Do you like to give smokers a hard time?

Brid Hegarty · 05-10-2022 7:28pm #1

It was one of my new year's resolutions... to be brutally honest with smokers if I had to be. So if somebody lights up while talking to me, I'll say "if you're going to smoke that thing right now I'll need to walk away". I am tired of being polite.

I was in a hotel garden recently and one guy in the group wanted us to bring 4 tables together over the lawn, so that everyone in the group could be together. There was only one smoker in the group. As soon as he sat down he reached out for one of the ash trays. I was sitting near him so I asked if him straight out if he was going to smoke and how his cigarettes are very strong. He said that he hadn't noticed, and said "it's the only bad habit I have". I replied "apart from littering that is". He looked confused but I had to point this out as nearly all smokers are litter louts. We know where all those cigarette butts end up going?

Have you had to tell off a smoker?

Jim_Hodge · 05-10-2022 7:45pm

Nearly all smokers are litter louts now. Good to know. Do you tell off anybody buying a takeaway as well.

I'd image this brutal honestly has you very popular.

I've never had to tell off a smoker, as any time I'm with them they're smoking in permitted areas.

05-10-2022 7:54pm

As an extra smoker I never ever give smokers a hard time, I was one of them. However I hate smoke so avoid the instances they are smoking.

kippy · 05-10-2022 8:32pm

Yeah, depending on the context.

I'll generally point out that smoking is extremely bad for your health and your wallet. It's also a bad look in certain professions and in general nowadays.

The yonger the smoker the harder a time I'll give them.

Star Bingo · 05-10-2022 8:33pm

My body is a temple I feel the need to fumigate after breathing the carbon monoxide of the many varying species.

05-10-2022 8:38pm

Smokers keep the country running. Not smokers themselves, obviously. We're not running.

05-10-2022 8:38pm

They are dirtbags though. Butts everywhere out there. (the other butts).

Could they not just stub them out and pocket them.

Still stihl waters 3 · 05-10-2022 8:39pm

Good man brid

lintdrummer · 05-10-2022 8:41pm

Disposable vapes are worse, however that's being accepted is beyond me. I say that as a (non disposable) vaper.

kippy · 05-10-2022 8:43pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119706315#Comment_119706315

The sale of them should be completely banned. Idiotic inventions.

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000 · 05-10-2022 8:43pm

I want to speak to your manager.

Ubbquittious · 05-10-2022 8:48pm

No. I try to leave the sh1tstirring and trolling for when I'm on Boards and not let it seep into IRL

Andrea B. · 05-10-2022 8:52pm

No I do not.

Nor do I give gambling addicts, alcoholics or drug addicts, among others, a hard time.

Potential-Monke · 05-10-2022 9:09pm

Smokers know how bad it is for them. They're well aware of how much it costs. If it was easy to quit, everyone would. Some people don't want to. Vapes are not a good replacement imo. And I say this as an ex tobacco-only smoker.

elperello · 05-10-2022 9:27pm

No I don't give them a hard time.

In fact I keep an ashtray handy in the house and don't make them go outside for a smoke.

Their business if they want to smoke and the second hand smoke from the odd fag won't do for me.

thomil · 05-10-2022 9:32pm

No, why should I? I grew up in a family of smokers and I've seen how tough it was for some of them to quit. Live and let live is my motto.

Now, if someone where to light up inside my apartment, that would be a different story, but even there, I'd try the friendly approach first.

ballyargus · 05-10-2022 9:39pm

"if you're going to smoke that thing right now I'll need to walk away"

If it keeps folk like you at bay, then there's at least one good reason to take up smoking!

kippy · 05-10-2022 9:39pm

Live and let live and I amnt hard on any addicts etc isn't going to reduce the number of people doing harm to themselves and others.

However you treat other addicts isn't really relevant in this thread.

Ostracising and making it less acceptable for people to smoke will make people think twice about taking it up in the first place and consider more seriously giving it up. And that's a good thing for everyone involved.

Facilitating and encouraging this type of behaviour helps no one.

igCorcaigh · 05-10-2022 10:27pm

I'll say "if you're going to smoke that thing right now I'll need to walk away".!

Well, that's fair enough! You make your choice. If it were that you asked that person to move away, it would be different?

As a smoker, I try to keep my smoke away from people, in public places, and I do not litter. If there is no ashtray available, I top it and put the filter part in my bag or pocket.

I know smoking is bad for me; what I don't appreciate is the lectures from random people. Nothing more off-putting!

kippy · 05-10-2022 10:39pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119706757#Comment_119706757

Watching a person repeatedly doing something they know is bad for them is more off putting than lectures from random people I find but each to their own.

igCorcaigh · 05-10-2022 10:42pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119706793#Comment_119706793

Sure, but don't pretend that you actually care for that stranger, you don't, to be honest.

Larbre34 · 05-10-2022 10:46pm

Tell off a smoker?

I'm not a smoker, but I'm not a perfect person either. If you told me off, about anything, as a grown man, I'd put your lights out OP.

Fitz* · 05-10-2022 11:37pm

My biggest pet peeve is when you are in a queue for a bus or somewhere public in tight spaces and someone just starts blowing smoke everywhere and into everyone's faces. Extremely annoying. Kids etc, everyone is getting it, with no consideration of others.

Beer gardens, or other designated smoking areas - that's fair game. You're in the smoking area so it's expected to happen, and generally are set up to accommodate it.

em_cat · 05-10-2022 11:53pm

While I don’t tell them off, I’ll make a big deal about the stank off them. My MIL has been relegated to the end of the garden by the entire family as she’s been given every opportunity to get off them, from hypno to a bloody cancer diag, she’s just being stubborn at this point so off to the could, dark wet end of the garden with her…

Also managed to get our new neighbor moved after complaining to her landlord that I knew had a non smoking clause in the tenancy agreement. Apartment was rented out same month by a nice non smoking couple. She always smoked right next our windows as we have a semi shared balcony & we could no longer use our extract bc of it. PIA through the last summer.

Thelonious Monk · 06-10-2022 12:00am

I have always liked a cig when I've had a few beers. I can go without it these days and my partner gives me sh*t over it when I do, she can't help herself.

I have always had a strange relationship with cigs as I go weeks without smoking and then get a strong urge in certain circumstances.

My Dad is 72 now and never smoked but had awful trouble with ulcerative colitis for years and he read a lot of stuff online about smoking helping the symptoms of UC. He doesn't get any any more as he smokes 5 or 6 fags a day and no flare ups now. Whether it really works or not or it's a mental thing doesn't really matter as his quality of life has improved so much.

Pissy Missy · 06-10-2022 12:05am

I politely asked my old housemate to smoke his weed outside as his room was next to mine and it stunk

I would never give a smoker a hard time unless maybe he was my bf but I'm hoping said bf wouldn't be a smoker to begin with. But like previously said, none of us are perfect.

bad2thebone · 06-10-2022 12:06am

I wouldn't

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119706820#Comment_119706820

Same here I'd probably not punch their lights out but they wouldn't like my response .

The only time I'd point out danger is if there's a big swell outside and I see guy's heading down to a rocky platform fishing for mackerel.

Those big set's come in every 15/20 minutes and easily enough it would sweep you off the slab. It might look calm, but when you have a **** 8ft swell forecast and no wind. The ocean will just rise in front of you and that's it, your not going to get up fast enough.

Frozen roads , or a dangerous bull in a field, or something helpful.

Keep it practical and personable.

The op or anyone else is entitled to express their opinion, but they have to be able to take the response as a potential kick back too.

06-10-2022 1:04am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119706296#Comment_119706296

Could they not just stub them out and pocket them.

Ahh yes, but then, you'd complain about the much stronger smell (as the butts give off a concentrated smell) which gets into their clothes, etc. It might surprise you to know that, that smell is worse than general tobacco smoke.

Anyway, I have a sealable air0ight tin that I take with me when I know there's not going to be bins around, but then, I'm a "mature" smoker. The funny thing about all these complaints is that it's the smokers fault, not the council (or the government) in not providing bins on the streets. In my midlands hometown, there's two public bins on the entire walk from the middle of town to my home (3 miles on the main road). There used to be (in the 90s) 6/7 bins along the route, but they were removed due to illegal dumping, and the council not wanting to spend on the bin collections. There's a grand total of three public bins for the entire town centre.. only one having a collection point for butts.

Similar problem with many smoking areas, too. A lack of ashtrays or places to dispose of the butts.

OP, I can't remember ever being told off for being a smoker. Might get a nasty look from someone, but that's usually the case with non-smokers who sit beside the smoking area. Most smokers I know would make an effort not to be blowing smoke near non-smokers as we're well aware that others don't appreciate it (God knows there was enough advertising about it over the decades)

Immortal Starlight · 06-10-2022 2:09am

It would never ever cross my mind to “tell off” someone for smoking. What would even give me the right to tell someone else what to do. If someone wants to smoke then that’s their business. I would never begrudge anyone to have a smoke.

kippy · 06-10-2022 6:46am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119706802#Comment_119706802

Why would I bother my arse making life a bit more awkward for them if I didn't have some concern for them?

Mister Vain · 06-10-2022 9:34am

What if you shag someone and they light up afterwards?

Do you like to give smokers a hard time?

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