No smoking means no smoking!

[myswtghst]

This is one of those things I just don't get. I'm sure some of the hotel workers on this board can feel for this story, however.

To preface, I recently quit smoking...as in, I did so right before Christmas and so far have held up ok. But in the 4-6 years I was a smoker, I did my very best to smoke in designated areas only, particularly in places where I knew I'd be fined for breaking the rules. So I took some joy in this story my father just passed on to me, via text.

Last Thursday, my family (dad, mom, me, my "big" brother Matt, my uncle and my aunt) all flew down to Orlando, FL, for a bowl game. My cousin, Amy, was already there with the marching band, and stayed with them until Saturday night. We had three hotel rooms - 1 for my parents, 1 for Amy's parents, and 1 for me and Matt. Once I left (this morning, had to fly back to be at work, joy), the parents decided that Matt could bunk with our parents, and Amy with hers, so they cancelled the room Matt and I were in. (Which was connected to my parents' room)

Within an hour of returning to the hotel tonight, they determined that the "new neighbors" were smoking in the room. Now, this is a problem for a few reasons. Number one - this is in Orlando. It is 84 degrees outside. It's not exactly punishment to go outside for a bit on one of the many patios with benches and chairs and ashtrays to have a smoke. Number two - the entire hotel is non-smoking, and it is posted ALL OVER THE PLACE with signs warning you that there is a fine if you're caught smoking. Number three - my mom has asthma and various other maladies that mean she cannot be around people smoking, so people in the adjoining room with but a door seperating them were really bothering her.

So, being my dad, who is not one to sit quietly, he immediately called the front desk, and got themselves moved to a different room, along with the rest of the family (2 new rooms on a different floor). And when I responded to my dad's text about that, saying that I hoped the new rooms were nice, he came back and let me know that the new rooms are "Not as big but quieter. Smokers fined $250!" which made me happy.

Now, as I've said before, in multiple threads, I've got nothing against smokers, having been one for quite some time. But how hard is it, really, to just go outside, into the beautiful weather, and sit on the nice bench with your cig? Oh, and to put it out in the damn ashtray, instead of dumping it in the pretty landscaping? Yeah, s'what I thought. At least this time they got what was coming to em.

[CancelMyService]

Yeah, we have people in my apartment building who for some reason when it gets cold need to light their cigs while walking to the exit door instead of waiting to get outside. Do lighters not work under 35 degrees F? It wouldn't be so bad if the smoke didn't waft back into the hallway and make it smell ike the whole floor was on fire. The office sends out reminders, but they never really stop doing it.

I don't grudge anyone for chasing their nicotine dragon, but somewhere along the way smokers have decided they can just smoke whenever and where ever they want. If anyone tells them otherwise, then they are just prejudiced against smokers.

[bigjimaz]

I've been a smoker since I was 13. Oddly enough it was a habit I got into to impress a girl I had a crush on who was a smoker. In my adolescent mind I figured that if I smoked she would be interested in me. Of course, my master plan didn't work and all I'm left with are bad memories and scarred lungs and the associated health problems.

I live in a smoke-free building. Nobody is to smoke inside the building, period. I respect this, as I always have. Why should my foolishness be visited on anyone else. Last weekend, (actually the Friday before Christmas) the lady that lives in the apartment above my bedroom was evicted for continually smoking in her apartment. Everyone in the building has reported her at one time or another in the 3 months she has lived there, including myself. Hell, if I can drag my fat ass outside at 4am to have a smoky treat, it's not going to bother her to drag her skinny ass outside at 3pm.

The last straw was when a couple other tennants and I were standing outside talking to the landlord, who is a really nice guy (nobody pays rent in December if they've been here a year as a Christmas gift to us) when he happened to look up and see smoke coming from her apartment window and then proceeded to run inside the building so fast I swore someone lit his ass on fire. She had opened her bedroom window (it was maybe 35°) and had a fan blowing out. None of us heard what was said, but the very next day, the "Apartment for Rent" sign went up on the front porch and nobody has seen her since.

[Shabo]

We had people in my apartment building last year that would smoke in their apartment. But they lived on the second floor, and were in between two exits. One they weren't supposed to use, but everyone did anyway, and the other was even closer to them (and they were supposed to use it!). So one day, I went over to chat with them about something, and I noticed that their apartment reeked of cigarettes. So I asked them if they smoked, and they said that they weren't smoking (uh, not what I asked, but thanks for clearing that up?), so I asked again, saying I was just curious. They reluctantly said, yeah, uh, we smoke, and I said, Great, can you go outside from now on? Thanks! They just gave me a look. Teehee.

Then they started leaving their butts in the hallway. Gross. So I said to them, "Hey, I don't know who is leaving those butts in the hallway, but if you do know, could you ask them to knock it off please? It's really gross for non-smokers, and there's trash cans outside to put them in. Thanks!" And wouldn't you know, it stopped. One word of advice- if you are the only ones on that part of the floor that smoke, don't do dumb things like that.


Then there was the apartment on the first floor. Grossest apartment I have ever seen in my LIFE. They not only smoked cigarettes (and other stuff, too), but also chewed tobacco, drank tons of liquor, never took their trash out, didn't clean once (including at the end of the year), and were so freaking disgusting. I don't know how they managed to live in that filth. I mean, I live on a farm, and I would rather live in my barn than live in that apartment. It takes an awful lot to gross me out, and that apartment really managed it well. *shudders violently* The worst part is that they lived RIGHT NEXT to the door (that wasn't supposed to be used), and they smoked in their apartment anyway. I hope they got hit with a huge cleaning bill at the end of the semester. I feel really bad for anyone who had to clean that up, and bad for anyone who is living there this year. There's no way that that apartment looks halfway decent anymore after those boys lived in it.

[BlaqueKatt]

wow up here most apartment buildings are smoke free in the lease-ours isn't but when the rental company asked if I smoke I said "yes but with our computers, and my husband's asthma-I only smoke outside" Turns out the guy that showed us our apartment does the same, and we got into a discussion on how badly it damages the apartment, and the smell-I found out later after we had been here a year(we've been here for 4 years and the rent has only gone up $10/month from $605 to $615 for a two bedroom with heat/water included)that the two other tenants that DO smoke inside pay almost $30 a month extra! And the only reason is that they won't step outside!!!! I have a small tin(cookie tin) one the windowsill outside for my "ashtray"-that the guy who showed us the apartment also uses when he's here, and an empty altiods tin that I carry with me for when I'm out and can't find an ashtray or rubbish bin-I see no reason to litter. I used to carry extras and offer them to people that I saw throwing filters on the ground-"oh you can't find an ashtray! poor thing, here take this!"

other than the cigs and lighter that sit by the back door-you'd never know a smoker lived here-though I do have a small collection of unused novelty ashtrays a dragon, rose/ bricks(currently water dishes for my mousies), and a skull-well ok we use the skull for matches from lighting candles

[Broomjockey]

an empty altiods tin that I carry with me for when I'm out and can't find an ashtray or rubbish bin-I see no reason to litter.

OMG! I think I you! Quite nice that you get a rent break just for stepping outside to do your business, which you were doing anyway for your own reasons

[GolfCart34]

I'm not a smoker (never have been) but it just pisses me off how disrespectful some smokers can be. The worst, by far, were some of the girls who smoked at the first college I went to. At that college, smoking was not allowed in any dorm, period. If you wanted to smoke you had to go outside. The college was nice enough to place cans with sand right outside of the dorm buildings. Well, the respectful smokers would go outside to smoke, go away from the buildings (usually for a walk around with friends and just chat), smoke their cigarettes, put their butts in the can as they went back inside, and that was that. Then there were the girls who would sit right outside of the dorm windows and smoke, thus making the entire dorm building smell like smoke. And don't even get me started on the girls who smoked in their room and set off the smoke alarm at 3 in the morning. Let's just say that the college was none too happy with those girls.

I ended up not living in the dorms at the second college I went to much. I couldn't get a room in a non-smoking dorm since I was a transfer student, and naturally they had to set me up in a dorm where they do allow smoking. I decided to commute to school from home and take classes online after that semester.

I never had problems with smokers in the apartments I've lived in (thankfully). My bf's dad smokes, but he's probably one of the most respectful smokers I've met. He hardly smokes any cigarettes a day and he doesn't usually smoke when I'm in the room. He also goes out to the backyard to smoke when he comes to visit our house and he never leaves his used cigarettes around our house.

I don't have a problem with smokers who are respectful of their non-smoking counterparts. I have a co-worker who's a smoker, but she only has a cigarette on her lunch break and reserves the rest of her smokes for her walk into work or home. The non respectful assholes who smoke, those are the ones who I have a problem with.

[Greenday]

I can't stand the smokers outside my dorm. Most of them are so disrespectful. There are a few ashtrays at both entrances so you can go out either side if you want to smoke. And every freaking time I go outside, I see empty ashtrays and cigarette butts all over the ground. Come on people, that's pretty damn disgusting.

Last year, the people below my current room who were on the 6th floor enjoyed smoking weed. So of course, they'd just blow the smoke outside their window, and the smell would come straight through our window. This seemed to happen EVERY day. After awhile, while I was hanging in my roommates room, some cops stopped in our room, sniffed, asked us if we thought if it was coming from directly below us, and then left the room. I never smelled any weed anymore.

[Diablo]

Yeah smokers can be rude but we don't have a monopoly on asshole behavior. I love how the bench next to the only ashtray within walking distance of my dorm seems to be the most popular hangout for idiots. Nothing is better then when I'm trying to enjoy my ten minutes of suicide and people feel the need to make smart ass comments to me or ask if I can smoke somewhere else because they are already sitting there. Uh no I can't since this is THE ONLY PLACE I AM ALLOWED TO SMOKE. Even better are the clowns on their cell phones who make comments like "I got to call you back cause some asshole just decided to light up next to me". Yeah, I'm the jerk for smoking in the one place I'm allowed to and you want me to wait for you to finish your phone call prior to smoking. Furthermore, the claim "I'm allergic to smoke" or "I've got asthma" is claimed by everyone under the freaking sun now. I understand how asthma can be effected by smoke but how the hell does somehow have an allergic reaction to smoke? And in particular only to cigarette smoke. Funny, never heard of someone complaining at a restarant about an open fireplace. What I really love are the potheads that rant and rave about the federal government criminalizing weed yet those idiots are the first to sign some petition to get the campus tobacco free. Its bad enough that we have been hounded completely outdoors but now we have people giving us their two cents on why we need to quit. You wonder why so many smokers are jerks?

[Greenday]

My mom actually is allergic to cigarette smoke. She breathes it in, and you'll hear her coughing up a storm. To be fair though, cigarette smoke isn't the only thing that'll set her off. Strong perfumes or other scents do it too.

I've actually developed somewhat of an addiction for second hand smoke. Whenever my friends or co-workers would go out for a smoke, I'd go out with them. I don't know why, but when I'm with them, I don't mind it one bit. I guess it kinda depends on where I am and what's going on.

[Broomjockey]

My mom actually is allergic to cigarette smoke. She breathes it in, and you'll hear her coughing up a storm. To be fair though, cigarette smoke isn't the only thing that'll set her off. Strong perfumes or other scents do it too.

Ditto, but at least I'm smart enough to avoid the designated smoking areas, unlike the twits in Diablo's post. The only thing I hate is when in bad weather smokers hang near the door, instead of the smoking area. I really promise! If you stay in your area, I'll stay out, and I won't hassle you!

[MadMike]

Yeah smokers can be rude but we don't have a monopoly on asshole behavior.

I won't argue with that. I remember one incident at a restaurant, back before most of them went nonsmoking like today.

My ex smoked, as did most, if not all of her friends. One day I was with her and a few of her friends, and we stopped at this one fast food place. The one side was the smoking section and the other side was non-smoking, both clearly labeled. The place was pretty much empty, except for this one woman who was sitting in the smoking section, reading over some papers while she had her lunch.

I don't smoke myself, but I didn't feel like sitting by myself, so I joined the rest of the group in the smoking section. As soon as someone lit up, the woman who was sitting there told her she didn't like smoke, and asked her to put it out.

As I stated above, I don't like smoke either, but I wouldn't be dumb enough to sit in the smoking section. I made sure to point that out to her.

[blas]

The truck stop restaurant I worked at had a smoking section. The only one in town that did. In fact, I can only think of 2 or 3 placesm in this area that still allow smoking.

You wouldn't believe how many people whined or threw a fit over it. "I don't wanna eat here if there's smokers!"......it's just like well, okay, then you can go to one of the other 100 places to eat here that are nonsmoking.

[Dave1982]

As a general rule I don't have an issue with smokers (I do not smoke).

However, sometimes it is just ridiculous (though this had nothing to do with cigarette smoke).

My senior year in college I lived in an off-campus apartment (not owned by the university). One evening I opened the door (I lived on the top floor) and got WHACKED IN THE FACE by a haze of pot smoke. I had to hold my breath going down the stairs and found that the assholes on the first floor were smoking so much weed that the smoke was billowing out into the hallway and up the stairwell. I'm talking about a visible haze here. I also do not have a problem with people who choose to partake now and again, but this was insane.

All that smoke must have had some negative effect on me because for some stupid reason I didn't call the cops. I did however inform the complex manager the next morning, and hoo boy she was pissed. She immediately called that apartment (getting no answer) and told me to definitely call the cops the next time if there was a next time. Dunno what ended up happening, but they never again had pot smoke pouring into the hall.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Well, I imagine someone can be allergic to tobacco smoke the same way they can be allergic to anything else. I don't know if I'm allergic to it, all I know is one whiff of it makes it feel like an ant farm got turned loose in my sinuses and on my eyeballs. More whiffs cause my nose to stuff up like I have a cold and snot to start running.

If I'm stupid enough to hang around after that, I actually get what feels like mild flu symptoms. Headache, stuffed sinuses, body aches.

Allergy? I don't know, maybe. I have a friend who is allergic to pine, she gets the same symptoms if someone burns it around her (man, she lives in the wrong state).

Pot, woodsmoke, burning leaves, paper. not the same symptoms. Dry throat at the worst with these things.

And I have to take issue with the "fake coughing" accusation. No, I don't usually start hacking the moment a whiff a smoke comes under my nose. But how do you know it's "fake" if someone is coughing around you when you are smoking? Not that it's come up, but right now, I'm coughing randomly on my own spit. I'm recovering from a cold. Look at me wrong and I will start hacking. I imagine a facefull of smoke would most likely trigger a hacking fit in me right now. Hell, CLEAN air can cause a hacking fit in me right now, so I can't imagine what smoke might do. It would really kind of get next to me if I got accused of being a faker because someone blew smoke on me and I started hacking because it just pushed me over the edge.