the human soul.

I am sure this thread is giving them the rush of hatred they need until they see a drunk or smoker on the way home that they can frown at, shake their fists at and perhaps if they are lucky spit on for good measure.

I hate addicts of hate! There I said it. Now I know I am better than them and my self righteousness fix is positively exhilarating.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

34. AMEN to the Nth Degree Dragonfli

[Live and Learn]

49. +1 nt

[raccoon]

66. I wonder if people are hard-wired to have to feel superior to other people. nt

[Dragonfli]

67. I believe it may be yet another unfortunate remnaint of a hard wired primate psychology

That has changed very little since the cro-magnon days. The nervous system evolves much more slowly than the mind it seems, holding us back from an enlightenment we can envision, but few can reach due to our still primate brains.

I guess I'm a cynic.

[Zorra]

75. Your reponses don't seem cynical at all.

I most often see those types of projective responses from angry, guilt ridden smokers in a state of denial, desperately defending their addiction to nicotine while at the same time wishing they could quit. They most commonly lash out at me in this irrational manner when I ask them to please not smoke in an enclosed space with me in it. I've experienced angry, enraged outbursts from all types of substance abusers, but nicotine seems to be the most prevalent cause of these irrational outraged reactionary behaviors, in my experience.

Geez, once this woman sitting behind me on a public non-smoking bus lit up, and surrounded my head with her exhaled smoke. I turned and asked her nicely to please not smoke, and her face got all twisted up in rage, and she went totally ballistic, screaming about her right to smoke and how no one had a right to tell her what to do. People have every right to smoke (not necessarily in other people's faces though), but it would be a good idea if they made themselves aware of the possible negative emotional and psychological effects nicotine might have on their personalities and subsequent interactions with others. People who feel desperation for a cigarette when their nicotine blood level drops below their ability to tolerate can get pretty deranged until they get another fix that relieves their urge and calms them down. Many other people have witnessed this irrational, addiction induced behavior in some smokers as well, it's a cliche behavior.

And then there are the kind, considerate, inoffensive smokers who recognize that their habit may genuinely make others uncomfortable, and instead of lashing out with deranged, irrational hostility at not being able to make others uncomfortable, these smokers adjust accordingly so as not to annoy others. Generally, non-smokers don't have any problem with these folks.

Nicotine Anonymous offers help to those who wish to stop using nicotine 365 days a year

Good luck!

[Brigid]

88. That woman on the bus is lucky I wasn't the driver.

I would have stopped the bus and called the cops. And around here she probably would have at least gotten a citation for, one, smoking on the bus, and two, causing that kind of disruption. I've seen it happen here for less than that.

[Zorra]

99. Actually, the woman must have realized she was making a huge fool out of herself,

and said in a disgusted voice, "Oh, alright, for cripes sake", and put the cigarette out. I looked to the front to see the driver's expression in the rearview mirror, and he appeared to be very relieved. But he didn't say a single word during the entire event; maybe he had encountered an irate, psychotic smoker in the throes of a nicotine fit (maybe one who was carrying a gun) at some previous time.

Anyway, the whole bus still stank for my entire ride.

[Zorra]

44. I've been around addictions of all kinds most of my life.

Playing in working rock bands for decades, you get to see it all up close and real personal, over and over, - tobacco, alcohol, heroin, coke, meth, scrips, etc, even one of our light guys who was strung out on huffing gasoline. From beer bottles to needles, crack pipes to light bulbs and aluminum foil. Great musicians of bandmates, falling off the wagon and not showing up for gigs, and when you go to look for them the next day, you find them lying in the gutter soiled with urine, babbling from the effects/after effects of a sustained drunken coke binge...damn it, off to rehab again, and who are we going to find to replace her/him, because hardly anyone else has those kind of chops.

I totally have compassion for addicts. It's just very sad to watch addictions and the ramifications and processes of addiction ruin so many lives. I count myself as very fortunate, because I do not have an addictive personality. I couldn't become addicted to anything if I tried. I did try. Couldn't make any of it stick. I even tried tobacco for awhile. It was all just so....boring.

Thanks for being understanding why I post snarky anti-tobacco anti-addiction stuff. People have a right to do what they want to to their bodies and their lives. I just have a hard time watching it, and my snarky anti-addiction posts are maybe wrongheaded attempts to get people to consider quitting.

Believe me, I have enormous compassion for addicts, but it's just frustrating. The addictions of others who I have loved and lost have broken my heart repeatedly over the course of my life, and scarred me, from parents to siblings to partners and all in between.

Good luck in quitting whatever it is you'd like to stop doing, but don't seem to be able to. You are certainly not alone.

[liberal_at_heart]

48. I do understand it is not always easy to have compassion for addicts. My sister in law is a

drug addict. I think more than the drug addiction the thing that hurts is the manipulation that come along with it. I want to have compassion for my sister in law. I do try, but it can be hard when she manipulates my brother and becomes belligerent. I can't imagine the pain she has caused my niece. But I do realize what she has is an addiction and a disease. I'm sure she would be a better wife and mother if she could.

[RebelOne]

30. My mother and father both died because of smoking.

But I had a cousin who died of lung cancer and he never smoked a cigarette in life.

I am 74 and have been smoking since I was 16. I do not have a smoker's cough. But I do get short of breath, but that could be because of my age, and I can walk farther than a half a block without shortness of breath.

[Comrade Grumpy]

35. I know several people who never smoked, yet they died, too. Go figure.

[RebelOne]

29. I am a smoker, but I always obey No Smoking signs. n/t

[Dash87]

37. Cigar smoke is nasty too. I hate that smell even more than cigarettes.

[graywarrior]

43. I like the ones that smoke outside a hospital emergency ward

and completely ignoring all the no smoking signs. Try walking down tremont Street in Boston. You'll choke to death.

[Arugula Latte]

53. "The saddest thing that I'd ever seen were smokers outside the hospital doors"

[Earth_First]

54. Yay! The smoking thread!

Has it been a month already?!

Man, it's almost "breed-specific pet ban Week!"

Woot! Woot!

[Owl]

58. YUCK to cigars, cigarettes, and heavy perfume/cologne...

but oddly I often found pipe tobacco to smell pleasant. Why is that?

Cigarettes are by far the most offensive, even the reek on smokers clothing.

I don't smoke, and won't allow anyone to smoke in my house or cars.

[unblock]

60. apparently we're all nazis for wanting to breath air without toxins, allergens, and carcinogens

nicotine addicts can manage their addition with chewing tobacco gum, chewing tobacco, or wearing a patch.
they can still smoke in private if they like.

with today's alternatives, it's no longer about their addiction at all. it's about their insistence on satisfying their addition though one particular delivery system, with complete disregard for its effects on the people around them.

but we're the nazis for wanting to breathe cleaner air.

[MineralMan]

62. You should call 911 when that happens.

The police will come and arrest those lawbreakers right away.


Or...you could ask the person smoking to leave the bus shelter, and explain that you have a health condition that makes that smoking dangerous for you. Here's a script you can use:

"Excuse me. Could you please not smoke inside the bus shelter? It's against the law, and I have a heart condition that makes it dangerous for me to be around cigarette smoke. Thanks."

I'm a smoker. I never smoke around other people. Most of the people I know who smoke do the same thing. Try asking those smokers to go elsewhere to smoke.


Or, call 911. I'm sure the police will be happy to come and enforce the law.

[arthritisR_US]

80. .

[gopiscrap]

81. yeah I hate intaking some one elses cig also

[Warpy]

83. They'd tell you that being out in the rain would put their cigarettes out

While you and I might think that's a great idea, they don't think so.

But yes, unless there's a deluge, they need to feed their habit outside and preferably downwind.

[Aristus]

84. Uh-oh, Brigid. Now you've done it. You're going to piss off the smokers in GD.

They're probably getting the pitchforks and torches right now...

I've been the focus of their blind, insane rage for the evident crime of stating, in my capacity as a medical provider, that smoking is bad for you, and a risk-factor for a number of deadly diseases.

Still, I'm with ya...

[Brigid]

87. . . .

[Aristus]

95. How are you holding up so far?

[Brigid]

97. Bring 'em on.

[Aristus]

98. That's the spirit!

[Cha]

100. Yeah, you smoking

nazi@@11!!! Brigid!

I always make a run for upwind when I get a whiff of smoke coming my way..

Here's to those smokers who have the common kindness not to smoke around others.

[RedCappedBandit]

86. Gotta love the addicts defending their addiction in threads like these. nt

[Mariana]

93. When you observe someone breaking the law

you should call the police.

[riverwalker]

102. oh jeez

I'm a considerate smoker, only my home, my car, outside at least 50 feet from anyone. Use e-cig, gum, lozenges, patches when I travel (a lot) only stay at hotels that have smoking balconies (they do exist, god bless them). If you can whine, so can I. I hate people in bookstores who yap on their cell phones when I am trying to browse for a relaxing afternoon. If you don't understand why bookstores are sacred ground, then you have no business being in one, get the hell out and go to Starbucks. And damn right it affects my health, makes my blood pressure go through the roof, not to mention the stress hormones flooding my body. I can tolerate cell phones most of the time, like the idiot in the grocery store discussing which can of peas to buy for 15 minutes (really? you can't buy a freakin' can of peas without a conference call?).
Maybe some non-smokers annoy the hell out of the rest of us too, but your perfect self image would never allow such realization.

[AngryOldDem]

106. Didn't you get the memo?

The rules don't apply to THEM.

Because, as I like to say, they are the MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE IN THE WORLD!

[Aristus]

125. ^^^THIS^^^

As reply #102 clearly demonstrates...

[taterguy]

109. Calling someone stupid isn't an effective way of changing behavior

Dumbass

[LukeFL]

111. It's disgusting!

[Fawke Em]

114. Dear inhuman jerks: Provide a separate shelter for people who have

a drug addiction and they'll gladly smoke there.

The problem is that smokers are so vilified that others seem to think it's OK to treat them like shit. Just provide a sheltered area away from others and provide trash and butt receptacles. Smokers would appreciate it. Where I work, there is such an area and it's never littered with butts or ash. The smokers appreciate a covered area where they can smoke and they take care of it.

I'd bet money that the reason smokers get more lung issues has as much to do with the fact that they're forced to brave the elements to smoke as it is the actual smoking. BTW, smoking is an addiction that is harder to break than heroin, especially given that few insurance plans provide treatment.

[pipi_k]

118. Probably not

This statement, I mean...

I'd bet money that the reason smokers get more lung issues has as much to do with the fact that they're forced to brave the elements to smoke as it is the actual smoking.

People have been exposed to the elements for hundreds of thousands of years. Some even live/lived in those elements with minimal shelter. People are probably better off in the elements than they are to be squashed together in hot, dry, stuffy rooms with recirculated air and fellow humans coughing and sneezing in each other's faces.


And on the other side of this, people have been dying from lung diseases long before they were "forced to brave the elements".

[wercal]

134. I'll take that bet

"I'd bet money that the reason smokers get more lung issues has as much to do with the fact that they're forced to brave the elements to smoke as it is the actual smoking"

I don't know how many rotations around the sun you've been around for; but, smoking outside of buildings is a relatively new phenomenon. No, the fresh air isn't turning your lungs black...the cigarette smoke is turning your lungs black.

"...and provide trash and butt receptacles"

This may be a case of a few bad apples spoiling the barrel...but in my experience, smokers are notoriously unconcerned with properly disposing of cigarettes. When I was in the Army, I delighted in 'police calls' where I primarily got to pick up other people's butts. Where I live, the city made the mistake of spreading a tar and gravel mix on our deteriorating concrete medians. All the medians look 'furry' now, with butts stuck all over them. Right here at work, we have a smoker's area...its the only place anywhere near our buildings that looks trashy - because of the butts. In my observation, the installation of butt receptacles actually attracts more butt litter on the ground. Some smokers even get into big arguments with me, telling me their butts are biodegradable, to I should get over it. Anyway, I suspect your place of employment is the exception and not the rule.

[Brigid]

139. Ah, yes -- police calls.

Did those back in my Marine Corps days. Good times.

[wercal]

140. I never understood

Who in the hell throws trash on the ground on base.

You knew with 100% certainty that trash on ground = stay late for a police call.

[datasuspect]

116. if you're in illinois, wait for the bus inside a bar

there's no smoking there.

[Javaman]

119. Once upon a time...

I used to take the Long Island RR to work every day.

and in the winter people would crowd into the "waiting room". (this was back in the early 80's)

It was a regular smoke house in the winter.

I would never go in there. It would virtually kill me.

I would have to stand outside in sub zero weather waiting for the f'ing train because of these selfish dolts.

I really hate those "good old days".

[Bake]

121. So yeah, let's get a pissed off cop to beat the shit out of the smokers!

That'll show em! And it's ok because after all, they're SMOKERS!

Sigh

Bake

[Mariana]

128. Ah, these people never actually call the cops.

They prefer to whine.

[datasuspect]

133. they're too afraid of their own shadow to do anything else.

.

[mokawanis]

126. I love the smell of tobacco

When people complain about the fantastic aroma in my hair and clothing I inhale deeply and say "I love that smell!"

The thing is...I don't give a fuck if non-smokers don't like the fact that I smoke.

[Bucky]

136. I love the smell of my methane/sulphur farts.

When people complain about the cloud of anal fumes that envelope us both in enclosed spaces, I wallow in my stench and sigh with a Buddha-like self contentment.

The thing is... I don't give a fuck if non-fart-connoisseurs don't like the fact that I flatulate constantly. If yall don't like it, get out of my elevator, bitches!

[Brigid]

138. I hereby dub thee . . .

Sir (or Dame) Thread Winner!