No more smoking at RJ Reynolds...

SkyHog

SkyHog

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Everything Offends Me
We can sell to the poor and addicted,but we can't smoke on company property,just doesn't make sense to me.
 
Costa Rica banned smoking. They use to grow tobacco, but decided as a country that was bad for the world. They quit growing it on a large scale. They grow sugar cane instead. Pretty amazing turn around.

I find it weird tobacco is legal, but pot isn't.
 
sweet Virginia cigarette burning in my hand. you used to be a friend of mine, but now I understand.
 
Geico266 said:
I find it weird tobacco is legal, but pot isn't.
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I find it funny how anti-smokers can also be pro-pot. It's like a Catholic professing to be pro-abortion. :dunno:

Mental gymnastics like that must hurt a person's head! :lol:
 
They are a company making a legal product. Reducing their health insurance costs will help their profits and dividend. So I'm all for it. I'd guess companies making insecticides or nuclear weapons also frown on employees using them in the office. No difference.
 
They probably found it very hard to hire people willing to work in a smokey office. I sure wouldn't work anywhere that allowed smoking.
 
Captain said:
How do you figure out they smoke?
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IME they hammer the smokes on the way to the interview to calm the nerves. Easy to smell on the first hand shake.

That said some of our best employees are smokers. Absolutely not something I would judge someone negatively over.
 
jesse said:
IME they hammer the smokes on the way to the interview to calm the nerves. Easy to smell on the first hand shake.

That said some of our best employees are smokers. Absolutely not something I would judge someone negatively over.
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In the entry level world, it's hard to find applicants who DON'T smoke.

In fact, I'm hard-pressed to remember the last housekeeper we had that didn't smoke. It was probably in Iowa.
 
Captain said:
How do you figure out they smoke?
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Easy, they stink. :D Seriously, the easiest way is to explain the company smoking policy, designated area, number of smoke breaks etc. They will either become interested in the details or tell you proudly that they don't smoke. ;)
The car business is full of smokers, not as many as when I started 30 years ago, but I'd guess 6-7 out of my 15 salespeople smoke, 3 or 4 "dip" so only 5 out of 15 are tobacco free. :rolleyes:
By contrast my business office has 6 women and none of them smoke, 30 years ago almost everyone in the office smoked in the office!!:yikes:
 
Jay Honeck said:
I find it funny how anti-smokers can also be pro-pot. It's like a Catholic professing to be pro-abortion. :dunno:
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Are you Catholic? I assume not because if you were then you'd understand that all of us Catholics are "cafeteria line" Catholics. We pick the items we choose to believe and ignore the rest. It's the only way a Catholic can survive.

Take birth control for example; 98% of catholic women have used contraception at some point in their lives. It's a doctrine that should've been long ago abandoned, especially since there is no biblical foundation for it.

But we survive.
 
Jay Honeck said:
I find it funny how anti-smokers can also be pro-pot. It's like a Catholic professing to be pro-abortion. :dunno:

Mental gymnastics like that must hurt a person's head! :lol:
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I just spent 2 weeks staying with a heavy smoking host. I forgot how noxious 2nd hand smoke is.

I'm 'anti-smoking' personally but that just means I'd like to live my public life without having to choke on the fumes.

Pot isn't as addictive nor noxious but I think we are going to rethink the legalization thing just like drinking at 18 was reconsidered across most of the country in the 70s. The impact of legalization will be greater than proponents think.

Tobacco and pot aren't the same thing or even really related which isn't to say that it's clear how and if they should be regulated. No contradiction being pro- one and con- the other.

Having said all that, I started playing around with 'vaping' using an Aspire branded vaping device. Instead of burning tobacco you vaporize a nicotine containing liquid. Notably, the vapors are not noxious - they can barely be detected 2nd hand. They can be highly visible and there is a certain kick to blowing large clouds of vapor.

I am fascinated by the hardware. On one hand there are e-cigs that vap' tobacco in a format similar to a cigarette. Then there is a whole 'hot rodding' subculture building custom vaping devices with big batteries and shiny stainless steel hardware and colorful graphics. Now I see young people of a certain cast gathering in these 'smoke shops' sampling various devices and solutions. Looks a lot like head shops of old with a different vibe.

Some smokers are going to e-cigs and vaping for arguable health reasons. Others for the community. Older smokers don't seem to find it satisfying. And I just saw something about a rash of home explosions from people extracting THC from pot to vape with, so there's that.

BTW, my 'vaper' will find it's way to a drawer somewhere and be forgotten.
 
Zeldman said:
I agree with ya there.

I don't hire people that smoke.
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Discrimination at it's finest. I suppose you also don't hire fat folks, dwarfs, people who drink, etc.

You may have the say at the office but what they do on their own time is none of your business unless you are a controlling liberal.
 
I actually consulted for RJ Reynolds a while back. For a non-smoker it was a very bizarre place to work. You came in and there were packs of cigarettes out on the receptionist's desk with "Thank you for smoking." It was very odd having ashtrays all over the computer room.

But the issue is that most workers there in the offices aren't smokers, so they have to adapt.

I always find some of the anti-smoking rhetoric really amusing. They banned e-cigs at my old job. It has little to do with health issues, the truth of the matter is that PEOPLE HATE SMOKERS no matter how innocuous it is.
 
Norman said:
Discrimination at it's finest. I suppose you also don't hire fat folks, dwarfs, people who drink, etc.

You may have the say at the office but what they do on their own time is none of your business unless you are a controlling liberal.
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The problem is what they do on work time.
 
Jay Honeck said:
In the entry level world, it's hard to find applicants who DON'T smoke.
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You mean, in the lowest socioeconomic groups.

By thirty years ago, smoking in the US was an indicator of class. But not everywhere else, yet.

At the time, in Europe I still found workplaces with smokers roaming the halls with their burning cigarettes. Smokers who had a doctorate-level education and drove a shiny Mercedes were still smoking -- such a thing was already unimaginable in the US. That has only recently vanished.

If RJ Reynolds recently banned smoking in its offices, then it is trailing all of Europe by only a few years.

RJ Reynolds probably could not populate its offices with folks who could otherwise only be housekeepers, if they can work at all. Same thing in Europe.
 
Can't imagine the cessation making that big a difference. The air might be clearer but the place must still stink to high holy hell.

Back when folks could still smoke in bars Mrs. Steingar always knew when I'd been out drinking. Threatened to burn my clothes over the smell.

Don't see the irony as much though. I doubt breweries or distilleries encourage their employers to use their products during work.
 
steingar said:
Can't imagine the cessation making that big a difference. The air might be clearer but the place must still stink to high holy hell.

Back when folks could still smoke in bars Mrs. Steingar always knew when I'd been out drinking. Threatened to burn my clothes over the smell.

Don't see the irony as much though. I doubt breweries or distilleries encourage their employers to use their products during work.
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You'd be wrong. Most breweries encourage drinking and even provide free booze to employees.

But, when I worked in the industry, we were not allowed access to free product (except in some rare, awesome cases), and the discount program ended shorly after I started.

I don't see the irony too much either, but I do see the pain that they'll go through as there were some very heavy smokers there when I worked in the HQ.

Oh and the smell? Believe it or not, it's not so bad. I had quit smoking for a while and became really sensitive to the smell of smoke. Rarely smelled it unless someone had walked into my office holding a lit cigarette. We had amazing ventilation systems to combat the smell. The smokers cubes had portable ventilators available also to help diffuse the lingering smoke. Pretty neat stuff.
 
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SkyHog said:
You'd be wrong. Most breweries encourage drinking and even provide free booze to employees.
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During working hours? Around distillers? Sorry, I ain't buying it.

SkyHog said:
But, when I worked in the industry, we were not allowed access to free product (except in some rare, awesome cases), and the discount program ended shorly after I started.
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Waitamminit. Fist you said they do, now you say they didn't. Which is it?

SkyHog said:
I don't see the irony too much either, but I do see the pain that they'll go through as there were some very heavy smokers there when I worked in the HQ.
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They'll get cigarette breaks in designated areas.

They're trying to make my workplace tobacco free, though it clearly isn't working. No penalty if you're caught smoking. I still say there is nothing more wasteful and stupid that you can do with your money. Throwing it in the fireplace is better, at least it doesn't poison you.
 
steingar said:
Don't see the irony as much though. I doubt breweries or distilleries encourage their employers to use their products during work.
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Actually, last time I checked, which admittedly has been a dozen years or so, the AB brewery in STL had free beer in the break room. I have an old buddy who I only see a couple of time a year and who still works there, I'll have to ask him if it's still that way the next time I see him.

The other one I always loved was "Grant's Farm" in STL. It' a "petting zoo" sort of park that was (and maybe still is) owned by AB. They used to have a beer garden inside that was completely free...all you wanted. People would sit in it all day while their kids were roaming around and getting mauled by goats and zebras. :).

They elimated the "free" part a few years back but I think the beer garden still exists.

We used to party there a couple of times every summer in high school. ID? What ID? We didn't need no steenkin' ID. This was the 70's in beer's hometown.
 
steingar said:
During working hours? Around distillers? Sorry, I ain't buying it.
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Don't know about the distilleries (though it wouldn't surprise me), but certainly breweries permitted it from the little craft breweries up to the Coors facility in Golden. They had taps in their lunchroom and a policy permitting it in moderation.

Selection of samples for bourbon by the way is done entirely by smell. All the master distillers all turn out to be descendants or other relations to Jim Beam. Something genetic in the nose.

I've certainly worked in plenty of wineries where we sampled the wares. The goofy one is the one place we couldn't work and drink at the same time is in the tasting room. If you're pouring for the public, the licensing law prohibits you from drinking (at least in this state).
 
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Some of us can remember when nearly everybody smoked. In college they had little foil ashtrays with the school's name on it that people would use when smoking during class. My parents smoked so I never really saw the allure after watching my dad try to kick the habit for 30 years. He finally did one time when he was in a hotel in Hartford, CT in the middle of a winter storm. They only had non-smoking rooms so he was hanging out the window smoking in the sleet. Figured this was really gone too far and never smoked again.
 
flyingron said:
I've certainly worked in plenty of wineries where we sampled the wares. The goofy one is the one place we couldn't work and drink at the same time is in the tasting room. If you're pouring for the public, the licensing law prohibits you from drinking (at least in this state).
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Most of the wineries I've been to in Sonoma, the people in the tasting room will smell and taste a small pour from a new bottle they've opened to make sure it isn't corked before pouring for the customers.

I've seen them drink small pours from some of the wines sometimes in the course of conversation where people start talking about the merits of a particular vintage, but I've never seen any of them drink a normal glass of wine like you would at a meal.

I would imagine over the course of a working shift, all those small tastes would add up. I know even after a couple hours of tasting, I start drinking more water so I don't get too tipsy.
 
flyingron said:
certainly breweries permitted it from the little craft breweries up to the Coors facility in Golden.
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I took a tour of the Coors brewery in Golden, and I saw the taps in the lunchroom.

The guide explained that years ago employees could drink all day long on the job, but now it is limited by location and the time during the shift. I don't recall for sure, but it might be drinking only in the lunchroom starting an hour before the end of the shift, or maybe at the end of the shift.
 
flyingron said:
Some of us can remember when nearly everybody smoked. In college they had little foil ashtrays with the school's name on it that people would use when smoking during class. My parents smoked so I never really saw the allure after watching my dad try to kick the habit for 30 years. He finally did one time when he was in a hotel in Hartford, CT in the middle of a winter storm. They only had non-smoking rooms so he was hanging out the window smoking in the sleet. Figured this was really gone too far and never smoked again.
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Yup. When I went to college in the 70s, we could smoke anywhere.

The "progressive" professors would put the issue to a vote. In practice, we tended not to smoke in class, but it was common throughout campus.

When they divided one of the cafeterias into "smoking" and "non-smoking" sections, it was a "big deal".

And in newspapers, virtually everyone smoked. And the managers all had a bottle of booze in their bottom desk drawer. (This was a move toward sensitivity, I learned later. Previously, the bottles had been out on the desks.)

This was back before the squinch-faced school marms took over the world. I know we are healthier today, but, dang, I miss the WWII generation's "eff-it" attitude. Those boys made it through hell, and knew how to live.
 
flyingron said:
I actually consulted for RJ Reynolds a while back. For a non-smoker it was a very bizarre place to work. You came in and there were packs of cigarettes out on the receptionist's desk with "Thank you for smoking." It was very odd having ashtrays all over the computer room.

But the issue is that most workers there in the offices aren't smokers, so they have to adapt.

I always find some of the anti-smoking rhetoric really amusing. They banned e-cigs at my old job. It has little to do with health issues, the truth of the matter is that PEOPLE HATE SMOKERS no matter how innocuous it is.
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Years ago, when smoking everywhere anytime was still okay, I had a customer that was bought by RJR. Up to that point there was the normal amount of smoking but once RJR bought them out, ash trays became de rigueur in all conference rooms and offices. And people, especially executives started using them with a vengeance. There was no doubt of what company it was. Unfortunately they didn't pass out Nabisco cookies as well....

I was never a cig smoker though I did smoke cigars. I don't hate smokers but the constant breaks, the fumes and the unhealthy looks and smells of heavy smokers is counterproductive and often resented by others.
 
steingar said:
During working hours? Around distillers? Sorry, I ain't buying it.
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Unless it has changed in the last few years, yeah, all beer breweries that I was aware of allowed drinking during breaks in the break rooms.

Waitamminit. Fist you said they do, now you say they didn't. Which is it?
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Not sure what you mean. We were allowed to smoke in the building, but we had to buy our own smokes.

They'll get cigarette breaks in designated areas.
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Yeah - that's the catch - I suspect each floor (there are 15) will have a smoking area in the corner or in the break area. Not quite smoke free, but much more restricted than it used to be

They're trying to make my workplace tobacco free, though it clearly isn't working. No penalty if you're caught smoking. I still say there is nothing more wasteful and stupid that you can do with your money. Throwing it in the fireplace is better, at least it doesn't poison you.
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People smoke inside your office building? What industry?
 
LoneAspen said:
Most of the wineries I've been to in Sonoma, the people in the tasting room will smell and taste a small pour from a new bottle they've opened to make sure it isn't corked before pouring for the customers.
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I've seen that in California as well. But it does not happen here. I've had them pour out of bad bottles and I just tell them and they dump it out. It always makes me wonder about the people who had glasses out of the bad bottle before me.

I would imagine over the course of a working shift, all those small tastes would add up. I know even after a couple hours of tasting, I start drinking more water so I don't get too tipsy.
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Spitting. But even then it adds up. I've judged wine competitions and we'll taste something upwards of a 100 glasses a day. Even then you are impaired by the end of the day. And in one competition I had two flights of spirits (I have a spirit certification in addition to my wine ones). Even spitting doesn't help then.
 
Also I used to teach network security courses. Now in California we'd have a mid-morning break for coffee, lunch, a midafternoon snack break, and then run to about 5PM. In North Carolina (I taught one at IBM's Research Triangle facility) we had to break every hour so the nicotine junkies could have their fix.
 
Since we are talking about history, I started high school in the fall of 78, we had a Senior lounge that had a Coke machine, a Lance cracker machine and ashtrays on the table! :yikes: That ended by the start of my sophomore year. :D We still had a "smoking section" set up between the buildings that the smokers/potheads got to smoke, if they were under 16 they had to have a note from home! :yikes: All the public schools and many of the colleges are now tobacco-free campuses, including the ball fields. :nono:
At the same time the dealership was a full smoking facility, and was until the late 80's or early 90's, then it was just the office, because the controller was a heavy smoker. :rolleyes: We finally went smoke free in the late 90's, and now no one even thinks of smoking inside the building.
 
SkyHog said:
People smoke inside your office building? What industry?
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I suspect I was less than clear. No one has been allowed to smoke in a building at my workplace since I began there. It was expanded to within 100 feet of an entrance, because everyone got sick of the pall of cigarette smoke that was accumulating in doorways. The policy was recently expanded to anywhere on the campus, but as I said has not been given any teeth.
 
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