Flash : : : Smoke in Flash
- April 26, 2014, 8:04 a.m.
- |
- Public
It's a little house outside the factory. Maybe not really a house, since it's walls are only mesh and it's intended use is shelter for the smokers on break.
I've never been inside but the sidewalk runs right by it. I hear the voices from inside. They are sharing minutes of their lives and puffs of smoke.
When I started work I had a cold and I was coughing and hoarse. I was a scary individual. No problem - I was accepted as another smoker. I hated to tell them I wasn't a smoker, I was just sick.
The fraternity of smokers is a strong one. I remember years ago at my old old job. I overheard a couple of slightly more than middle management types discussing smokers. The guys were standing in a glass windowed office overlooking the plant floor. They were waiting.
They were waiting for the men they were meeting to return from a smoke break. One said to the other - Think of the time the company loses to smoking. How unfair it is to us virtuous non-smokers. Implication was that non-smokers devote more time to their jobs, even if it's time spent waiting for the smokers to reappear.
Smoking has become a kind of class habit. It's remarkable how common it is among factory workers. A good percentage of smokers in the winter run their cars on break time to give themselves a warm place to light up.
Bosses seem to accept the habit. The mesh-walled building is a symptom of how much management caters to tobacco habits. When I went to a lunch with the plant manager - cheerfully called a skipping levels lunch - we were told smokers could take an extra fifteen minutes to have their cigarettes. The rest of us went back to work.
I try to figure what the company gets out of employing smokers. Are they more docile? Are they what's left to do the kind of work the factory wants done at the price the company can pay? Does the automatic anticipation of the next smoke fit into a buzzer ruled environment?
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This isn't fiction, sorry. Next time.
New prompts: An afternoon in New York City.
Silent Echo/Quiet Storm ⋅ April 26, 2014
i've never understood the lure of smoking. it's a nasty habit and i do all i can to avoid being around people who smoke. i cant' stand the smell and it will trigger my asthma. i am actually allergic to tobacco... at least that's what the little red spot on my back said with all the other little red spots. i'm so glad my son in law quit and my daughter stopped her occasional smoke. i really like breathing clean air. take care,
woman in the moon ⋅ April 26, 2014
I don't really mind smokers. I sympathize with them. Smoking can be kind of sexy if it's the right person doing it.
Ragdolls ⋅ April 26, 2014
Just Annie ⋅ April 26, 2014
My ex-husband can't seem to go more than 20 minutes without a cigarette. Even at our Katie's wedding, he'd step outside. He missed some fine moments. Of course, he's missed many fine moments, but not all were due to smoking.
My father used to smoke cigarettes but gave it up and switched to a pipe. Still bad for you and he eventually quit smoking all together, but I love love love the smell of cherry pipe tobacco.
ThoughtsAfter ⋅ April 26, 2014
People in similar jobs sometimes have similar patterns? I'd hate to smell that scent on their clothing if I were working next to them after the smoke sessions. I scarcely ever see or even come close to a smoker...but, then--I am being a loner these days. Lovely to read your words here.
haredawg drools ⋅ April 27, 2014
Thank you
Deleted user ⋅ April 27, 2014
It's like a secret club that you're instantly a member of. An outcast club, the disdain other people have for you is part of what holds it together. You have an instant connection, and smokers are the friendliest people to other smokers---you can never smoke with an absolute stranger without striking up a conversation. When you're smoking you're with others of your kind, the kind of people who don't care about living forever, one part self-destruction and one part freedom, talkative, friendly, reckless people.
Plus, it's a small meditation, a ritual, almost something religious; it provides a lot of comfort in a short period of time.
Those are the things I miss about it. None of the rest of it, though.
NorthernSeeker ⋅ April 27, 2014
It's illegal to smoke on school property, for anyone including members of the public. I don't know if any teachers at our school smoke, or where they would go to do it.
Tick Tock Tick ⋅ May 02, 2014
Your final questions are interesting. I'm also stunned that smokers get fifteen minutes longer. Really? I spent time smoking outdoors, even smoking indoors before it was banned. At one job I thought the most interesting people were the smokers. At another I thought they were the meanest. When I quit I realized I'd been a prisoner of a habit I always hated. Now I look at smokers as pathetic addicts, like I once was, prisoners.
woman in the moon Tick Tock Tick ⋅ May 02, 2014
I hadn't realized you'd been a smoker. I think we all have a few surprises left in us. The extra break time was just the day we had lunch with the boss. A special circumstance.
I wonder if smokers are healthier now that they have to go outside to smoke. More exercise, more fresh air.
Tick Tock Tick ⋅ May 02, 2014
Wouldn't it be illegal to refuse a person employment because they smoke? Although I don't know how that works from state-to-state. Of course companies acknowledge smokers may cost them more medically and initiate programs to help them stop. Can they fire them if they fail though?
woman in the moon Tick Tock Tick ⋅ May 02, 2014
I was talking about special accommodations made for people who smoke the non-smokers don't get.
My tongue was somewhat in cheek also.