Smoking

I haven't smoked cigarettes in several years. I quit when it started hurting my lungs. I would wake up and start coughing all the time and I didn't like that. So I quit. I would tell other smokers to quit also becasue of their health reasons. You do get a lot of excericse at Enterprise with all the running around so why not just complete the healthy package and stop smoking. After I quit, I found I was not as tired at the end of the day, plus my manager was a lot happier with my performance because I was at the counter instead of hanging out next to the dumpster smoking cigarettes all day. As a former smoker, I can admit that I did waste a TON of time smoking while others were working. Before I quit I was starting to feel guilty about it.

I can't believe you people are even having this discussion. Don't quit smoking, quit ERAC. Smoking will not hold you back--in fact, it will be expected when you're out getting drunk every night and probably after you fuck your AM. Opting to miss a happy hour because you want to spend time with your family....THAT will hold you back. Getting upset because an account sexually harasses you....THAT will hold you back. Being a woman and not putting your tits and ass on public display...THAT will hold you back, too.....but not smoking. Good luck!!!

What group do you work in?????? If you think all that is true then you must be seriously confused! ERAC is not the porn industry! YOu must be on the wrong discussion board. Your post was really funny though.. I laughed until my sides hurt.

I had a friend who worked in another office and she was a smoker. I always wondered if her manager minded that she smoked. She smoked a lot, like at least a pack a day, which meant that she was out back by the dumpster smoking a lot. This didn't really bother me that much, but I would get really embarassed and shy when I would see her manager at company meetings and things. I always thought that maybe he was mad at me for referring my frined to work at the company when she took so many smoke breaks. I always looked at her tickets and she was always the lowest ticket writer in the office and I wondered if this was because she was always out hanging out by the dumpster. I don't personally have a problem if you want to smoke, but I think smoking can be kind of rude to your co-workers since most heavy smokers I know take a lot of smoke breaks. What if instead of smoking, I had a hobby I was addicted to, and every half an hour I needed to leave the branch and cruise out to my car and work on a model airplane in my trunk for 5 - 10 minutes. A manager wouldn't be too happy with that, would she/he. When you think about it, what is the difference? That is kind f how I think that manager looked at my friend that I referred to the company. He would sometimes give me weird looks at company functions and I would get real embarrassed.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I can't believe you people are even having this discussion. Don't quit smoking, quit ERAC. Smoking will not hold you back--in fact, it will be expected when you're out getting drunk every night and probably after you fuck your AM. Opting to miss a happy hour because you want to spend time with your family....THAT will hold you back. Getting upset because an account sexually harasses you....THAT will hold you back. Being a woman and not putting your tits and ass on public display...THAT will hold you back, too.....but not smoking. Good luck!!!

That holds true in the two groups that I've been in....it's sad. And in regards to previous posts on this topic....drug use is all over ERAC. If you haven't seen it you've had to at least heard about it! I've had managers who stepped out back to smoke more than just cigarettes.....

Assistant Manager

Your friend may just not have been a good employee. If someone smokes and takes numerous breaks during the day and doesn't do much while in the office, then maybe that reflects on their own lack of work ethic rather than their habit. A lot of the heavy smokers I knew didn't smoke every 5 minutes and they worked hard. Again, smoking has nothing to do with one's ability.

I used to smoke and I do think it reflected poorly on me. At the time I was not making very good decisions in my life. I would light up and start wondering who was watching. It got to a point where I would spend most of my time at admin washing the smoke smell off my hands so the GM wouldn't notice. I work for a new company now and I am so relieved that I quit, because our vice president over our operation has said in a casual conversation over drinks that smokers might as well quit because they are not going to get promoted under his watch. I think the anti-smoking group is out and in full force. My advice is to quit if you want any chance of getting promoted anywhere in corporate America. It just presents you in a very unfavorable light.

"Our vice president over our operation has said in a casual conversation over drinks that smokers might as well quit because they are not going to get promoted under his watch."

That VP should relinquish his position. He's using his power and status in the company to discriminate against people that take part in a habit that he just doesn't like. It annoys me that Corporate America has people like that in power postiions. Opinions about smoking should be irrelevant in the workplace, yet closeminded people like this VP announces that he will use it as a weapon to hold a perfectly capable employee back.

I stand by my belief that people that chastise others for habits that they personally don't agree with and use that belief in a manner of control have much less character than the people that they hold back.

r/c, why you feel so strongly about this subject? The points you try to make on this subject are irrelevant. Everyone else is discussing whether or not smoking IS a negative. You keep trying to argue whether smoking SHOULD be a negative.

Here is a news flash sweety, from what I can tell, (other than the stray obnoxious post) I don't really think anyone is trying to disagree with you.

People shouldn't base their opinions of others on such trivial matters, but it happens everyday.

Good looking people are preferred over ugly, skinny over fat, athletes over non-athletes, one ethnicity over another, politically connected over not, etc....smoker over non-smoker.

Again, it isn't that these realities are morally right, it is just the truth.

Remember, Marlboro Man was looking for the truth, not a philosophical discussion of what should and should not be

It is ironic that a discussion of the reality of things has stumped realitycheck. I guess she needs to give herself a reality check.

I know it is reality that people use their personal beliefs to sway how they act in the workplace. But that doesn't make it right. As for Malrboro Man seeking advice....There is much debauchery at Erac, that I find it hard to believe that smoking is at the top of many managers' lists as a reason to hold someone back. I know I went off subject on this, but oh well.

I feel strongly about the fact that this world sucks quite often becuase many of the people in it take themselves and things around them too seriously. I'm not losing any sleep over this thread, but doesn't it annoy you when you see or hear about people treating others so poorly regardless of whether that is just the way of the world?

The reason I kept this username is because everyone needs one....including me. Some people just need it more than others.

You gave me mine for the day. Sorry I got off subject.

Oh, and sweetie.....I like your username.