RANT – Classic Barbershop as smoky as a Las Vegas casino

[angelescrest]

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?

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[Anonymous]

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.

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[angelescrest]

Well, we have a consensus on grossness then.

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[Zenguy]

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!

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[angelescrest]

Zen,

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

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[JoB]

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.

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[Ken]

So What is the price range at this shop?

The location is here:

https://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?

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[JoB]

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.

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[austin]

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.

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[Julie]

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?

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[angelescrest]

How about when those carried-by-the-wind ashes land on you? :)

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[ellenater]

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.

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[cjboffoli]

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).

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[slyside]

I love the smell of napalm in the morning!

especially after a high and tight haircut!

Smoke ’em if ya got ’em !!!

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[JoB]

slyside…

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

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[scooby-snax]

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

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[JoB]

i think we did…

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

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[scooby-snax]

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!

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[Zenguy]

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.

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[barb]

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…

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[cjboffoli]

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.

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[JoB]

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.

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[thee]

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

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[Anonymous]

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.

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[JanS]

lolol.., JT…love your example….

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[Author]

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