The "I am a Smoker and I am Not Rude" thread

[stinkerbelle]

Originally posted by Planogirl
Most smokers I know are very considerate yet they still sometimes get slammed by non-smokers. I don't get it. It almost seems like some people have a grudge of some kind against smokers.

Yep. I totally agree.

Both DH and I are smokers...however we do not smoke in our house...we only smoke outside. (I can't stand that stale cigarette smoke smell believe it or not!)

And I actually LIKE that restaurants and bars in my state have gone smoke free...I don't go home stinking to high heaven...and I smoke less because I have to go outside for it. (Which I prefer anyway.) and I don't like to give up my seat at the bar that often! hehe

That other thread is just out of control...it just seems that people will persecute all smokers if one steps out of line.

And about this comment:
"An observation I would make is how many more people are "allergic" to smoke now than used to be 20 years ago. An amazing evolutionary change!"

I also find it interesting that so many more people are "allergic" to smoke these days...I know it's horrible and I know it's awful for someone to have to deal with...but 20 years ago you could walk around the MALL with a lit cigarette.

oh - and FWIW...not that I plan on doing this...but my mother smoked when she was pregnant with both me and my brother...who knew this was an issue in teh 70's? Both of us turned out just fine...both healthy weights (I was 7lbs 6oz and my brother was almost 9lbs) and healthy infants.

 

[C.Ann]

First of all, I'll tell the same story here that I told over on the smoking thread on the debate board..

Last weekend my DD's in-law's came up here to our lake house for the day.. They are both strongly opposed to smoking and I would have to say the FIL is VEHEMENTLY opposed to smoking and can be quite nasty about smokers in general when he chooses to be..

Anyhow - we were sitting around my table discussing our "Walton" lifestyle living arrangement and I was beginning to stress a bit so I excused myself and went outside to have a cigarette.. At that point the FIL said to my DD - "Why is she going outside to smoke? This is HER house and if anyone should go outside, it should be US!!" Wow - could have knocked me over with a feather..

Anyhoo.. I do not smoke around children - do not smoke in the homes of people who prefer I don't - smoke only in designated areas - and will either refrain from smoking or put out my cig if I am in a situation where it's not crystal clear what the rules or feelings are..

However - if someone is nasty and rude to me, all bets are off and I will literally blow smoke right in their faces.. If you can't be polite in your request that I not smoke, then you better be prepared for the consequences!

 

[LauraR]

My mother is still a smoker but I've never caught her doing it around my kids. Her husband on the other hand, chain smokes whether they're in the room or not, which I consider rude. My kids don't spend enough time over there for me to make it an issue, though.

I had an experience with a smoker when I was pregnant, too, but this person was less considerate. My aunt and mother and I had gone into a restaurant that was pretty empty and I don't think I asked whether it was smoking section or non because no one was around us. Next people that come in they seat next to us, and this woman lights right up. It really irked me because I was 9 months pregnant and cigarette smoke gives me really bad headaches. I wanted to move, but my aunt thought I was being over-sensitive, so we stayed. If it was the smoking section the woman was within her "rights", but I think it was self-centered of her to do it.

 

[C.Ann]

Originally posted by LauraR

I had an experience with a smoker when I was pregnant, too, but this person was less considerate. My aunt and mother and I had gone into a restaurant that was pretty empty and I don't think I asked whether it was smoking section or non because no one was around us. Next people that come in they seat next to us, and this woman lights right up. It really irked me because I was 9 months pregnant and cigarette smoke gives me really bad headaches. I wanted to move, but my aunt thought I was being over-sensitive, so we stayed. If it was the smoking section the woman was within her "rights", but I think it was self-centered of her to do it.

---------------------------------------

If the restaurant was "pretty empty" - why didn't you ask initially to be seated in a non-smoking area - or ask to be moved once the smoker arrived?

You do have to take SOME personal responsibility in a situation like that.. It's similar to the folks at WDW who sit in the designated smoking areas and then COMPLAIN that people are smoking there.. Duh!

 

[stinkerbelle]

Originally posted by LauraR
If it was the smoking section the woman was within her "rights", but I think it was self-centered of her to do it.

Ok - one time, about 2 years ago, I was in the bar section of a restaurant around 9pm having margaritas with my friends...it was a smoking section and we were smoking.

about a half hour after we got there...2 women come in with a child and are seated at the booth behind us.

the kept coughing, waving smoke away from their face, etc...then came the nasty comments. "Do you mind? My child is sitting right here"

Ok - you're in the SMOKING SECTION...with your CHILD...and you have the nerve to ask me to put out my cigarette?

I turn to her and ask her if she knew she was in a smoking section "yes she said - there are TV's in here...we wanted to sit in here"

"so why should i stop smoking?"

"because my child is sitting here"

looking her right in the face, I picked up my pack of smokes and lit another.

she called the manager over...he looked at her like SHE was smoking crack and said I was allowed to smoke there.

"but my child wants to watch tv"

Well you should have stayed home then, eh? The manager moved them to the non-smoking section...and I got a margarita on the house.

(FYI - the rest of the restaraunt was basically dead...there was PLENTY of seats in the non-smoking section...it wasn't like she was stuck there.)

I don't think that was self-centered of me at all...personally - not my fault you brought your child to a bar an sat in the smoking section. (And I've seen young women bring BABIES into bars...if you have no respect for your child, why should I?)

 

[DisneyVillain]

Most smokers I know are very considerate yet they still sometimes get slammed by non-smokers. I don't get it. It almost seems like some people have a grudge of some kind against smokers.

Maybe it's partly because of attitudes like this:

An observation I would make is how many more people are "allergic" to smoke ow than used to be 20 years ago. An amazing evolutionary change!

Whether it has increased, or was just undiagnosed 20 years ago is irrelevant. The allergies are real, and when you dismiss them as not legitimate (which referring to it as "allergic", is doing), you represent smokers as not caring about other people's health.

In 2000, 4,487 people died from asthma (223 of these were children under 18). Almost double the number in 1980, so it appears that increased "allergy" can lead to increased "death". Obviously, only a small part of this is at all smoke related, but I post these numbers to illustrate my point that it is a real disease, with real increases in the last 20 years, and it shouldn't be dismissed with a wink.

20 years ago you could walk around the MALL with a lit cigarette

20 years ago asthmatics couldn't go to the mall.

To the OP: Good idea. I find most smokers to be considerate. Most of the ones that aren't considerate don't realize how much of a problem it can be for those who are allergic.

 

[ontariodisneywoman]

First I would like to thank everyone who has replied to my thread-smokers and non smokers alike.
There hasn't been any real bashing of either group! WooHoooo!

I would like to say that it is a "designated smoking section" so please understand that If I do light a cigarette(which, for any minors who may be reading this board, IT's A DISGUSTING HABIT THAT CAN CAUSE HORRIBLE THINGS LIKE STROKES, HEART DISEASE, GUM DISEASE, and MAY CAUSE CANCER) I am not being rude or insensitve-I'm just exercising my right to do so.

Thanks!

 

[DisneyVillain]

MAY CAUSE CANCER

You're not sure?

 

[C.Ann]

Originally posted by DisneyVillain
You're not sure?

------------------------

They have never been able to produce data that proves it 100% because there are too many other environmental issues that have to be included in the equation - other air pollution; chemical food additives; contaminated water supplies; exposure to jet fuels; etc. - thus the "may"..

Until they are able to isolate a group of subjects from ALL other toxins there will never be 100% proof..

 

[ontariodisneywoman]

"You're not sure?"
I'm quoting my cigarette package.

 

[DisneyVillain]

Originally posted by FroggyinArk
until a non smoker in a room near ours saw my dw put out a smoke in ashtray before going into elevator and then proceeded to cough andf hack deliberately faked, all t rhe way to the room.. after that dw and i smoked on balcony in front of her door not ours

My DW's cough doesn't sound at all real to me, but the bills from the asthma specialist certainly look real.

Even if the non smoker was faking the cough, your response was the type of behavior that gives smokers a bad name.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

DBF is a very considerate smoker. Doesn't smoke near anyone who does not smoke, or in the house, or outside near non smokers, animals or children.


I think people who are rude smokers, would be rude something else if smoking wasn't their things. It's not the smoking that makes them rude. They are just rude people.

 

[DisneyVillain]

I'm quoting my cigarette package.

That would probably explain the caps.

In the U.S., the warning is more definite: "Smoking causes lung cancer..."

 

[ontariodisneywoman]

"In the U.S., the warning is more definite: "Smoking causes lung cancer...""



Now only if they would put that warning on all those factory smoke stacks......

 

[C.Ann]

Originally posted by DisneyVillain
That would probably explain the caps.

In the U.S., the warning is more definite: "Smoking causes lung cancer..."

---------------------

The U.S. pack that I'm looking at right now says: "SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING Cigarette Smoke Contains Carbon Monoxide"

Nothing else..

 

[snoopy]

I'm a former smoker, and in hindsight (its always 20/20 ya know!) I was probably ocassionally rude. I never smoked in my home, or anyone elses, nor did I smoke in cars or around children. Those were my rules. However, I'm quite positive somewhere somehow my smoking offended someone else and quite honestly, I probably didn't really care. Nicotine is like that, it has a hold over its victim, just like any other drug.

 

[DisneyVillain]

Originally posted by C.Ann
---------------------

The U.S. pack that I'm looking at right now says: "SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING Cigarette Smoke Contains Carbon Monoxide"

Nothing else..

There are four that rotate:

Smoking causes lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema and may complicate pregnancy.

Quitting smoking now greatly reduces serious risks to your health.

Smoking by pregnant women may result in fetal injury, premature birth and low birth weight.

Cigarette smoke contains carbon monoxide.

 

[C.Ann]

Originally posted by DisneyVillain
There are four that rotate:

Smoking causes lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema and may complicate pregnancy.

Quitting smoking now greatly reduces serious risks to your health.

Smoking by pregnant women may result in fetal injury, premature birth and low birth weight.

Cigarette smoke contains carbon monoxide.

--------------------

Why the need to "rotate" if they have the data to prove it 100%? Why state it on one pack and then become wishy-washy on the others?

As I stated earlier, they have yet to be able to provide the necessary data to remove all question as to other environmental factors contributing to these cancers..

Could it be "likely"? For sure.. But then there are those who suffer from lung cancer, throat cancer, mouth cancer, etc., who have never smoked (or used tobacco products) and have not resided with or worked with smokers..

 

[ontariodisneywoman]

Originally posted by snoopy
I'm a former smoker, and in hindsight (its always 20/20 ya know!) I was probably ocassionally rude. I never smoked in my home, or anyone elses, nor did I smoke in cars or around children. Those were my rules. However, I'm quite positive somewhere somehow my smoking offended someone else and quite honestly, I probably didn't really care. Nicotine is like that, it has a hold over its victim, just like any other drug.

Well If I offend someone- I do care. My sensibilities are not victim to Nicotine.
Offending somone is not always rude.
Rude is when you purposely Smoke in a non-smoking section. Rude is when you intentionally insult someone's choices in life. Rude is when you don't stand up and let the pregnant woman sit down.
If I'm smoking in a smoking section and someone thinks I am rude to be doing so because they, being non smokers, think I shouldn't be smoking- I'm not being rude. I'm just living (rather unhealthy living.. but living none the less) my own life.. as they should be doing. I'm not sticking a gun to their heads, I'm not holding anyone hostage, I'm not molesting their children, I'm not insulting their family, their friends or their culture. I'm just having a cigarette-not illegal- just not healthy either.

How many people have had a stranger approach them and say "You know smoking causes cancer!". How would you feel if I went up to you while you were eating that Mickey Bar..and said "You know eating ice cream causes Obesityl"??? Or if you were eating an apple and said "You know, Apple skin can cause cancer-it's the pesticides" Would that be rude?

 

[Dan Murphy]

Originally posted by C.Ann
--------------------

Why the need to "rotate".....

I think that rotate, C.Ann, because of the variety of ills, or probable ills caused by smoking and they want to inform of several but can't fit all the print on one pack. Assuming a smoker smokes more that just a single pack over some measured time period (say a week or a month) they will be exposed to several of the health messages, andalso be able to read them, larger print being available. I think that is the rotation reason.