I think its the cheese!
Posted on 03/18/2002 11:05:04 AM PST by Just another Joe
Norm LeBrun remembers the days when he could light up at his work station. Then came the new rule: no smoking anywhere but the smoking room.
That lasted for several years. Then the tiny room became too expensive to ventilate. Lebrun and anyone else who couldn’t go eight hours without a cigarette were forced out back.
Ever since, they have gathered here in the middle of a windy alley in downtown Lewiston.
Two, three, four times a day, no matter what the weather, they leave their offices and desks at a local financial-service company to satisfy their cravings for nicotine.
It happens every several feet in the alleyways behind Lisbon Street. Smokers come and go, huddling around ashtrays and buckets filled with sand.
Most of them don’t want their names used and they are reluctant to have their pictures taken. They insist that they are not ashamed of their addiction. But some admit that their spouses, children and parents don’t know about their habit or still believe they’ve quit.
Many have bosses who don’t mind their short absences. They get a certain amount of time each day, and they can split it up any way they like. One woman takes two 10-minute breaks, usually at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Her co-worker, a 27-year-old man who has been smoking since his early teens, takes his allotted 20 minutes in four five-minute intervals. That is what his habit – one and a half packs a day – requires.
Some don’t mind being pushed outside to smoke. “It gives me a chance to get outdoors in the fresh air,” says a 42-year-old telemarketer named Bill.
Others hate it. They are tired of being told when and where they can smoke. They’ve been banned from malls, restaurants, even their own homes. And they don’t think it is fair.
“I think there should be restaurants for nonsmokers and restaurants for smokers,” insists LeBrun.
A block away, Bill takes a drag, thinks for a second, and says, “They should make it illegal if it is that bad for you. Until then, they should just let us smoke.”
Despite the frustrations that come along with being part of a shrinking minority, local smokers say there is camaraderie in the dark, cold alleyways. People who work for maintenance get to meet people in the data-processing department. Salesmen chat with social workers.
They complain about work. They share weekend plans and vacation memories.
For 21-year-old Melissa Bolduc, who is too young to recall the days when smoking at work was as normal as drinking coffee, having 15 minutes a day to escape her cubicle at a local bank seems perfectly reasonable.
But she could do without the lectures that come when she returns.
So do nanny stater nico-nazis who want to run my life for me.
As a matter of fact, they stink worse than a hill of baby poop.
I think its the cheese!
So I don't need a cigarette break nearly as bad as some smokers.
And what is it that YOU enjoy that they can work on next?
Do you realize that if the state has the power to require you NOT to smoke you also give the state the power to REQUIRE you to smoke.
A little doubtful perhaps, but power like that, to make a personal choice in spite of what the person wants, is not right.
Especially when powered by a nonelected Board of Health.
does this comment strike anyone else as amusing/ironic?
On the face of it, yes. I understand it though. I enjoy smoking, but I love fresh outdoor air and can't stand stale, stuffy or smoky rooms. When I drive, my window is always open, regardless of whether I'm smoking.
Butts were 10 cents a pack on Okinawa and in Tokyo and I'd get a carton of Camels and a carton of Pall Malls for the month.
Finally, I got a solid mindset to quit and tried acupuncture (electronic) at a cost of $40 for the chiropractor-acupuncturist.
I left his office 10 years ago and have never smoked since.
Let me modify that statement.
If I'm out playing some rip-off tickets and have a couple of martinis, I can smoke a couple of cigs and not get re-hooked.
For those who want to quit I suggest: 1. Keep trying...one day it will click; 2. Try acupuncture with a mindset to quit...it will work for many and; 3. Remember what it cost you to smoke a pack when you started vs what you are paying today.
does this comment strike anyone else as amusing/ironic?
Bwahaha... Whatever. I just like getting out of the damn building for five minutes.
No, I don't. Not at all.
HaHaHa!
If I try to quit smoking, let me tell you!- the person who tries to stick me with pins to get me to relax is the first person I would deck!
No smoking area where I work.
Instead there is the "mobile meeting".
Groups pile into cars and drive around the block.
Heck, at least they're car pooling.
My company or mall, my rules. Don't like it? Open your own smoking mall?
Ditter, we finally find something that we agree on. :^)
Be that as it may, nanny stater nico-nazis stink worse in MY nostrils than almost anything else on earth.
If you don't like it use your free will and leave.
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