Joe was saying about Smoking on the General
Discussion Area.
Am I the only person that does smoke in the
whole ECN world?.
My smoking started through my years as a
Fire-Fighter, with going to Fatal Car crashes,large Fires, etc, I am not looking to give this up in a hurry.

[This message has been edited by Trumpy (edited 12-22-2002).]

https://www.electrical-contractor.net/jt/smokerslung.jpg

Smokerslung



[This message has been edited by Joe Tedesco (edited 08-01-2003).]

I've never smoked myself, and I never intend to start.

Back when I was around 16 or 17 I took one puff from a cigarette, not with any intention to smoke it all, but just to see if it was as bad as I imagined it to be. It was! Ugh!

My father smoked quite a bit when I was young, so perhaps I didn't notice the smell so much, but now I'm in a completely non-smoking household I really notice if anyone lights up nearby.

I respect the right of anyone else to smoke if he so wishes, just please don't do it around me!

I don't smoke, but I don't mind other people smoking as long as they do it outdoors. The image of smoking has become rather tarnished in the past decade. Today, the most common smoker seems to be low paid women. Doesn't really attract people in the same way as the models in the tobacco ads of the 1960's. Which is a good thing, in my humble opinion.

Tobacco carries a warning label, "Causes cancer", and has done so for a good many years. Tobacco ads are illegal. Alcohol ads used to be illegal too, but this ban was lifted a earlier this year. Workers here normally use "snus" (tobacco you put in your mouth) rather than cigarettes.

I myself - just like half the people of this country - is addicted to coffe. On cup in the morning, one after lunch and at least two in the afternoon... (We don't have decaf here, luckily.)

[This message has been edited by C-H (edited 12-22-2002).]

Dont worry Trumpy,

I am with you on the smoking thing as i and three of my work mates smoke as well.

Having been smoking for over 20 years and from what my doctor has said and from the last scans i had for insurance reasons, my lungs are like cast iron, I didnt believe them, so they put me on a few of these test machines and low and bewhold i can still breathe ( as well as someone who is my age and a little overweight).

I gave up for about a year or so, dunno what happened and i started again, but during that time i put on a few kilos.

So i am one of the moral minority and i will not give up, or the coffee, tea and beer (after work only on the beer)

Good food, loads of exercise and a good woman keeps me fit.

Me is a Smoker.

Does anyone remember the NECA-magazine article from about a dozen years ago where, at that time, 48% of electricians smoked.

Of all my vices, smoking is not one. And—just think! The way things are going, I should be able to sue McDnlds by next year for causing my deadly “burger belly.”

Reformed smoker, haven't had a cigarette since 1999, unless you count the ones I passively smoked in a customer's house last week. I made an excuse to go out to the van so I could get some fresh air.

Convinced non-smoker, only people I mind smoking: people I'm in a small room with and my girlfriends. My parents are strict non-smokers, everyone who smokes has to go outside.
When I was on a 1day trip with an electrician (we have to spend 1 "job orientation day" at a company at the age of 14, beacause then our scholl system offers the choice whether to continue with another 4 years high school, change school or start an apprenticeship), I went to a customer who obviously was a chain smoker and never opened any window! I was glad we had to fix the doorbell, so I could go outside and try it.

I smoked irregularly (probably one cigarette every month or so) when I was a teenager. Never bought them...I always bummed them off classmates or stole them from my cousin (who smoked), etc.

If I ever felt like smoking I wanted it to be something recreational, relaxing and contemplative (you know the stereotypicial "sitting at a cafe on the Seine with a Gaulois clenched between my teeth while pondering the state of the world" type thing).

However all the people I see smoking are always huddled in doorways in the cold puffing frantically away before having to run back upstairs to their offices.

And it's usually cheap cigarettes that STINK (almost everyone here in New York smokes)! That turned me away from it. Plus it made my hands freezing cold.

It turns into an addiction. You can't control it. I don't like things I can't control.

If I wanted to smoke, it was when I mentally felt like it, not when my body craved the nicotine.

Plus...I'm a skinflint. Cigarettes are expensive here ($7.50 a pack for the cheap ones because of all the taxes)....got better
things to spend that kind of money on.

Now the mayor has prohibited smoking in bars and discos. What the hell??? Since when do you go to a tavern to eat health-food? You go to a tavern to get drunk. Period. It's not a place for health nuts.

If you really want something bad for your lungs...stand next to one of our countless gasoline & diesel-powered buses, trucks, cars or ferry boats belching out black smoke from their exhaust pipes. That'll kill you in an instant!!!

Gee, you class that as being addicted to coffee?

I guess that by Swedish standards I must be completely beyond redemption! I usually have two cups before starting work in the morning, another mid-morning, one with lunch, another mid-afternoon, one after dinner, and at least another two during the evening. And that's when I'm out on a job; on days that I'm working from home I probably fit at least another two or three in during the day.

I'd bet that a large number of our American friends also get through a similar quantity.

Pipe smoker on job sites except where prohibited. If resturant does not have a smoking section I go someplace else.
Drink a pot of coffee almost every day.
It's great to enjoy some pleasures.

I just drink one (20 oz) cup in the morning. at 4:45 am, while I am still figuring out why the door comes out from the wall instead of the floor.
TW

Don't smoke, although the loco's I deal with you sometimes come home hacking and coughing like you do.

Hang on a minute,
Every person, is entitled to have two vices,
For me, it is Smoking and the odd Beer, I don't Gamble,or engage in licentious behaviour, I am not quite married yet,and I do not want to ruin my chances.

Yeah,
Just wondered how many of our newer members actaully smoked.
It's not something I condone though, If I could give it up I would.
Did you know, that apparently, cigarettes are harder to give up than Heroin.
Having never tried H myself, I'll take thier word for it!.

Trumpy I smoked cigarettes a few times on the bus to be cool but luckily I never got hooked on them.

My Dad passed from lung cancer ten years back, even while on oxygen he would sneak a smoke now and then. It must be a hard habit to put aside if you need to keep at it when you can not breath on your own.

To this day I miss him terribly, he was a good friend.

Had he been able to quit he might be here to see my daughters.

Bob

Bob,
Sorry to hear that your Dad passed away like that.
Since I posted that original posting, I have given up drinking and smoking is next on the list, I have cut way down, from what I used to smoke.
It was just so hard to climb poles and put up ladders.
Smoking itself, has a bad "look" these days,
even though lots of governments are still taking funds from Tobacco companies and they are still taxing us smokers, because of the "Health Risks"!.

Ireland's extending its smoking ban to bars/pubs from January 1st 2004. Should be interesting to see how it works out.

It basically extends the smoking ban (Applies in all work places). Removes smoking sections in restaurants, the smoking sections on long distance trains will also be removed.

The bar/pub ban is being pushed by bar workers. Once it is inacted they will have a very definite right to sue employers who don't enforce it for placing their health at risk.

In general smoking rates are going down quite a bit here although it's still high compared to say California. Generally though it's becoming more and more anti-social.

The other slightly strange environmental legislation here is the extension of the polluter pays taxes.

So far there is a 15¢ charge on all plastic bags. This has resulted in shoppers reverting to bringing shopping bags/baskets/backpacks and stores issuing reusable bags. It's been an outstanding sucess and it's rare to see a plastic bag these days. A lot of stores simply don't provide them at all anymore. (they might have paper, but you have to ask). Also if you do use plastic everyone looks at you like you're some kind of eco-scum! Old ladies "tut" etc.

They are now extending it to control litter:
Chewing gum's being taxed
along with a 15¢ charge on ATM reciepts. From the time the legislation comes into force the machine will give you an option of displaying your balance on screen or printing a reciept (at a charge)

Fast food packaging of a non-biodegradable type will also be subject to a 15¢ charge per item of packaging. These charges have to be individually itemised on the receipt and can't be absorbed.

djk,
Just a small question,
If everyone gives up smoking, would everyone else like to pay more tax, to cover what the government, lost out on banning smoking?.

Ever see the health care bill associated with smoking related diseases??!

It far outweighs the tax take on cigarettes!

As with many things I find the government's attitude to this quite hypocritical at times.

It is a proven fact that smoking is bad for you, and the govt. keeps on saying how they want to see more people quit. So why not simply ban the manufacture, sale, and importation of cigarettes entirely?

They've managed to use a similar "we know what's best for you" approach in many other areas, e.g. the ban on leaded paint and gasoline.

"But what about peoples' right to choose to smoke if they wish," I hear you say. As someone who's become increasingly a libertarian I agree entirely, but that hasn't stopped the govt. from enacting many other laws which similarly infringe upon one's right to choose (e.g. compulsory seat belt laws).

Do they fear that a ban on all forms of tobacco would lead to prohibition-style racketeering and "Cigarette Speak Easies," or are they just looking at the revenue that would be lost?

I don't smoke either. There is nothing worse then having a smoker breathe on you. Their breath can be nauseating. Worse yet is tobacco chewers and their gross pracice of spitting in from of others.

Just my opinion.

No smokers in this household.

However, every once in a while, I do pop outside for a breath of fresh pollution

dang!, happens every time i'm on fire

I guess that's what happens when you work on 2400V systems without shutting off the juice first!

The other 52% obviously tested the circuit first....