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RANT - Classic Barbershop as smoky as a Las Vegas casino

Started 3 years ago by cjboffoli
Latest reply from ivaronalki

cjboffoli
Member Profile

I went in for a badly needed haircut this morning at Classic Barbershop in the Junction. I had been going here for about a year and only had good experiences. Julie Dodson, who I think is the shop's owner, always did a good job with my hair and the shop's mascot bulldog 'Nemo' was always friendly. But after today I won't be going back.
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I walked in around 11:30 and the place reeked of cigarette smoke. Someone had clearly just been smoking cigarettes in there. I said something to Julie as I sat in the chair and her tepid response was "Oh really? Well maybe someone was smoking outside." But the door was closed. No one was smoking outside and the amount of smoke in the shop was strong. As she was cutting my hair I could clearly smell smoke on Julie. When I left my clothes stank of cigarette smoke.
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I've always been a good tipper but Julie didn't get a tip today and I will not be going back. I'm really disappointed that she'd disregard the health of her customers and would lie on top of it.
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I honestly don't care if people choose to smoke. But I don't want to breathe smoke. I've lost two grandparents to lung cancer from smoking (and they died young) and the health effects of being exposed to second-hand smoke are well documented.
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So I suppose this is a warning to folks who care about their health to stay away from this place. And to those who don't care and who miss that authentic 1970's vibe of ubiquitous cigarette smoke, Classic Barbershop is the place for all of your haircut needs. As this shop will be going away when that whole corner of the Junction is torn down for the large condo project that is apparently coming sometime soon, I suggest you act quickly.

Posted 3 years ago #
Diane
Member Profile

aside from all the other good points you made
~
it's also a violation of the smoke-free law
~
maybe they figure their business will be lost to new development soon and don’t care?

Posted 3 years ago #
villagegreen
Member Profile

Had she smoked a whole pack in the store? I can't believe one cigarette would justify the 'Las Vegas Casino' comparison. Once the smoking ban went into effect I think people have become really sensitive to smoke (I know I have). It didn't used to really bother me at all. Now just a hint of smoke and I'm looking around for the culprit.

I'd cut someone some slack for one cigarette, though. Maybe she was just having a really bad day.

Posted 3 years ago #
Irukandji
Member Profile

Thank you for your report cjb. It sure makes a difference to me. I don't go into Freshy's up near Admiral on California because of the number of smokers that hang out just outside. I've skipped Charleston Cafe because it seems whenever I see the waitresses around town in their uniforms they are nearly always smoking and I wouldn't want that odor with my lunch.

Kudos to Bakery Nouveau, whose workers will close doors and ask people to move along if they've stopped for a smoke in front of the shop.

I empathize with smokers: I was lucky to have quit decades ago and watch my parents struggle with their addiction. Please, though, take 'em where we don't have to share. Keep 'em in your car, in your home, in well ventilated areas where the smoke and ash don't come my way. Thanks!

Posted 3 years ago #
cjboffoli
Member Profile

It's not like she didn't know I was coming. I had an appointment. All she had to do was step out into the alley or something. I would have waited five minutes while she went and smoked a cig.

I'm disappointed with myself for sitting there for a half hour as opposed to just walking out. It's easy to blow it off as "just one cigarette" but the Surgeon General has said that "no amount of exposure to second-hand smoke is safe." They say that more than 40,000 annual non-smoker deaths nationwide can be attributed to exposure to cigarette smoke. So I think the era of minimizing the dangers is probably past us.

Like I said though, if you want to smoke then knock yourself out. Who am I to tell you that you can't. But in this situation she was breaking the law, selfishly disregarding the health and comfort of her customers and lying to someone who had been a loyal customer and generous tipper. I wish her the best but I'm not going back there.

Posted 3 years ago #
Hormel
Member Profile

cjboffoli,
Are you sure that Julie was smoking inside before you came in? It is possible that she was correct and not lying as you say.

I have been going to there for over 7 years. The Classic Barber Shop is just that, a grubbly little shop with little character whose barbers smoke when they do not have customers. They light up outside, the shop sometime reeks, and the smell lingers on them for sure, if you have been going there as long as you say you know this already. Not a favorite habit of mine but I have not seen anyone smoke in the shop for a while now, probably since the law was enacted. I hope that you return and tell Julie in person why you are choosing not to return as it would probably be much more effective than questioning her honesty here.

Obviously you will need a new shop, I would suggest Illusions, as they pass the sniff test of the WSB.

Diane,
I won't suggesting that the Classic Barber Shop is totally in compliance with the smoking law. No doubt someone else will come along to admonish her for stepping out onto the street or alley to smoke, which happens. And, yes they will soon be gone, but to suggest they don't care is unfair. They are good folks who support the community, stop in sometime and ask. There are not many small shops left and I doubt they will be able to afford a new space in the junction when there time is soon up.

I usually don't read these rants because it just seems to be sport to rank on local businesses which may not meet peoples anticipated level of service. Such as the recent ranking on Aaron's and Alki Lumber. Yes, they are not Gregg's Greenlake Cycle or McLendons Hardware but they have their own unique niche in our community.

The rest of you haters can go to Supercuts for your mullets and up-do's.

Hormel

Posted 3 years ago #
Diane
Member Profile

I just posed a question, "maybe?"
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pretty sure "The rest of you haters" is against the wsblog name calling rule
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to be honest, when I first heard mention of this barbershop, I was surprised; having lived in West Seattle 10 yrs near the junction and never noticed it; now I'm curious and will stop in there sometime to check it out
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I go to the cheapest hair salon in the city; my bathroom; cut my own hair; it's free; I don't have to make an appt; I don't have to worry if the barber/stylist understands what I want; and I sure don't have to worry about any cigarette smoke or any other noxious salon fumes

Posted 3 years ago #
cjboffoli
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Hormel: As someone who is old enough to remember working in an office where people could smoke at their desks, I know the difference between a faint whiff of smoke that blew in from outside and the thickness of stale smoke in a confined space after someone has smoked there. If Ms. Dodson doesn't have the respect to tell me the truth and spare me the ill effects of her bad habits, then I owe her nothing and certainly don't feel the need to tell her why I won't be going back there. But maybe what will be most "effective" is dropping a dime to the folks who enforce the State's anti-smoking laws in King County.

Posted 3 years ago #
transplantella
Member Profile

^^^^

Good idea! Let's tattle on people's behaviors in their own business space. It's our civic duty to call the police for any infringement of the law, no matter how inane.

Do-gooders unite. Notify the authorities! Off with their heads.

Posted 3 years ago #
Trick
Member Profile

I'm with you Transplantella.
Spend your dollars on businesses you want to support.
What have we become on reporting to the Health Department on a "Barbershop" that serves no food?
Lets flood them with complaints of nicotine smells instead of letting them testing food conditions in the backs of kitchens.
It feels like I'm back in grade school.

Posted 3 years ago #
JanS
Member Profile

christopher...I don't know what they charged you at Classic Barber, but if you're looking for an altenative, try Westside Barber..usually aobut 20 bucks a haircut..good place..call ahead for an appointment...

Posted 3 years ago #
cjboffoli
Member Profile

transplantella and Trick: It's really too bad the Legislature didn't have your opinions at hand when they made it against the law to smoke inside a place that is open for public business. Seems to me that it could have saved taxpayers a lot of money. And while we're at it maybe you can get in touch with the Surgeon General and alert them to the fact that despite mountains of science to the contrary you feel that because the ill effects of cigarette smoke are largely unseen to the naked eye that they must not exist.

Posted 3 years ago #
Anonymous
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cjboffoli - I suggest you do a little more research (and not just the stuff you are SUPPOSED to see).

Second hand smoke is a HUGE argument. There are very conflicting sides to whether it causes damage or not (of course, we aren't supposed to know that - or question it).

What transplantella said!!!! Hear hear!!

Posted 3 years ago #
angelescrest
Member Profile

OMG--You're not suggesting that second-hand smoke is SAFE, are you? Is it, "Let's find the statistics" time, to disprove the fact that walking into smoke is somehow just fine for one's health? The conflict here seems to be whether or not to let the smoker smoke on--or to bring it to her attention...

Posted 3 years ago #
angelescrest
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Or, wait...it doth feel like politics has crept into the pot.

Posted 3 years ago #
Anonymous
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This study followed participants for 39 years. One group were spouses of smokers. Other group was not exposed.

"Participants 118,094 adults enrolled in late 1959 in the American Cancer Society cancer prevention study (CPS I), who were followed until 1998. Particular focus is on the 35,561 never smokers who had a spouse in the study with known smoking habits."

"Conclusion No significant associations were found for current or former exposure to environmental tobacco smoke before or after adjusting for seven confounders and before or after excluding participants with pre-existing disease."

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/326/7398/1057

BTW, liberal, democrat, non-smoker

"Or, wait...it doth feel like politics has crept into the pot. "

Posted 3 years ago #
JoB
Member Profile

I have to say.. i lived with a smoker who thoughtfully smoked outside for years.

He quit over a year ago and slowly but surely i have managed to get the smell of second hand smoke out of every bit of fabric we own... but it took over a year.

smokers don't have a clue what they leave behind even when they thoughtfully smoke outside.

you are right Cjboffoli.. you should have simply told her how sorry you were and walked back out the door.

however, like you, i would have sat through the haircut... a commitment is a commitment:(

the law aside... it's is her business...

but it's your health... and mine if i do business there.

Posted 3 years ago #
Diane
Member Profile

re: "transplantella and Trick: It's really too bad the Legislature didn't have your opinions at hand when they made it against the law to smoke inside a place that is open for public business"
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Actually, unfortunately, the Legislature did have the same opinions as transplantella and Trick, and they did not pass the law; hundreds of us went down to Olympia year after year testifying in hearings, lobbying legislators with the mountain of evidence re harm to the public of second hand smoke; and the Legislature wouldn't even allow the bills to get out of committee for a vote
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which is why we finally took it to the people, through our initiative process, and the people (not the Legislature) voted overwhelmingly to pass the smoke-free law

Posted 3 years ago #
bt23
Member Profile

The smoking issue aside, and yes I don't think it is good for anyone to inhale smoke, why don't you say something to her instead of yelling about it on line. It just seems a little cowardly that you have such strong opinions, but lack the strength to actually tell the one person that could make a difference. If you had done that, and the owner had blown you off, then I think you can rant about it, but have just a bit of common decency in these situations.

Posted 3 years ago #
cjboffoli
Member Profile

angelscrest: Is is politics or just a bunch of self-serving smokers?

I'm satisfied that the science on smoking is voluminous and ironclad, despite the lengths to which smokers cling to the pathetic hope that the dangers are overblown. It is an exercise in futility to try to reason with addicts who are indentured to massive tobacco conglomerates that profit from their time release suicide.

Diane: Thanks for the clarification on the genesis of our smoking laws.

bt23: I disagree with your characterization. I said something to Ms. Dodson immediately and she chose to lie to me about it. This would be a great world if we could be honest and direct with each other about the things that trouble us. But too many of us are selfish, have a lack of consideration for others, and simply choose to lie or make excuses. Moreover, it is hardly cowardly to put your opinions out into a public forum where people who don't know you make sport out of sharpshooting perfect strangers.

JoB: Thanks for the support. With the benefit of hindsight, turning around and leaving is what I should have done.

Posted 3 years ago #
Anonymous
Member Profile

Why did you dismiss the link to a 39 year study with over one hundred thousand participants? Is the American Cancer Society not a valid resource? Or the British Medical Journal which published the research (participants from California).

I am not an addict seeking to justify my habit, as I do not smoke and your characterization of those who disagree with you is mildly offensive.

This is a pretty extensive study that confirms smokers are at a higher risk for many diseases, but finds NO correlation for second hand smoke.

I can understand being annoyed by the smoke and smell, but being opposed to reading an alternate view and considering it's validity doesn't strike me as a rational informed decision.

The researchers are from the School of Public Health, University of California and the Department of Preventive Medicine, State University of New York. At the very least, it's an interesting paper.

Posted 3 years ago #
Anonymous
Member Profile

Thanks, JT, for actually LOOKING into something.

To suggest that my mention of inconclusive proof on a controversial issue is indicative that I am an addict and have a personal agenda is naive and shows a lack of research.

There are just as many studies (if not more) that show that there is NO correlation between second-hand smoke and health risks. I was merely pointing that out.

Note how I used the term, "....what they want you to see....". Seems it has worked. People will blindly make charges, or protest, simply because they have been told something, without doing proper research for themselves.

JT - I'm glad that you looked into it because you now can understand the immense contradictions. It's pretty shocking, isn't it?

Anyways, if we are gonna get technical, I guess this topic would require it's very own thread (and we ARE being monitored.... believe me). As far as the barber shop smelling like smoke, yeah, I agree that you probably should have just walked out.

Posted 3 years ago #
Trick
Member Profile

I'm glad Diane pointed out how the initiative was passed by the people and not the legislature.
Secondly, the Tribal Casino's were by far the single largest contributor to the non-smoking initiative because they knew that smokers would increase their business which it has.
So be it.
I just like having choice on where I spend my dollars whether it be allowing smoke in a barbershop, or the use of fish eating away a persons dead skin.
I'm not a big fan of initiatives mainly because it's shown people will make contradictory decisions on the same bill depending on how it's worded. (ie; Poll results on the same subject, varying just by the way it is presented)
I never would go eat at a restaraunt that allowed smoking ( which rarely there were any before the initiative) but I didn't mind going to a bar with smokers having a cocktail.
I just don't believe in tattle telling on a person who has a business that chooses to smoke in the back room or alley outside THEIR back door.

Posted 3 years ago #
JoB
Member Profile

JT..

There have been a lot of studies and to choose one that supports your position while ignoring many others that do not.. such as the study in New Zealand witch actually counts deaths per year from second hand smoke...

is misrepresenting the body of research...

as editing the conclusions of that particular research misrepresented it's full conclusions.

I read the research you cited.

and you left out the part where it said that while the percentage was not large enough to be significant, there did appear to be a lessor risk..

which was higher for women than for men.

In fact the final line of the conclusion said that the incidence of death by second hand smoke may be overestimated.....

not that it didn't exist.

I did look for an analysis of all current research into second hand smoke and didn't easily find one...

Someone must have done one. It's a good way for a doctor to make a name for himself in the medical community without doing protocol driven research.

Posted 3 years ago #
Julie
Member Profile

http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/sgr/sgr_2006/index.htm

Follow the bibliography database link on that page to find abstracts of about 900 reports.

The tobacco industry is well-known for its strategy of casting doubt on scientific consensus:

"In 1992, a major EPA report warned of the medical harm from second hand smoke. In response, Philip Morris hired the PR firm APCO to create a supposedly independent group, The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition (TASSC), to promote scientists who’d dispute this harm. Enlisting enough other corporate supporters so the effort didn’t seem just a tobacco industry creation, TASSC’s mission echoed the phrase from a memo of fellow tobacco company Brown and Williamson, "Doubt is our product.”"

(From Paul Loeb's article, "TARGET GLOBAL WARMING, TARGET EXXON", available here:
http://www.paulloeb.org/articles/Exxon.html)

Posted 3 years ago #
angelescrest
Member Profile

Anyone else recall being shut up in a car with smoking parents (twas the 60's for me)--you're dying while they won't let you open the windows to breathe because you'd be spoiling the air conditioning?
How about catastophic allergies, asthma...messed up corneas from all the itching, yearly doses of bronchitis, walking pneumonia that followed? Sure, nothing conclusive here in terms of causes, but I could FEEL the damage being done way back then when those idiots were poisoning us. I can still conjure up the feeling: blechhhhh!
And, yep, you just never know who's behind those studies...but I have my suspicions. And, I don;t know what I would have done in the barber shop...bolted?

Posted 3 years ago #
Anonymous
Member Profile

Angelescrest, I imagine any form of smoke, whether it be wood or tobacco, in such an enclosed environment with no windows open would be hazardous. Not to mention just plain gross.

And of course I realize the tobacco industry is biased.

I am not taking a side. I am not advocating smoking (first or second hand) or even saying any other study is incorrect. I was merely supporting the comment that there is not consensus, and a study of the magnitude I cited, warrants consideration.

Posted 3 years ago #
angelescrest
Member Profile

Well, we have a consensus on grossness then.

Posted 3 years ago #
Zenguy
Member Profile

Here, here, Anglecrest. I was in that same car for thirteen years...allergies, asthma and finally when my youngest brother was born my parents stopped for HIS health!

Posted 3 years ago #
angelescrest
Member Profile

Zen,
Wonder if that "39 year study" included looking the level of mental anguish suffered by the non-smokers? :)

Posted 3 years ago #
JoB
Member Profile

Research can be misleading.. the study JT cited was looking for statistical differences in only 3 medical conditions.. asthma was not one of them... nor was an increase in the incidence of pneumonia.

They found an increase in those three illnesses.. and if i remember my research criteria correctly, the increase in women met the criteria for statistical significance... but when combined with men's numbers.. the overall numbers didn't.

They clearly stated that there was an impact on those three conditions from second hand smoke, but it was not as large as they had expected.

Posted 3 years ago #
Ken
Member Profile

So What is the price range at this shop?
The location is here:
http://westseattleblog.com/blog/forum/topic.php?id=2068&page=2&replies=31

I have been cutting my own hair for years but I think I will treat my self to a haircut when the check for this exceptionally tedious research job comes in.

Note: The smell of smoke residue is not secondhand smoke.

I guess that makes me a degenerate eh?

Posted 3 years ago #
JoB
Member Profile

Ken,

the smell of smoke residue is an allergen and/or irritant for many.

i can stand next to a smoker while they smoke and be uncomfortable but ok.. but let me pass by a full ashtray and i suffer bronchial spasms...

and smoke lingering in the air.. as cjboffoli reported.... is second hand smoke.

It bothers some much more than others.

i can't get my hair cut by smokers no matter where they work or how careful they are to smoke away from customers or how careful they are to wash their hands. I have enough trouble breathing with all of the chemical irritants in barber shops and salons.. when you add second hand smoke or smoke residue i have had to walk out with half a haircut and go elsewhere...

smokers who work in public service occupations, especially those who work in close contact with the public, like hairdressers, need to be aware that their smoking could very well be affecting their business... and that if someone asks about smoking.. lieing is not the answer. Calling 911 for a customer is not the way to learn that lesson either.

i admit i am not the norm when it comes to allergens and irritants...

so you shouldn't make your choices based on my experiences...

but you should be aware that for some of us.. what you think is a non-issue can have life threatening consequences.

Posted 3 years ago #
austin
Member Profile

One of my favorite smells is when you're stopped at a red light and someone a few cars up is smoking with the windows down. It's like the smoke has dissipated enough to be noticed but not horribly offensive, mixed with the breeze. It makes me want hamburgers.

Posted 3 years ago #
Julie
Member Profile

austin: Alas! One man's meat is another man's poison.... If someone a few cars in front of me is smoking with the windows down, I have to roll my windows up and set the air to "recycle" to avoid coughing and wheezing. This is true even when we're both in motion. Smoke persists in the air much longer than most people think. I'm always puzzled and irritated by smokers who smoke with their arms hanging out the window. Do they think it's somehow better?

Posted 3 years ago #
angelescrest
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How about when those carried-by-the-wind ashes land on you? :)

Posted 3 years ago #
ellenater
Member Profile

I think some of you are being too hard on the OP. I have struggled with smoking addiction for years and yet can totally tell when someone smokes inside. If you smoke in your doorway with the door open, that's just like smoking inside. There is an optometrist in N. Seattle that smokes inside and I will never go back. I figure if it bugs me, it must REALLY bug the non-smokers.

My parents both smoked. My dad died of lung cancer 10 years ago, way too early, not having met his grandson. My brother is addicted to chewing tobacco, also. It's a nasty habit, difficult to quit and smokers deserve a lot of compassion. But make no mistake, second hand smoke kills! If you do smoke and are working in very close proximity to others, it would do your business good to be aware of it and to make efforts to quell the smell.

I'm not saying the barber is evil and deserved to be shut down or reported. That's asinine. But the OP, imo, has every right to post on here about it. First, many people are allergic to smoke and may need a heads up. Second, I believe she was looking for support. Whether or not she chooses to speak with the owner if up to her. She can still post here about it, regardless.

People aren't stupid. The owner knows she smells like smoke. She probably has low self esteem about it. But the bottom line is that it's a choice. And you need to deal with the consequences of your actions.

Posted 3 years ago #
cjboffoli
Member Profile

ellenater: Well said. I agree that smokers deserve empathy, especially the ones that want to quit but can't do it. I've had plenty of friends and family who have smoked. In addition to the grandparents I've lost, I have a beloved uncle in South Carolina who right now is in late stage emphysema and on an oxygen tank because of smoking. It's not a pretty sight.

That barbershop owner absolutely is not evil. To date she had always been a capable and friendly person. That perhaps makes it all the more frustrating that she made a really bad choice. Again, it would have been really easy for her to step outside and smoke. But for whatever reason she didn't. And I wasn't the only one in the shop that day. There was another barber and another customer that was sitting in there breathing that cigarette smoke-filled air (smoke that contains 60 known carcinogens).

Posted 3 years ago #
slyside
Member Profile

I love the smell of napalm in the morning!
especially after a high and tight haircut!
Smoke 'em if ya got 'em !!!

Posted 3 years ago #
JoB
Member Profile

slyside...

i hope your sense of humor is as hard to read as mine sometimes is...

Posted 3 years ago #
scooby-snax
Member Profile

why is it you don't have the smokers side here?

Posted 3 years ago #
JoB
Member Profile

i think we did...

but in case i am mistaken... what is the smoker's side to smoking in a business these days?

Posted 3 years ago #
scooby-snax
Member Profile

i used to own a tavern. the "last bastion" of smokers. now i have to drag myself outdoors to smoke and put up with the rude comments and dirty looks of non-smokers. isn't forcing us outside good enough? what's the rule now anyway? i have to be in my house,doors &windows locked,under a blanket with a air filter system?!?! you think the harassment of being a bike rider is bad try being a smoker for a day!

Posted 3 years ago #
Zenguy
Member Profile

You do have a choice...you could always quit. There are many things that make it much easier now a days.

I get why people started back when I was young, but I do not get why people do not stop now.

Posted 3 years ago #
barb
Member Profile

Is there really honestly any hard proof that this woman smoked in the barbershop? Or are we just taking the word of someone who may be overly sensitive to smoke? And I'm talking as an ex-smoker who work with people who do smoke. Is there maybe a slight chance that she had just come back from smoking when the original poster came in? I know that cigarette smoke is very strong at that point.

And didn't everyone start getting bent out of shape about talking badly about Aaron and his shop, and now people are talking badly about this woman when no one has absolute hard proof that this woman was indeed smoking inside.

Now go ahead and start yelling at me about how I'm wrong...

Posted 3 years ago #
cjboffoli
Member Profile

barb: Are you really real? There is no absolute hard proof that you are. You could be anyone posting under an alias. Hell, there's really no proof the Holocaust even happened, right? You personally didn't see it with your own eyes. And how do we really know 9/11 wasn't perpetrated by the US government?

It is pathetic to me the extent that some here cling to the grey area with the intention to wriggle out of responsibility. They posit that maybe the cigarette smoke isn't really harmful or that maybe she wasn't even smoking. In raising the question you're suggesting that my original post was predicated on a mistake or a lie. In truth, all I wanted was a haircut. That's what I paid for. I didn't want to sit in a smoke-filled shop for 25 minutes and be lied to by someone who's business I had patronized for years. I know the difference between a whiff of smoke from outside or the smell of a little bit of smoke on someone. There is no equivocation in my mind as to what happened in the shop before I got there. Julie smoked a cigarette IN the shop. The entire shop was smoky. My clothes smelled like smoke when I left. I have no doubt what happened and have no doubt that she lied to me when I asked her about it. For that reason I'm never going back. I posted in this forum not to enter into a ridiculous, head-in-the-sand debate about how second-hand smoke isn't really dangerous to non-smokers. It is ridiculous and offensive to have total strangers judge me and suggest that I'm lying about the experience.

I reiterate that I don't care if you smoke. But I don't want to smoke. I don't want to patronize a place that requires me to breathe second-hand smoke. And I don't want to see a business-owner who forces her employees and other customers to breathe smoke.

Julie made a mistake. But the only thing worse than making a mistake is perpetuating it by lying about it. Before I left a bit badly that her business would be losing its space near the Junction with the upcoming new construction on that corner. But now I that I'm no longer a customer of hers I have no qualms about seeing that anachronism of a shop replaced.

Posted 3 years ago #
JoB
Member Profile

Ok.. to the smokers who have posted on this subject... and to those who just lurked.

i know that smokers want to defend smokers because they have the idea that their rights are being violated left and right..

i live with a smoker who quit over a year ago after 40+ years of smoking... so i know just how hard it is to quit. but he did quit ... simply because he could see the writing on the wall. He knew how unpleasant it was going to get for him to continue smoking.

I know you have no sympathy for the cigarette police...

but what about those of us who literally have to get up and leave or risk a trip to the emergency room because smokers have decided it's no big deal and as long as they sort of pay attention to the rules it's ok?

do you have sympathy for us?

I had to avoid many places i might have wanted to go.. including public theaters.. for decades because of people who chose to smoke and figured their smoke and the residue on their bodies and clothing was no big deal.

It was a big deal.

Now the law is on my side and those like me and for the first time we can somewhat safely sit down to a movie or a play or dinner out...

forgive me if i have a hard time feeling sorry that smokers are now expected to obey the law.

i won't patronize any business that breaks those laws. I can't.

I understand that smokers now feel persecuted.. but that is no excuse for them to automatically jump to the defense of any smoker... any where... any time.

You all puffed away for decades without giving those like me any thought at all.

as for the disrespectful way cjboffoli has been treated... he was there. You weren't.

Would you like us all to jump on you and call you a liar next time you report something?

probably not.

if you don't treat others the way you would want to be treated...

no matter how much you think you have been mistreated because you still smoke...

you can't expect consideration yourself.

Posted 3 years ago #
thee
Member Profile

Anyone who has ever strolled down Cali has seen that woman huffing and puffing outside as that evil little dog glowers at passerby. They're a fixture out there, albeit a rather unsavory one. But smokers smoke, that's what they do, so it's no surprise that the shop reeks, her hands reek and that barking little beast probably reeks as well.
As a former smoker still struggling with the addiction, I can relate. Quitting smoking sucks. It's hard. It's bursting with potential failure, self loathing and disappointment. Here's thee's suggestion: West Seattle has more barbershops, salons, beauty parlors and various tonsorial establishments than any other place in the PNW. Vote with your feet and leave that nasty place behind. No problem. Done and done.
If you smoke, go to your doctor and talk to him/her about chantix. It's saved my lungs and maybe my life.

thee
long-haired ex-smoker

Posted 3 years ago #
Anonymous
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It seems like the biggest problem is the injustice someone feels about being lied to, when most anyone would do the same when they are busted and embarrassed. "Did you just expel intestinal gases through the anus?" Noooo. Yes you did, I smell it.

If you are allergic, sensitive, or bothered about health concerns, turn around and walk out. My last allergy test found 44 airborne/food allergies. Poor me, that sucks. Yeah, and it's my problem to monitor. Get over it.

Posted 3 years ago #
JanS
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lolol.., JT...love your example....

Posted 3 years ago #

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