Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Thank You For Not Smoking!

One of our patients lit up in the bathroom at work. Probably only smoked a couple of minutes. Stunk up the entire hallway. That bathroom reeked for hours. It is amazing how strong that scent can be now that most places are free of it. It is hard to imagine working in a smoky environment, but my first jobs were like that. I guess it's all what you're used to.

I feel sorry for that patient who couldn't go without for even an hour or so. No such thing as sneaking a smoke anymore. It is obvious as hell, even if we hadn't seen the cloud of smoke appear when the door opened.

6 comments:

BC said...

Im wondering what the patient was there for in the first place. Also being in that environment, smoking is really dangerous to everyone in the building. Not good. Not good at all.

Jeni said...

Speaking here as a smoker who is working on trying to quit (yeah, it's a wickedly difficult process, for sure), I can somewhat relate to why that patient probably did that. So far, I haven't gone to those extremes for a nicotine fix, but there are times when it is really tempting. Right now, I'm really just working on cutting back -as much as possible -and gradually moving to total abstinence. Yeah, I have big dreams, ya know.

LL said...

I'm betting he was stressed out over the test and was jonesin' terribly.

You folks should be ashamed of putting him through that... ;)

fermicat said...

BC - I hope it wasn't one of the patients we are treating for a smoking related cancer.

Jeni - Keep on trying. It is worth it.

LL - you never know. They must have needed it badly to not be able to wait until they could go outside.

Kathleen said...

It's mind-boggling now to think that smoking was allowed at work...and it was was when I first graduated. There were two offices in my building at the Univ that were the Smoking Offices. Although they didn't last that long - a few years before they eliminated it completely. Then the shithead students would smoke between the doors because it was too cold to be outside. 3 square feet of enclosed space with 2-3 students smoking...yeah, that was pleasant. Jackasses.

Lifehiker said...

My wife, the Good Witch, is celebrating my almost 24 smoke-free weeks! Me, too. That's after 40 years of me as a smoker.

Now I've got my nose and taste buds mostly back, and I realize how much cigarette smoke "reeks". However, it still smells good to me. Fortunately, not good enough to make any more of it myself!

I also would put the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy at the top of my list. Many times imitated, never threatened in the least!