If I could choose a time and a place to live, it would be in England or Ireland, prior to 1492. Tobacco smoking and cigarettes did not exist there until after it was brought over from the Americas. In my lifetime, avoiding cigarette smoke has remained my greatest challenge. When I was a stay-at-home mom and when I worked from home or worked for myself, I was able to keep it away from my home and my life, for the most part; but those times when I have had to work in a business, I have struggled to remove myself from it. Those who smoke refuse to acknowledge that they are inflicting not only unpleasantness, but unhealthy air on everyone around them.
You will often see smokers go outside in the early morning air or just after a nice rain, when the air is fresh and clean, only to light up a cigarette and completely foul the surrounding air. Everywhere you go, in parking lots, at traffic stops, and along city streets, there are cigarette butts lying all over the ground. They do not see this as littering, but it is every bit as disrespectful as throwing out trash. If they bother to put them out in ashtrays, the putrid smell that they emit even after they have been snuffed out, is revolting. Many smokers smoke around their children and their pets. They smoke around their houseplants.They are always oblivious to the discomfort and annoyance they cause to non-smokers.
The entire building here where I work is non-smoking; however, my manager, my coworkers, and most of the guests are smokers. They stand right outside the doors smoking and everytime the door is opened some of the smoke gets in. It is on their clothing when they stand next to me and on their breath when they get too close while talking to me. It gets sucked in through the outside vent and comes in with the air-conditioned air. When I go home, the smell has attached itself to my clothes and my hair, which then have to be washed immediately. Coupled with the cigarette smoke is the constant exposure to toxic chemicals that are used for laundry and cleaning in the motel. Scented dryer sheets and trash bags add still more fumes for my lungs to contend with. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that none of the windows in the building open, so airing it out is next to impossible.
I have asthma, from having grown up in a household of smokers, so it is not merely the smell that I object to. I control my asthma with slow breathing and taking herbal cough drops when it gets bad, but it is the constant irritation that cigarette smoke inflicts, not only to my lungs, but to my emotional well-being as well. I like the people I work with and my job is tolerable, although I would prefer to be working outside. I am making the best of the situation for now because I know this is only temporary and that this too shall pass.
I had set a couple of chairs outside the front of the motel so that on nice days I could sit out there sometimes, when we weren’t busy. Within a couple of hours, all of the smokers had taken the seats for themselves, to sit outside and smoke. The smokers should be required to stay several yards away from the building. When I worked at the gardens in Arkansas, which was owned by the University of Arkansas, there was no smoking allowed anywhere on the property. Nearly all of the employees smoked and they would jump in their cars on their 15 minute breaks, and their lunch break, and drive down the road so that they could smoke.
I fail to understand why so many people still smoke. Young people smoke. Middle aged people smoke. Old people smoke. I have never smoked a single cigarette in my entire life and it boggles my mind that these people do not seem to mind how awful they smell. I apologize for using this blog to vent, but if you too are a non-smoker then I know you can understand the aggravation and frustration that I must contend with. I would like to say that I get relief from it on the weekends, whenever I am not working; but I have a neighbor who smokes outside only a few feet away from my garden. Other neighbors across the street smoke as well and the wind blows it my way. Whenever I go to the grocery store, the air is filled with it as I walk from my truck into the store.
Smokers feel that they are treated unfairly by non-smokers, but they refuse to see the unfairness of which they are depriving others – of breathing fresh air – which is so vital to life. The air that we breathe is precious. Without it, none of us could survive. Smokers do not value their own or anyone’s life. They are selfish, inconsiderate, and often rude. I cannot accept this situation of living with cigarette smoke. It is doubtful that I can change the situation. So, I will leave this situation – as soon as possible.