Remembering High School...

You can't really think those studies make sense that smoking saves money in the long run. I'm sure you could guide a study to get that outcome if that were your goal but I find it hard to believe that smokers cost less money over time. Of course the big tobacco may be losing some revenue from the reduction in smoking.

I'm glad they banned smoking but it wasn't a big deal to me either way. When I went to work in the bar there was smoking. I knew it when I went to work and it was before the talk was really even started about banning it in TN. I hear mostly positive feedback because of it even from the smokers because it seems to have cut back on the smokers that were just social smokers(ie, smoked when they drank). Not sure if that's accurate or not but

I definitely hear more positive than negative feedback and it hasn't made much difference in the bar business in town for either group(smoking and non-smoking). I really don't think it's a big deal to the smokers or non-smokers. I think most of our smokers knew it was coming.

BTW, your Republican blame for the shit is silly. It's not even close to being a partisan issue. If your Repubs did it then it was just a coincidence. Protecting people from themselves is a full-on Democrat concept.

 

I just remembered that the reason that there was no smoking allowed at my high school was because any student smoking facilities had to be approved by the Fire Chief. My uncle was the chief in my town and he was adamant in his belief that students had no business smoking cigarettes.

My town proposed a no smoking in all public places law about 15-20 years ago. They balked when all the tavern owners raised hell about it. It went on the back burner. A couple of months later the Milepost Tavern voluntarily went smoke free, so the town dusted off the law and made the town smoke free. According to the law, you can't legally smoke in your own house if you are in a room that minors have free access to.

About 5-10 years ago, the town I work in passed a similar ban, specifically in the workplace. The guy working next to me hardly gets anything done because he has a smoke every ten minutes. One of the salesmen from the showroom upstairs decided that he didn't want to smoke outside, so he kept coming in the back door of the shop to light up. The guy working closest to the door got quite upset about this, he had one of his lungs removed and he wanted to keep the other one working good. We found one of those super soakers in the trunk of a trade-in car, so we keep it loaded and handy for whenever that guy comes in for a smoke.

 

We had to bring it to the union when we wanted to ban smoking from the parts dept. at a dealership I worked at. It was just too much to have 10 technicians smoking at the same time at the parts desk. We got it passed but then the poor tech whose toolbox was by the parts department door got smoked out by the other guys leaving their smokes on his box. It actually got ugly a few times.

 

That's exactly what was going on at our dealership, the Parts Counter as a smoking lounge. The owner didn't have the balls to do anything about it until the law went into effect.
Now the back room of the Parts Dept. is a smoking lounge!

Did you ever see one of those "Right to Know" presentations where they explain that smoking in a shop envirement is a lot deadlier. Something about the fumes in the shop or whatever might be on your fingers coming into your lungs with the smoke?

 

BTW, the top three reasons that I quit smoking, in order of importance, beginning with the most important.

1.) I was going through 2 packs a day, but only smoking one of them. There were a lot of deadbeats "borrowing" smokes at work.

2.) It was cutting down on my productivity since I couldn't smoke in the building anymore.

3.) My health. I figured that my left arm feeling like it was slightly sunburned all the time wasn't a good sign. That symptom went away for good after I stopped.

 

Well...I'd just say that they're two studies in a sea of other stuff. And regardless of whether or not that tack proves to be true, I'm not sure public policy should be entirely driven by the almighty dollar.

But it is a data point, and nothing operates in a vacuum.

It's, uh...accurate. If a Republican legislature passes it, and a Republican governor signs it...I think it's fair to describe it as a Republican issue. Sorry to collapse your entire world paradigm.

I'd agree with that, in the sense that I imagine it would have passed in a Democratic-dominated legislature as well. But since you're becoming untethered, I'll point out again if Republicans were in any way against it, it wouldn't have passed.

Nice. Nothing like watching someone's entire framework dissolve around them.

I once had my mom convinced for about six months that my brother was gay. You sound a lot like her. "The dictionary is wrong, then!"

You know...I think she might still be mad about that.

 

I agree it's just a data point. I wonder if any real studies, polls, etc are happening with regards to the results of the law.

In TN it was a Democratic Governor. Can't remember if the legislature is/was Republican or Dem. Not much difference in this state. IIRC the law was heavily supported by most of the legislature.

I believe you if your brother is gay.

 

I can tell you anecdotally that restaurants here report increased sales that started just about the day after the law went into effect. As far as the financial effect of smoking on total public retirement costs, I'm not sure you'll ever get a complete picture. And even if you did, do we want to encourage smoking for that reason?

Meh, it wasn't even actually important if he was or was not gay. It was watching her actually melt down over it. I had to eventually tell her the truth just because I started to feel guilty.

 

Cite

 

I suppose I might have put some hyperbole in there.

All I know is that there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth up to the conversion date, then there was quiet, then more quiet, then probably six months later pretty much everyone was happy. A year later, you couldn't dig up a restaurant owner that didn't like it.

No, that's hyperbole, too. I do know one guy that still hates it. Poor dude spent six figures just before the law passed on a bar setup in his restaurant where people could smoke, but it was attached to the restaurant. It was a separate space, though, with its own door and some monster hvac system that he said would essentially enable people to smoke right next to a non-smoker and no one would ever notice. The restaurant itself (the old restaurant) would go smoke-free. That way he could serve everybody, and everybody would be happy. The work wasn't even complete when the law passed, and it's worded in such a way that he can't serve any of the food from his restaurant in there if anyone is going to smoke in there--it can be a bar only, or it can be non-smoking, but not both.

I really feel for the guy--he put his money where he thought people wanted it and got screwed over for it. He elected to turn the place into a bar only, and can't serve food in there. I don't think it's really doing as well as it needs to. On the other hand, the restaurant is always packed. If one were a total jerk, one could just ask him what he thought about the bill to get him spooled up for a good several hours. Personally, I can't help but think of how much he sunk into the renovations, so I don't.

 

Oooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, funny man has jokes.

Right here, Acree.




(Call me about the hole. I'm going down there to take delivery of a bulldozer next weekend. Some sort of adult advice might be beneficial.)

 

i couldn't stand going to my local dive in nyc after the smokefree law passed without something in the air to stifle the smell of puke and dirty dishwater.
beerbreath ain't cuttin' it.

 

You've come to the wrong place for that.

 

My high school had a smoking lounge for students, just a big square painted in between buildings. We even had a chewing lounge. That was 86 I believe.

 

Same here. Leesburg, VA. 1985-1989.

I never smoked in the "smoking court" as it was called. All the long hair head-bangers smoked there. I just went out to my car. Sometimes I smoked in the welding booths in the Ag shop. Nobody cared.

Never smoked in the bathroom. The aroma of smoke and poop is a really bad combination.

 

We smoked joints in the shop class bathroom. Someone would go roll one up in a stall and take a few drags, and then leave it. Suddenly, everyone had to use the bathroom!

 

Can't believe

OP actually asked if schools still allow smoking.
That rock ya been under all these years, was that bitch heavy or what?

 

Teamwork. :up: