I was looking at a job description for an administrative position at a private university in Missouri, and they had this whole section about how they would not hire smokers. It was kind of shocking to me how hardcore it was. It included language about having methods to "detect" smokers, and immediate firing if evidence of smoking was found. I don't even smoke, but it freaked me out to the point that I did not apply. For example, if my wife decides as an adult to smoke a cigarette and someone later "detects" it on my clothes at work, would I be frog-marched out?
The key term above is "private". It may be possible that a private university my be affiliated with a particular religion that considers smoking a sin, which is just a guess. Originally from Missouri, I know that there are some small universities there that are basically following beliefs for that religion when hiring. Would that stand up in court as far as legal? I don't know. I suspect that the key would be advance knowledge of their feelings prior to being hired, especially if in writing. No idea if it would hold up in court if one wanted to challenge it.
I will admit, I was a closet smoker for years. When I 1st started teaching, smoking was totally acceptable for several years in that state.. We had a smoker's lounge. The principal came in to imbibe often. It was the fun place to be for most people. The main lounge was huge, but nonsmokers crammed in ours because of the laughter that took place inside. Then out of nowhere a law came into effect. Smoking would not be allowed anywhere on school campuses. We all (addicts) questioned if we should quit teaching. ( None of us did. A few were able to quit smoking though.) Fast forward: Smoking is considered extremely taboo here and now for teachers. I am pretty sure( 99.9%) they would not hire anyone who smokes if they knew. When I came here, I was so careful knowing the attitude. I smoked in the morn, washed my hair, and kept my clothes smoke free. Then I smoked like a fiend when I got home. I traveled on school sponsored trips/ out of state trainings and had to cope. I had a P that I really trusted 1x and after a 16 hour trip ( a few flights/ layovers), I broke down and admitted I needed a smoke. He was actually very sympathetic and shocked that I smoked. ( So there are ways people hide it.) He had known me for years and never suspected. He had a close family member who smoked and totally "got it". I am actually surprised by how many people on this board are not super judgmental about it all. Most people in this area are very judgmental and don't look at their own vices before complaining about others. Once they fire smokers for health insurance reasons, they'll go after overeaters, drinkers, and probably pot smokers. ( It's been legal here for a long time, but totally socially acceptable.) Now I am a bit more open about my addiction. I don't announce it, but if a kid sees me in public ( maybe 4x in my career) smoking, I have told them exactly what you planned on saying. It is a horrible, expensive habit that is super hard to break. The best way not to have to deal with it is to never start. I wish I never would have. When I started, people did not know the dangers. It is not as easy to quit as some people think.When I first started, it was considered cool and students had a smoking area where pot was smoked too. Looking back, smoking was made too easy for kids. We could buy them for 35 cents a pack out of a machine. Many parents smoked too where I grew up. It wasn't seen as anything bad. I WaS asked 1x why I smoked as an adult by an adult. I don't know what his purpose was for asking me, but it kind of irked me. I felt like asking, "Why do you eat so much sugar?" But I refrained. If you developed it as a coping mechanism in your youth, it is harder to quit than some can imagine. I think the more kids who understood that we would have fewer kids smoking. My own grown kids both do not like smoking. I have tried to quit so many times, but always caved at some point.
And we have recreated that with vaping. Many adults are not even aware that they are doing this, or how high the nicotine levels are. Because JUULing and Vaping are often seen as different things by people, they are not putting 2 and 2 together about the addiction potential. Many students who JUUL assume there is no addiction risk and that it is safer than smoking or vaping. It all amounts to the nicotine addiction, and they say that most students think they can stop at any time, but they just don't want to. That was what my smoker parents said to my sister and I. Neither one did - until the day they died, and that habit cut both of their lives short. I know how hard it is to quit, and I admire that you can keep your usage so low.
It is not as much about nicotine addiction imo than it is the unknown chemicals they put in it. We have a huge awareness campaign on vaping and JUULing at our school. I think it is even more dangerous because the younger you are addicted, the harder it is to stop. These companies are marketing to kids here. Cigarettes were marketed more for adults to relax when they really have the opposite effect. It is amazing how some are made to look like candy, gum, and common items kids would have. Then some have flavors or scents that appeal to the younger generation. My usage is not really low. It is just that I am forced to go long periods of time w/out them. I wish I could say it was.
I've worked with smokers. Two of the teachers would smoke in their cars at lunch (somewhere off campus). The other teacher, I didn't know much about. The TA I currently work with who smokes must do it right before she enters the building because she reeks of the smell right when she walks in the office. If I talk to her toward the end of her shift (she only works 3 hours), the smell isn't as strong. Cigarette smoke is a trigger for my migraines. Thankfully, CA is a smoke-free state, but casinos here aren't (I learned that fact the hard way). After typing this response, I realized that I'm scent-sensitive.
Yeah, smoking in a car is a big , No! No! for a closet smoker. The smell gets in your hair and on your clothes. My sister gets migraines from smoke too. What is a smoke free state? I know in Hawaii, they tell you not to smoke on your balcony (which is ridiculous to most smokers when you are on the 20th floor.) Then in Seattle, this shocked me, they had signs almost everywhere outside that you couldn't smoke. Is it where you can only smoke on your own property? The laws on it here are even very strict in Anch. People can't smoke indoors anywhere that I know of other than their own homes.
One of the worst things for non-smokers who have migraines is the sensitivity to smell. When I had my first full fledged migraine in college, the doctor asked if I smoked or my family smoked. I have never smoked, but my parents smoked and I showed signs of sensitivity to smell even at a young age, making sure that windows were open pretty much year round, and I couldn't be cooped up in a room with smoke, long before it was illegal. The doctor commented that I was saving myself from the sensitivity to smell long before the migraines started. Just today my husband was changing the cabin filter in my car, and he asked if I would want one with Febreeze in it. Twenty years ago he wouldn't have asked, but even he has noted my sensitivity to many smells and odors that most don't catch. The irony is that now I am the family "nose". If I can't smell it, it doesn't exist! I admit to being one of those who was thrilled when you could no longer smoke even in outdoor stadiums, for baseball and football. I always go right behind the non-stop smoker!
My kids dislike smoke a lot too. ( They understand it though.) My son told me that when he went to school he was asked if he smoked because I smoked and the smell got on him I felt horrible when he told me that years later! ( He had been embarrassed by it because at the time he was at a private school.) I had grown up where smoking was the norm. My dad always smoked in the car and at that time, I never once thought about it. I do not even remember when smoking started to be considered so taboo. I think I just noticed it when I moved states. Some people have really snobby attitudes about it too. I can see where people would be bothered if you blew smoke near them, but there are really judgmental people here when it comes to smoking. If they see you buying them, they look at you like you're an idiot while they stand in line with ho hos, chips, and a big coke. The most judgmental often have their own vices. I want to say: Hello! Those aren't any better for you! ( or for your kids) I do remember the days when you could smoke on planes and if you got this 1 row of seats, you had smokers right behind you. Looking back, that was gross because the air in the plane was blue. That kind of reminds me of the stadium you talk about, but planes were much worse. I wouldn't even sit in the smoking section. I remember getting up and walking back there before though. I think people who grew up w/ smokers or who quit, are some of the most effected by it. I have a few good friends who do not smoke who swear it doesn't bother them when we are outside. Then a couple of others like me. We open a window upstairs, turn the fan on pointing towards the window, and smoke. We have all tried to quit so many times.
I remember my last trip home from Japan, back in the mid 1980s. American planes didn't allow smoking, but Japanese planes still did, and boy did they smoke on those planes! At that time in history, many Japanese were serious chain smokers. All you could see was a haze of smoke everywhere. It made me so sick. Thirteen straight hours of nonstop smoking. Then we landed at Dulles, and deplaned, and got on an American plane for the last leg of our trip. No smoking allowed on American planes then -- but here's the rub -- several passengers asked to be moved away from us because we all reeked of cigarette smoke from being on a 13 hour flight with non-stop smoking. The smell was in our hair, on our clothes -- we simply reeked of smoke.
https://truthinitiative.org/research-resources/smoking-region/tobacco-use-california-2019 https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CCDPHP/DCDIC/CTCB/CDPH Document Library/Policy/SecondhandSmoke/SHSLawBrochureFinal.pdf There are so many restrictions that it is rare for me to ever see anyone smoking. If I do, though, I try to get as far away as possible. It’s always interesting, though, when traveling to/through other states and we stop in restaurants that have people smoking indoors—while they’re eating! I’m not here to judge, though. If it doesn’t affect me personally, I couldn’t care less.
Yeah, as long as it doesn't impact someone else, I don't see why we even have some laws. Thanks for posting. I read your laws and then looked up ours. They don't seem much different. I never put a lot of thought into this part before I read them though. States are trying to deal w/ the problem by upping their price. ( Minimum prices) They cost about 150. a carton here. Spending that much $ makes it where I guess I can see why people look at smokers like idiots when we buy them. I know it is a huge waste of $. They cost a lot more in really rural ( fly to) areas. I wish I was able to just quit, but haven't been able to do it. All workplaces are smoke free here too except for a few clubs that are way out in the boonies. I very seldom see anyone smoking outside here except for June, July, and August. Then it is warm enough for people to smoke outside and a lot of tourists are here then. There is only 1 place I can think of that you'd see many smokers up here and that is in the main city. They have to go outside of the bars to smoke. There is a concentration of bars downtown on a few streets and smokers huddle outside. Oh, also there are concentrations in certain places across the street from the airport in designated areas too. The shop I go to says that all cigarettes will no longer be made/ sold in I think it is 3-5 yrs. I'm either going to figure out how to quit or end up a criminal by buying them on a black market. ( I hope it is the 1st.)
Rain, I remember that haze and it was sickening. Looking back, it is hard to imagine, how it was allowed. 747's used to have bars upstairs with bowls of free packets of Marlboro cigarettes. For some reason, I do not remember it being so smoky up there.
I do know that where I teach, it's become "more" of an issue because of the time it takes the educator away from work. Since no tobacco/smoking/vaping is allowed on the grounds, educators drive off-campus to have a smoke, etc. Those 5 - 8 minutes truly add up. A colleague was trying so hard to quit (and was doing really well; I was so proud of him!) and was down to just 3 cigs during a day (from a pack and a half), but he got in hot water because he was gone from work about 1/2 hour a day, in total. A lot of people had an issue with it (certainly understandable) but I was just so stoked that he'd been trying to quit. I felt like we could've been more supportive, somehow.
It is awesome you were supportive of him trying to quit! I do not 100% "get" quitting, but I know a couple of people who would have " done it for me" if they could have. It just has not been something I have been able to do. So it really comes back to the smoker. Support is as helpful as you can get! He's lucky to have you. Where I live, if I drove off campus daily, people would wonder what I was doing! It is the most gossipy place you can imagine. 1 teacher I know does leave at lunch. She has less than 30 minutes to drop her kids at the lunchroom, drive home, and come back every day. When younger, she had no filter and often talked about smoking pot in the lounge....she talked , not smoked it in the lounge! She never smells like pot, but everyone assumes she has edibles at home during lunch. You must be in a cool school if people can take breaks like that! ThatWouldBeBaaaaad if you missed 1/2 hr of work a day though! Off topic, but your name reminds me of a skit they used to do on SNL yrs ago titled: Don't you hate it when THAT happens. It used to be soooo funny, but over the yrs, I have noticed what I thought was funny at 1x is not always still funny. It used to be kind of a "shockingly funny" show when it 1st came out.
I remember it! And still think it's a riot. (Christopher Guest and Billy Crystal, I think?) My screen name's actually from the film "The Heat." It's a line Melissa McCarthy ended up improvising (or so I read) and I just howl over her delivery of it ... especially her facial expression. (If only I could talk to the students like she talks to everyone in that film.) (JUST KIDDING.)
Starting January 1, all of our campuses are smoke free. Currently there are designated outdoor smoking areas. I can think of five smokers in our building. When I started teaching, there was an outdoor smoking area for both staff and students. Teachers could smoke in the lounge. The principal said that she has better things to do than to follow staff to their vehicles to check to see if they are smoking in their personal vehicles, but who know what other people would report. (I once had a parent report that I was wearing a jacket when kids were not allowed to wear them. I was walking from my vehicle to the building. It was not in class, where nobody is allowed to wear them.) We are rural, so there isn't an option to walk off campus or even drive somewhere fast. It really isn't my issue except when I work ballgame gates, and I am in charge of making sure people aren't smoking on campus. I'm not looking forward to that.
One of the teachers I work with smokes, but uses Chantix and, I suspect, nicotine patches to get through the day. That works out for her, because our students really gave her a hard time about smelling like smoke. Our residential students are not allowed to smoke (that's the rule), although many find ways around the rules. They are quick to pick up when a person smells like smoke, and then they are like a dog with a bone, coming back to the same subject over and over, totally disrupting the class.
I am now curious! I looked the scene up on you tube, but all I could get was the 5 funniest scenes of The Heat. What was going on at that moment? I can picture her as Sam Kennison when his facial contortions used to make me laugh so hard. When she had the gun aimed at the guy seated, I was waiting for it, but It wasn't the time.. M.M. is really funny though. I like her too. We don't have a movie theater here and I have never been able ( I only tried 2x) to get cable where I live. So I am going to have to wait to see it at a friends who can get cable/movies. Yes, it was Billy Crystal! I remember dying laughing watching those scenes. 1 of them had to do w/when a carrot peeler ends up twirling in your nose! He HATED when THAT happened!
Wow! For about 10 yrs, my vacations have been limited to areas like Hawaii, Seattle, and 1 other place. I live in kind of an isolated place now and my oldest friends in the states have been retired for yrs.. I figured it had been "outlawed" in all schools ever since it was when our smoker's lounge closed yrs ago in another state. I thought it was a Federal thing. That blows my mind that you all have had a smoker's area until now! Your P is amazingly understanding! OK I am curious what type of "rebel jacket" you were wearing. Do tell! lol Oh, I would not look forward to that either. If parents were used to being able to smoke, it will take them awhile to get used to it. Some may push their luck too. The same w/ kids. Most teachers though kind of go w/ the flow w/ that kind of thing, I think. Good luck!
My doctor gave me those 1x, but I read the side effects and it scared me to even try Chantix or patches. The side effects can be really bad, and they cause lack of sleep which would not be something I'd deal w/well. 1 of them is night terrors.....I'd wake up and want to smoke. Sometimes I think kids are given too much power to say: If I can't do it, you can't either. Then disrupting is their disrespect not the teachers. That is the way society is heading though. Too many parents do not teach their kids respect, kids think they are in charge, and schools let the parents/ kids dictate too much.
Too many parents feel guilty for whatever they are doing that keeps them from spending real time parenting their kids, so they bend over backwards and let their children walk all over them. Trust me when I say that I have seen these same children be just as disrespectful to their parents, and they have somehow managed to make the parents think that somehow they deserve such disrespect. Disrespecting teachers and school staff, then, is considered par for the course.
I think you are right there. Last yr, I saw a mom tell her kid, "No!" in the hall. He wasn't going to be allowed to do something. I didn't even know the word "no" was in mom's vocabulary. He started out trying to coerce her to change her mind. She continued to say, "No!" He got louder and more obnoxious each time. Each time she told him no, I was actually rooting for her and proud of her. I've known this mom many yrs. After about the 10th "no", she caved!!!!! I was so disappointed in her, but knew she was the reason he is the way he is!
Hahahahaha! Oh, my God ... gotta look up those SNL skits, again! It's in the beginning of the film; she's giving crap to a john, sitting in his car, whom she just caught soliciting a prostitute (in reaction to his wife birthing their fifth child) and he's basically saying, "Good thing I don't have any drugs on me!" And Mullins (McCarthy's character) is mock-agreeing and laughing with him about how lucky that is! "PHEW! That woulda been baaaaad!" If I find it on the internet, I'll share the link.
You’d have thought it was something major by calling the superintendent. Students are not allowed to wear jackets to class. Jackets, coats, purses, and backpacks have to be in lockers. Kids were telling parents that they weren’t allowed to wear jackets to school.
Man, I'd actually LOVE it if they enforced it where I work. They're "not allowed to," but students carry EVERYthing with them, at all times. They refuse to use their lockers, even though they all have combos with working locks. I'm the "mean teacher" - I've tripped over too many backpacks and jackets over the years and I won't allow them in my room. They trickle in, of course, bit by bit when I'm distracted (which is much of the time, let's face it), and I throw them into the hall. The kids don't honestly balk to my face about it ... they know I took a nasty spill over a backpack 2 years ago and broke my wrist. And they know the fire marshal has cited us for having them all over the classrooms and halls. A true safety hazard. (Picturing your "rebel jacket" as something like The Pink Ladies' wore in "Grease.")
It looks like a funny movie! That would be bad might become 1 of my favorite sayings just like I hate it when that happens. I just have to explain it to a few friends so they get it too! I hope you can find the link because all I could find was The 5 funniest scenes.
OMGoodness! I'd be in soooooooooo much trouble! It is cold here a lot. I have never heard of such a rule. I wear jackets a lot. I was picturing a possibly political jacket or something w/ a funny saying. The 1's that were in Grease slipped my mind.
Oh, man! I hate it when that happens! ( tripping over kid's stuff!) The only real prob we have is kids who will take their boots off and switch to shoes. I have tripped over boots before. There was silence if that happened because I usually asked, " Does your mom allow you to toss your boots off in the middle of the room?" Do I look like your mom? Then I have a speech they knew they were going to hear for the next 15 minutes. lol That is awful that you broke your wrist! Years ago, I had a daily repeat offender w/ boots and hats. I really liked the kid, but was so sick of telling him that I picked his stuff up and hid it in a cupboard when everyone was gone. Both were really expensive, but I let him sweat it out for a few days. ( I know.....not kind), but I'd had it. His mom was mad at him too for not being able to find them. After that, the boy was more careful w/ his stuff.
I felt that way even though I knew it was mean and passive/aggressive. I was just fed up! The hat was his prized possession and a gift from someone special and the boots were very expensive. His mom let him get away w/ murder, so it was interesting to see she would get on his case for losing expensive stuff! It made an impression on him to take care of his stuff , so I figure I taught him something valuable.
Not education related I just saw an article about the U-Haul company not hiring nicotine users. They say they want to promote a healthy workforce.
We have one (at least that I know of) smoker on our campus. She smells like a smoke stack and so does her classroom. I have never seen her in her car but it is a known fact that she does. Even her child's stuff smells like smoke so much that the teacher that has her makes her leave her backpack outside the door. My own husband is a smoker. He smokes outside. I can smell the smoke on him after he first comes in but after that I don't. I don't even smell it on his clothes. I don't think I am nose blind because I smell the teacher smoke on her and both my parents smoked when I lived at home so I definitely know what it smells like. Funny reading some of these posts about in times past. When I was in high school my band director smoked. We would sit in his office for hours talking with him and he would just smoke away and put his ashes and butts in his skeleton head ashtray. Awww good times! lol
It is interesting that you are close to "nose blind" w/ your husband. I had a theory ( not proven..) that people who grew up w/ smokers as parents were more sensitive to smoke if they did not pick up the habit. I have a sibling who can tell even after I have walked around 30 minutes afterwards outside. lol If the kid's backpack reeks she is probably smoking in the car or inside her house. Boy! You are sure right about times have changed. AWW! I remember the good times too. There is a song called: The party's over. It was fun while it lasted, but it ain't no fun no more! That's how I feel about it now!
I can smell when a neighbor is smoking two houses away and I am inside. Yep. I can tell cigarette smoke a mile away.
You have some mad skills! To be able to smell it inside! I remember when I was young 20's, living in apartment, and you could smell what other people were having for dinner. I remember times some things smelled so good! Other times, not so much! Where I live now, the nearest neighbor is about 3/4 a mile away. 1 of my kids house is in a subdivision where the houses are very close together. ( You can actually hear everything if someone has an argument from the house next door.) If I was outside at her house, I could probably smell if her neighbor 2 houses away lit 1 outside, but I wouldn't from inside.
I had an alcoholic friend who recently died from his addiction. When we worked together at a factory, he was vocal that the company catered to people with caffeine and nicotine additions but conveniently discriminated the employees with other addictions. He was a funny guy and he did have a point, but everyone just laughed it off. The company provided FREE coffee with fancy Bunn coffee makers in the break room, all managed by a coffee service. The secretaries made the coffee too. All we had to do was drink it. Smokers had their own smoke shack on the plant floor that had heat and a/c. He would gripe, "The company likes to blow money on addicts.. so where is my bar? Or where is the private room with a TV and dirty movies for the pervs? I know, let's build a casino!"
Yeah, schools no longer cater to any addiction except coffee and sugar. We always have coffee brewing. Snacks that are brought for different occasions are candy, cakes, or doughnuts. We used to get a 10 minute break in the morning and 10 minute break in the afternoon ( along w/ lunch and prep.) You had to decide if you needed to use the bathroom or smoke because the school was big. I'm sorry about your friend. he sounds like he was a hoot!
