SMOKERS, For your consideration

[Humble2drive]

Definition of "consideration"
mindfulness of others: thoughtful concern for or sensitivity toward the feelings of others.

Couldn't help but wonder as we left the truck stop today:

Why is it that many smokers don't have any consideration for the people around them???

The stench of smoke permeated every area of the building. (showers, TV room, laundry, restaurant, and eventually our clothing and lungs).

If smokers know that smoke is bothersome to others, can't they simply limit their practice to a private area and not force it on others??
I am well aware of the fact that it is a smokers "right" to be able to smoke where it is legal to do so. That is not the question. The question is regarding consideration for others.

I have the right to cough or sneeze in your direction; however, I turn my head and cover my mouth out of consideration for others.

I have the right to allow my children to run and scream in the restaurant; however, I ask them to sit and remain quiet out of consideration for others.

I even have the right to burp, pick my nose, and pass gas at the table next to you; however, I refrain out of consideration for others.

WHY does it seem impossible for some smokers to:
Make it through a meal without smoking?
or
Watch a movie, use the restroom or take a shower without smoking?
or
Stand away from the front door when smoking?
or
Use the vehicle ash tray instead of throwing the cigerette butt out the window onto the highway or into the dry brush along side the road.
or
Use the public ash tray provided instead of throwing the cigerette butt onto a businesses sidewalk or garden
or
Not place a cigerette on restroom counters and sinks and permenantly damage the surface with burn marks.

I would like to believe that if some day I decide to become suicidal and start smoking, I would stay considerate for others and keep it to myself.
Maybe not, perhaps when you make the decision to maintain a destructive habit that can lead to serious illness and even death it just doesn't matter if you are considerate or not.

I don't know the answers to these questions. I have a headache from all the smoke that I breathed in today and I am not thinking clearly.

Can anyone either:
1) Explain why many smokers don't feel the need to show consideration or
2) Attack me for daring to ask (I am ready)

 

[routejumper]

I guess your anger and disgust has got the better of you. Let me add my two cents: I am a smoker, but I am not ignorant. Your post appears to categorize all smokers as ignorant people hell bent on offending you every chance they get. Just so you know, smoking is not illegal in this country, but it is highly regulated and becoming more restricted every year. Your comparison that we have the right to smoke where allowed to burping, farting, allowing undisciplined children to run free is indeed very funny and misleading. It is not socially acceptable to fart, burp and have undiscipline children running amok. However, it is socially acceptable for smokers to smoke in designated smoking areas. If you need a designated burping, farting, nose picking, children run amok area, then by all means draw up a petition and collect names (I'll sign it!). We'll send it to the congress, and if it passes, when I'm done smoking in my designated area, I'll come to your area and burp, fart, and pick nose with you. I support your right to fart, burp, and pick nose! But you do not support my right to smoke, because after all it is a suicidal thing to do and offends a more intelligent class of citizen such as yourself. Now before you attack me, realize I'm not all that bad; here's an example of why I can say I'm not ignorant: I sat in the smoking section and lit up, under a ceiling fan. Two minutes later a man taps me on the shoulder, tells me he's sitting in the non smoking section, with his family, and the smoke is bothering everyone. I look up and see a thin column of smoke rise from my cigarette and get propelled by the ceiling fan 7 feet away and dump smoke on his table, filled with disgusted wife and children running amok, choking. EVEN THOUGH IT WAS MY RIGHT, I put out the cigarette. He thank me several times, even the wife smiled, children stopped choking while running amok. Get it? Don't categorize every smoker of being inconsiderate, a litter bug, or whatever. And I won't categorize you as a holier than thou pompous *** that has more RIGHTS than I do, simply because he thinks he does. We are not second class citizens, though we are often treated that way.
Let me know when you have that petition drawn up.
I can burp and fart better than I can smoke.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Definition of "consideration"
mindfulness of others: thoughtful concern for or sensitivity toward the feelings of others.

Couldn't help but wonder as we left the truck stop today:

Why is it that many smokers don't have any consideration for the people around them???

The stench of smoke permeated every area of the building. (showers, TV room, laundry, restaurant, and eventually our clothing and lungs).

You are in a smoking building...DOH

If smokers know that smoke is bothersome to others, can't they simply limit their practice to a private area and not force it on others??

Again you are in an area that permits smoking which is rare these days...Why are you in our smoking area? Please limit your non smoking to the non smoking areas.

I am well aware of the fact that it is a smokers "right" to be able to smoke where it is legal to do so. That is not the question. The question is regarding consideration for others.

I have the right to cough or sneeze in your direction; however, I turn my head and cover my mouth out of consideration for others.

I for one do not blow smoke in anyones face don't know of anyone that does deliberately.

I have the right to allow my children to run and scream in the restaurant; however, I ask them to sit and remain quiet out of consideration for others.

I even have the right to burp, pick my nose, and pass gas at the table next to you; however, I refrain out of consideration for others.

WHY does it seem impossible for some smokers to:
Make it through a meal without smoking?
or
Watch a movie, use the restroom or take a shower without smoking?

And again..you are in MY smoking area..go to your own area!!
or
Stand away from the front door when smoking?
or
Use the vehicle ash tray instead of throwing the cigerette butt out the window onto the highway or into the dry brush along side the road.
or
Use the public ash tray provided instead of throwing the cigerette butt onto a businesses sidewalk or garden
or
Not place a cigerette on restroom counters and sinks and permenantly damage the surface with burn marks.

Agree here...It looks aweful and disgusting...and it costs the truckstop money and resources to keep the area clean...the guy picking up the garbage could actually be cleaning or fixing something.

I would like to believe that if some day I decide to become suicidal and start smoking, I would stay considerate for others and keep it to myself.
Maybe not, perhaps when you make the decision to maintain a destructive habit that can lead to serious illness and even death it just doesn't matter if you are considerate or not.

I don't know the answers to these questions. I have a headache from all the smoke that I breathed in today and I am not thinking clearly.

Can anyone either:
1) Explain why many smokers don't feel the need to show consideration or
2) Attack me for daring to ask (I am ready)

Don't worry...East of the Mississippi will be smoke free soon...I believe there is maybe 5 states left that allow smoking...legally

 

[ATeam]

I even have the right to...pass gas at the table next to you....

Some rights are more precious than others. Be careful here, lest you start a legislative trend. You can have my gas when you pry it from my cold, dead.... Well, never mind.

 

[BEARTRUCKER]

Smoking is NOT a right, it is a priviledge.
As far as "most smokers" using ash trays, smoking in designated areas, etc. I find that those "most smokers" are far and few.

Smoking is an addiction, both physically and psychologicaly.

You must maintain a constant level of nicotine in your sysem or else you "crave" it - a form of withdrawl. After eating your levels drop, therefore you must light up. In the morning your levels are dow, therefore you must light up . You light up in time of physical or psycological stress, thus increeasing or maintaining the nicotine level in your blood stream.

You have made the habit (psycholigical addiction) of associating smiking with having a drink (coffee, beer, liqour, etc.) You must light up to feel "cool" or look "cool".

Yes, I'm an ex-smoker. Smoked from the age of 12 till I was 35. At one time I was up to 4 packs a day. That was 15 years ago. It took a few tries but I quit cold turkey. Do I still crave a smoke? Yes, every now and then. Especially when someone near me light up with a match.

I can't stand the smell anymore. It drives me crazy when I'm in the john of a "smoke free" place and some addict light up i the next stall.

It make me shake my head when I have to pass guys smoking outside and hear them complain about thier "rights" being violated because they can't smoke inside. These same guys reek of smoke, are coughing and hacking - probbal in the early stages of COPD (Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease). All the while they are spending $25.00 for 200 cigarettes. I can think a alot better things to spend that on. But thats their "right"...

And thats my 2 cents worth...

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Yup...and we chose to pay a heavy price for our addiction...both in health risks and taxation.....

 

[VBobby]

I don't smoke.

No smoking is not a right. Liberty is a right.

privilege n. a special benefit, exemption from a duty, or immunity from penalty, given to a particular person, a group or a class of people. PRIVILEGE, rights. This word, taken its active sense, is a particular law, or a particular disposition of the law, which grants certain special prerogatives to some persons, contrary to common right. In its passive sense, it is the same prerogative granted by the same particular law.

Smoking is not a priviledge. Smoking, to a smoker, is the exercise of their liberty.

All harm done to this country is the result of lawmakers breaking down the bill of rights into thousands of laws creating priviledge.

 

[termite289]

ahhhh the good old days.
remember when we could just smoke everywhere. the mall, the movies, the grocery store.
remember how much fun we had grabbing children by the ears and blowing smoke down their throats. remember when we could just put our smokes out in the plate of the people who were dining at the neighboring tables, whether they had finished their meal or not. remember putting smokes out by snuffing them on the arms and legs of hookers. yea those were the good old days.
now we have to listen to anyone who decides it is their day to whine.

quite frankly, the complaining about smokers bothers me more than someone else smoking.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Same could be said for an alcoholic who tears apart his/or family and those around them....drinking themselves into oblivion....
or the the casino goers dropping their last dime into a slot ...letting their families go hungry....all government sponsored and legal......all are addictions.

 

[Turtle]

Definition of "consideration"
mindfulness of others: thoughtful concern for or sensitivity toward the feelings of others.

Smokers have feelings, too, so please keep that definition in mind at all times, and not just when it benefits you.

Can anyone either:
1) Explain why many smokers don't feel the need to show consideration or
2) Attack me for daring to ask (I am ready)

Either? I can do both, but I'll just stick with #1 for now. Many smokers are generally inconsiderate of others in many ways, some of them not even related to smoking. Many non smokers are equally inconsiderate in many ways, some of them not even related to smoking.

On the other hand, many smokers give great consideration, and have great tolerance for non-smokers. The reverse can be said, but rarely.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Non-smokers can IF they so chose take a seat in the smoking section thus taking away a seat from a smoker.....

A smoker can not sit in the non smoking section.

 

[louixo]

Routejumper...your post was one of the more graphic, and right on posts I have seen on this forum. I have to pass it along. Funny too! Couldn`t have said it better. The politically correct, yuppie do gooders make me want to barf with their narrow minded viewpoints all the time. Trucking and smoking go hand in hand. If smoking is taken out of the local truckstop, truckers will go elsewhere. I`m a non smoker, and if I don`t want to be around the smell of smoke, then I don`t go to where there is the smell of smoke. End of story. Most trucksops always smell of smoke, or diesel, or good food, or brake fluid...or a mixture etc. Perfume to me. Humble2drive reminds me of the saying "stop the world, I want to get off".

 

[TeamCaffee]

Smoking is NOT a right, it is a priviledge.
As far as "most smokers" using ash trays, smoking in designated areas, etc. I find that those "most smokers" are far and few.

Smoking is an addiction, both physically and psychologicaly.

You must maintain a constant level of nicotine in your sysem or else you "crave" it - a form of withdrawl. After eating your levels drop, therefore you must light up. In the morning your levels are dow, therefore you must light up . You light up in time of physical or psycological stress, thus increeasing or maintaining the nicotine level in your blood stream.

You have made the habit (psycholigical addiction) of associating smiking with having a drink (coffee, beer, liqour, etc.) You must light up to feel "cool" or look "cool".

Yes, I'm an ex-smoker. Smoked from the age of 12 till I was 35. At one time I was up to 4 packs a day. That was 15 years ago. It took a few tries but I quit cold turkey. Do I still crave a smoke? Yes, every now and then. Especially when someone near me light up with a match.

I can't stand the smell anymore. It drives me crazy when I'm in the john of a "smoke free" place and some addict light up i the next stall.

It make me shake my head when I have to pass guys smoking outside and hear them complain about thier "rights" being violated because they can't smoke inside. These same guys reek of smoke, are coughing and hacking - probbal in the early stages of COPD (Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease). All the while they are spending $25.00 for 200 cigarettes. I can think a alot better things to spend that on. But thats their "right"...

And thats my 2 cents worth...

One of the problems I had was that I came from a family where every person about the age of 13 smoked. I had no clue how bad the smell was with this habit. I also tried many times to quit smoking after I finally reached 3 packs a day. I was not a nice smoker and non smokers drove me to distractions with "their" rights. They could say anything they wanted to a smoker and could make all kinds of crazy laws on where you could and could not smoke. I finally got tired of smoking ruling my life, where I could eat, what car I could ride it, who my friends were who would not stand up wind of me, and that cough just drove me nuts. I never ever want to go through the agony I went through to quit smoking and I am sure my family also never wants to go through that agony. It is not easy to do and I sure do not hold it against anyone that smokes and is not ready to go through all of agony I went through.

I do not like the smell of old smoke now and the smell of an ashtray is more then I can stand. I though make the choice to go into a place that has smokers, I make the choice to have friends who still smoke, and I also make the choice to walk through smokers to get inside a building. I have not smoked for over ten years but I cannot hold it against smokers to get that fix I know they crave. When the time is right they will quit but they will make that decision, I will not make it for them nor will I make rude comments as I walk by all have rights.

 

[DougTravels]

When I was first married, my wife often would smoke after sex. Then we discovered lubricant.

 

[ATeam]

Notwithstanding my non-serious post above, let us not forget the Open Forum friends we have lost to lung cancer and the heartfelt pleas they left for readers here. Their message was simple: "Don't smoke!"

 

[wellarmed]

Sounds like someone may have a gastrointestinal problem that they may want to see a doctor about and the last time I checked this forum was for expediters not doctors. After you make the appointment with the doc you might consider making one with a shrink because this really seems to be a matter wich your having trouble dealing with and even though I may smoke where you would rather I didn't, I'm now trying to show you a little concern and consideration as you have requested.COUGH,COUGH,oh I'm so very sorry for coughing,and you were not here to see me turn my head.

 

[MentalGiant]

Ok, I'm a smoker and the one who said it was a privelge is dead wrong. Its my god given right. Don't matter what the government has passed a bill on, it doesn't matter what others say about it. The only reason the bill passed, because there is alot of non-smokers in the government, not considering the number of smokers that are in the states who had a chance to vote for theses bills to be passed. If choose to smoke, its my business, but should I be treated like a criminal? Guess so, I'm limited to where I can smoke, the taxes on cigs go up more often the alcohol. Talking about alcohol, anybody notice taxes going up that? Alcohol in the end result killing people but they do nothing to deter the sales or use of alcohol. Here is a link to show the perctenages. Drunk Driving Accident Statistics | Car Crash Lawyers Injury Legal | Pennsylvania PA Attorneys And thats just death, not the serious injured who recovered. But, since most of the government officials like to drink, alcohol is left alone. So, I guess we can talk just as much about your drinkers.

Now to talk about the consideration of the non-smokers. Yes, I'm very considerate of them. I don't go to their home and expect to light one up. I don't go blow smoke in their faces. I don't throw my butts on the ground. We keep a ash tray in the truck and when we throw the butts away, we put in plactic bag and tie it up and dispose of them in the garbage. Again, there are people out there that doesn't not have all those considerations. But, those are the ones who probably throw trash on the ground, pee's all over the seats, wipes sh*t all over the bathroom walls, don't wash their hands after using the bathroom. All I'm saying, don't lump us all in one.

 

[inkasnana]

The following is an article I wrote that I posted on my MySpace blog back in Sept. 2006 regarding smoking.

" I was reading about the E coli epidemic that was stemming from the fresh, bagged spinach and went to a message board link about it where I was sidetracked by an entry on smokers vs non-smokers. (What that subject has to do with the E coli problem I have yet to figure out.) Anyway, after reading 3 of the 11 pages of posts concerning smoking, I closed the browser and decided to post my opinion on the whole debate here.

Everyone knows that smoking is addictive. Everyone knows that it's a very offensive habit to those that do not smoke. Everyone knows that the government (the tax payers actually) has funded all of these "scientific research studies" that "prove" that smoking, particularly second-hand smoke, cause cancer and a whole host of other illnesses. And yet, every debate or arguement concerning the subject simply lists the same old facts, opinions, rants and raves as every other debate or arguement on the subject.

So what's the point of my input? Well.. hmmm.. one statement in particular caught my interest when reading the messages. One poster stated that smoking was directly linked to ALL cancers. While it's true that this was just a wild and uninformed ranting by an uneducated poster, it appears that this is a commonly held belief by a high percentage of non-smokers. I can only assume that this poster hasn't yet seen the tv commercials stating the fact that cervical cancer is caused by a virus. Human papillomavirus (HPV) to be exact. This is a recent development and what I'm wondering is how long before more of the same types of discoveries are made concerning other types of cancer?

Most cancers appear to have genetic links and predispositions. Smokers and non-smokers alike get the same types of cancers and yet science puts the blame on smoking and second-hand smoke. Why is that? Was there too much pressure to find a "reason" and appoint blame? I've known non-smokers who lived with smokers and yet lived long and healthy lives with no cancer of any kind. I've known smokers who lived long and healthy lives with no cancer. I've known non-smokers who developed lung cancer and smokers who developed lung cancer. Too many variables to appoint definate blame.

I'm a smoker. My parents were smokers, though both quit smoking quite a few years back and I applaud them both for the will and strength to successfully stop a very addictive behavior. But, back to me. Yes, I've tried quitting numerous times. The longest amount of time I was smoke free was 11 months. But the thing is.. I don't want to quit at this point and time in my life. I enjoy smoking and it is my right to do so. I respect a non-smokers right to "fresh air" and I do not smoke around non-smokers and I have no problem with businesses choosing to be smoke-free. What I do have a problem with is the non-smoker thinking they have the right to decide whether or not I have the right to smoke. I have a problem with a government that thinks it has the right to dictate to the private business owner whether or not they can allow smoking on their privately owned property. I have a problem with a government that places huge taxes on cigarettes because they are so "dangerous" and yet does not afford the same types and amounts of taxes on alcohol which is far more dangerous than tobacco. When was the last time you heard of a fatal car accident caused by someone under the influence of cigarette smoke?

Anyway.. that is my "rant" for the time being. There's a lot more I could say on the subject, but right now I'm going to exercise what's left of my "smoking rights" and go out on my front porch and enjoy a cigarette. "

That's my take on the whole situation.

 

[freightchase]

Could all of you post a little louder? I can't hear you over the noise of my oxygen concentrator, as I refill my portables to go out this evening. Boy, having 33% of the lung capacity that I should have is great also. Knowing I could die within 3-4 years is a real plus! Makes me want to go out and accomplish all of those things I had planned on doing, before I got sick. Oh, that's right, now I can't do them.

Rant over. Smoke 'em, if you've got 'em.

Mike

 

[termite289]

ok, i considered it, then thought toss off