Stop Smoking Now!!!

[OntarioVanMan]

Sorry bout the mis-direction...
Smoking IS an addiction and like most addictions they are usually not good your ones self...
One day I may kick the habit but not to-day...and I heed your warning and will file them with all the rest and bring them out if and when I decide to quit....Thanx

 

[highway star]

Freightchaser, look at it this way, the debate kept your thread alive and the direction was a logical way for the discussion to go. I watched my Grandfather lose his fight with emphysema when I was 18 years old. It wasn't a pretty sight. The last couple of years of his life he couldn't walk across a room without stopping to catch his breath. And, it got much worse before it was over.

Now, if I could just understand how people feel that they have "smokers rights"...

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Freightchaser, look at it this way, the debate kept your thread alive and the direction was a logical way for the discussion to go. I watched my Grandfather lose his fight with emphysema when I was 18 years old. It wasn't a pretty sight. The last couple of years of his life he couldn't walk across a room without stopping to catch his breath. And, it got much worse before it was over.

Now, if I could just understand how people feel that they have "smokers rights"...

I think it goes along with The Right to Clean Air statement.

But HEY...I am a smoker and will admit that smoking is a dirty and unhealthy habit....

But then we should ban alchol as well...its the leader by far as a killer and breaking up a family.

 

[CharlesD]

To paraphrase the Apostle Paul, I have the liberty to do all kinds of things that aren't beneficial. I don't want to take away the right of a smoker to have a cigarette and I don't like the government stepping in and mandating what a private business can and can't do regarding that, but I also have the liberty to stay away from places where people are smoking. I'm sitting at the J in Des Moines right now and there are people smoking all over the place in there. Therefore, I'm sitting in my van rather than inside where I'd rather be. All the tables with power outlets in the restaurant are too close to the smoking section and the drivers lounge area is full of smokers. But with that all said, I don't think this discussion is really about whether they have a right to smoke in the J or I have a right to sit in there and enjoy a smoke free environment. Like I said before, it's about whether exercising your liberty is really the most beneficial thing.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

There is no benefits to smoking....and it's money up in smoke per say....it serves no uesful purpose...I say this as an addicted person to nicotine!!

 

[highway star]

There's "smokers rights", and there's "I want to be able to breath air that's not clouded with cigarette smoke" rights. The latter can lose the battle and it's, apparently, not an affront to freedom or the Bill of Rights. If the former loses the battle, it's the end of any freedom as we know it. The 2 groups can co-exist if the smokers just step outside for a smoke. That's only a couple minutes. If there's smoking in the building, the non-smoker that doesn't want to breath it can only leave, period.

Second hand smoke won't drive me from a building, although I prefer clean air. If I go to a restaurant with smokers, I have no problem sitting in the smoking section. I'm just waiting to hear a solid argument from the smokers. And, talking about smog and truck exhaust really is a different subject. Apples and oranges.

 

[pelicn]

if the smokers just step outside for a smoke.

I'm a smoker and I feel that's an option, but...there are many places now that you can't even smoke outside. Interesting

 

[CharlesD]

I'm a smoker and I feel that's an option, but...there are many places now that you can't even smoke outside. Interesting

I think that "outside" should be defined as a certain distance from the door. Nothing bothers me more than going into a building when all the smokers who have stepped outside are two feet from the door and you have to walk through a thick cloud of the stuff just to get inside.

 

[tallcal101]

Going back a few years I was accused of being a smoking nazi for putting "smokers need not apply" in my Drivers Wanted ad.I had a several drivers "promise to quit" if I hired them,but I suggested they quit first.
I don't see it as being a nazi when I own the truck, always pay on time and am looking for an employee who will be around for a while.Smoking in and of itself is a personal decision,but the fall out from fires in cabs(and sleepers) the stink that won't come out and the "promise"not to smoke in front of the customer were my major gripes.
Driving lends itself to hours with nothing to do but steer and stay safe.For smokers,it's hours on end to keep puffing.One after another after another...................................
Good luck my friend Shaker,and thanks for putting the word out.

 

[nightcreacher]

i dont care if my co drivers smoke,they just cant do it around me,thats in my truck,in the motel room,or at the dinner table,make sence?

 

[nightcreacher]

I'm a smoker and I feel that's an option, but...there are many places now that you can't even smoke outside. Interesting

few years ago,while in one of the northern california cities,my co-driver about ti light his cigarette while on the sidewalk.to make a long story short,one of californias finest,put his hand on my partners shoulder,asked him what he was doing,and told him only if he wanted to go to jail,should he light that cigarette.to funny

 

[greg334]

Going back a few years I was accused of being a smoking nazi for putting "smokers need not apply" in my Drivers Wanted ad.I had a several drivers "promise to quit" if I hired them,but I suggested they quit first.
I don't see it as being a nazi when I own the truck, always pay on time and am looking for an employee who will be around for a while.Smoking in and of itself is a personal decision,but the fall out from fires in cabs(and sleepers) the stink that won't come out and the "promise"not to smoke in front of the customer were my major gripes.

Thank you Tallcal.

This is what I am saying, it is your truck, it is your property, be it a building or a home or a truck, it is your right to tell others what to do and not to do in them - not the governments.

 

[copdsux]

I was discharged form the hospital today, around lunch-time.
Although the prognosis is not good, by any means, at least this episode has been tended too & I can go forward at this new, lower plateau. As you know by now, Emphysema is a downward spiraling disease, that can be slowed but not stopped.

Thank you to all of you who saw this thread a health issue. Not
a thread to be seized on by the "my rights" crowd.

 

[davekc]

The rights issues aside, I and the other members of EO, wish you well in your health.
Sometimes folks get a little off track, but their intent for your speedy recovery has always been intact.

 

[RLENT]

freightchaser,

Glad to hear that you are out and doing better - I hope things continue to go better for you.

And I want to let you know that although I am smoker and am passionate about the rights end of things, I do know the potential consequences of my actions:

About ten years ago my mother developed lung cancer at the age of 82. She had also heart problems and probably COPD as well. My wife and I cared for my mother at home for almost two years while she underwent chemo, and after that ... until she passed away - because she wanted to be at home and not in the hospital.

She had been a lifelong smoker. She passed away at 84 ..... after a very full and productive life ..... however it was an incredibly painful thing for me to see someone you love, and who was once so full of life, undergo such suffering.

When I was young (around 10 or so) she offered me $1000 if I would not start smoking - I had to make it until I was 18.

I really wish I had taken her up on the offer .... I started smoking when I was 11 ....

My advice would be if you don't smoke, don't start and if you do, quit.

Wally - our thoughts are with you, your wife, and your family.

 

[jaminjim]

Freightchaser, hope all turns out well for you. Sorry that the thread got off track, but as someone mentioned it has kept it in the lime light.

So.......

 

[jaminjim]

Charles said:

I think that "outside" should be defined as a certain distance from the door. Nothing bothers me more than going into a building when all the smokers who have stepped outside are two feet from the door and you have to walk through a thick cloud of the stuff just to get inside.

That's part of the problem, you want and get a nonsmoking bar/restaurant and then complain about the people smoking to close to the door, next will you complain about being seated next to someone who smell's of smoke? ( and yes they/we do stink )

Where does it end?

 

[jaminjim]

TallCall said:
Going back a few years I was accused of being a smoking nazi for putting "smokers need not apply" in my Drivers Wanted ad.I had a several drivers "promise to quit" if I hired them,but I suggested they quit first.

No Tall I am the one that said that in response to your first post ever on EO.:I would like to make a few observations about what I have leaned about whats going on out there.
1.Many (not all)owners run their business out of their wallets.No business plan,and no reserves when things get shakey.
2.Some owners are less then honest about the deals they either advertise or verbally agree to with drivers.
3.The good drivers,and I have had the pleasure to have many in my fleet,will stay as long as the "deal"is not subject to the owner not being able to pay their bills.
4.I have never had to worry about a contract.If I smell a rotton egg,their gone.It's a two way street.I keep my word,and I expect the same in return.
4.Smokers need not apply.

Your post had nothing to do with smoking, it was how you treat your drivers. Not your rules for qualifying your drivers.

And may I remind you of another post you made in that same thread:
Deal

 

[robh2]

Freight Chaser, glad you are out and feeling better.

I don't like smoke, I wont be around smoke and try to avoid doing business with anyone that smells like smoke. If my waitress, message therapist, nurse or anyone smells like smoke, I ask for the boss and have them replaced with someone that doesn't smell worse than farts or I leave. I refuse to have to smell their stench. I was forced to smell it growing up since my parents smoked and I will never put up with that again. I have been known to carry glade air freshener with me and if there are people stinking up the fresh outdoors where I have to pass by, I spray in front of me as I walk by them. I have had a few people say something to me about it and I just tell them that what I am doing smells a lot better than what they are doing. I have thought about spray farts also but then I would have to suffer more lol...

If I have to walk through smokers to get inside a building, I leave and call the business that I was going to spend my money in. I tell them that since they apparently have no rules posted about where to smoke outside or don't police/enforce such rules then I will spend my money somewhere else.

I am sorry if some people got addicted but they can quit. I don't have the option to quit second hand smoke since I am an innocent bystander, you have to do it for me. I'm sorry if I sound rude and careless but what smokers are doing to me is rude, careless and UNFORGIVABLE!

Robert

 

[jaminjim]

I have been known to carry glade air freshener with me and if there are people stinking up the fresh outdoors where I have to pass by, I spray in front of me as I walk by them. I have had a few people say something to me about it and I just tell them that what I am doing smells a lot better than what they are doing. I have thought about spray farts also but then I would have to suffer more lol...

Gee I hope the diameter of that can is rather small and smooth.