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Fag gags and politics Dave Carr’s post reminds me of an idea I’ve had for ages.
I often consult for long periods in in Manhattan. It’s normal there to see people standing outside on the street for a cig break. It’s such a common sight you just stop noticing it.
It also takes up a lot of peoples time. Some co-workers in one company I consulted for (pre dotBomb) went out for a puff nearly every hour.
Perhaps NYC Libertarians should carry gummed stickers sized to fit the US cig package warning. Every time you see someone standing on the street, give them one.
Imagine thousands of New Yorkers standing on the street with packages saying: “If I’d voted Libertarian I wouldn’t be standing here”.
Use your imagination.
There is room for a similar tactic here in the UK. Our health Nazi’s are so overt it leaves them open to really easy ridicule. Why pull punches at all?
“Health Nazi’s make an ASH of themselves.”
“ASH doesn’t know shite”.
“I vote Libertarian: my diseased lungs are my own business”.
The mind just boggles.
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They don’t know their ash from their elbow.
Sorry if I’ve taken your moderately whimsical post and turned it into a rant…
I don’t know, most of the smokers I’ve worked with kind of enjoyed getting their paid ten minutes every hour that the non-smokers didn’t get to go stand outside and relax. In fact, I know of at least two people who took up smoking, at least temporarily, in order to receive the privelege (of course, we don’t have freezing temps here).
If you’re more referring to all the lost productivity caused by indoor smoking bans, then I’m right there with ya.
Banning smoking in an office building is one thing–there’s a certain point where “second-hand smoke” becomes “a thick haze”, where people start bumping into cabinets and each other because they can’t see through the air. Where does your right to swing your cigarette end? Probably at the point where even skeptics have to admit that yah, that constant, languid smoke hanging in the air might have some effect on a non-smoker. But I certainly recognize there are solutions other than an outright zero-tolerance ban.
Banning smoking in all bars (as Dallas is about to do)? That’s just absurd. I don’t smoke, but when I go to a smoky bar or small musical venue to hear some music or talk, I WANT to breathe in a little of the atmosphere.
Best slogan on a T-shirt seen on a smoker:
“My outdoors smoke break just cost the company $30 in lost productivity. Remember that when you buy the stock.”
I really like this idea. Thank you, Dale.
CAUTION: Continued failure to vote Libertarian will raise the price of ciagrettes, through taxes, and force smokers out into the rain and snow, blistering heat, and dark of night.
What a great sticker to distribute at county fairs, political gatherings, festivals, and smokeshops!Anybody with a laser or inkjet printer and the right sheet of Avery labels can print enough for a carton of smokes in seconds.
I may continue to fiddle with the wording, but the above has the essence of it. Does anyone else have suggestions? (Here in the US, the warning boxes are still rather small, so we can’t be too wordy.)
A photo of an altered cigarette pack would also make a great poster at election time. Here in California, I’d love to send one to the contemptible Rob Reiner. I hear his latest movie is tanking. If so, wonderful. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
And no, I don’t even smoke. But the shoddy treatment of smokers these days — not to mention the arrogance of the Rob Reiners of the world, who think that it’s OK to tax addicts to fund social programs — burns me up.
I don’t smoke and I’m not worried at all about second hand smoke.
But what smokers often forget is that burning tobacco fucking stinks like shit to non-smokers. Back when everybody smoked the stench was permanent and pretty much everywhere and people didn’t notice (much as people in the middle ages probably didn’t notice the smell of shit and decay.
But when there are smoke free environments, people notice the difference and most people will choose the non-reeking environment.
The last office I worked in there was one smoker out of seven or so people, whenever she returned from a ciggie break people tried to avoid her because she smelled (she didn’t quit but cut back significantly when she discovered we could all tell when she’d taken a break).
I suspect that most smoking bans in most workplaces are now popular enough to survive without regulations.
How about the lost productivity of those who get sick from cigarette smoke (and there are lots of us)? Your right to send out eye-smarting, headache, and nausea producing smoke which stinks up my hair and clothes ends before my nose and clothes begin. If you can figure out a way to keep your smoke to yourself, I don’t care if you get lung cancer or 10-min. breaks or whatever.