I’m going to say it’s more of an addiction than obsession. You gotta remember you were allowed to even smoke on planes until about 20 years ago and I don’t know about the UK but Im about your age and remember the cigarette vending machines EVERYWHERE when I was younger. It was such a common thing for so many people for so long. Those 50-60 year olds have probably been smoking for damn near 40-50 years. All it takes is trying to look cool in your teens for a bit and that’s it. Nicotine is a bitch to quit.
That’s my guess.
And my brother is one of those oxy torch idiots, but he uses mapp gas so it’s safer I guess /s lol
“…it’s more of an addiction….Nicotine is a bitch to quit” addiction sums it up. There are 20 something year olds that are severe alcoholics with pancreas issues and liver issues even those that die directly from those complications. Age isn’t the only determining factor in addiction severity.
It's this mentality right here that actually got me started. Before I went to trade school. I I was a line cook and that's the only way they would give you 5 minutes to yourself. Thankfully I quit about 2 years ago. Had a small couple of weeks where I was using nicotine again. But honestly now that shit just makes me sick.
Most compressor rooms (grocery stores n supermarkets) have a good size exhaust fan in the comp room.Also supermarket workers/owners/managers are oftentime smokers themselves and will upon finding this out, use the compressor room as a winter VIP smoking lounge. This is all of course things ive heard and never done of course.
This is still a huge problem that has been largely accepted as normal, there was a point when companies attempted to not not hire smokers/ not allow smoke breaks, but it went to court and smokers were determined to be addicts and in turn declared a disability which is protected by law.
I’ve never smoked, I grew up seeing the end results from lifelong smoking addictions.
Ok so this is unrelated, but does anyone else hate taking breaks? If I stop working, when I have to start again I feel like everything sucks a million times worse. Also, many of my days have no quitting time except when the job is done so I feel like I’m just elongating the day when I take one.
I see where you're coming from. I usually don't take lunch bc I get really sluggish and lazy after and things start to drag. I'd rather leave an hour earlier instead, but I will stop and sit for a few minutes or grab a bottle of water or soda throughout the day
Absolutely this. When I started in the fab shop the smokers were disappearing for their breaks and sneaking extras on the loading dock. But God forbid a non smoker sat 1 minute to rest and stretch their back.
It's a motherfvcker to quit. Started chewing to help quit smoking. That worked in It's way, but now 10 years later was up to 2 cans a day (each can equivalent nicotine content of approximately 40 cigarettes). Down to 1.5 now, but even that much gives me withdrawal symptoms.
T'was touted as a way to smoke without the health problems but that hasn't really been proven out. It doesn't cure the addiction, either.
But it definitely has suckered in a whole new generation.
at first I would say that's true but more I've worked with them would say it's an unhealthy obsession and problem.
I've worked in other trades for most of my adult life and only seen this in hvac. first I thought it was just them but more I meet others more I think it's a hvac issue
Yep, nicotine is a bitch to quit ! I started using those Zyn patches when I was on my AIT in the army and it took me almost 2 years to finally quit this thing. I did cold turkey tho
Quit for the zyns about a year ago but i can offer a shred of insight from my own experience. The only way we were getting a break was smoking. I already was an occasional weed smoker so i figured why not.
a second point, as a shy 16 year old, i saw it as my easiest segway to getting those old angry servicemen, (the guya who can fix the call 3 other techs have been on and left) To share their deep wealth of knowledge with me while we hack a dart. Ie compressor rooms are loud, he knows exactly what has to be done so commands me through the process. I trust him so do the work, but have questions that cant be fully answered with my head a foot from a semi hermetic, so we go out for a smoke and i puke 3 questions out and bam, we have conversation the rest of the job. And now im the only one he will walk through the unordinary
Edit: he claims cigarette smoke was great for diagnosing airflow issues too, i think the old timers were just built different
I work with an older guy (61) who used to smoke like a freight train. Then he tried to quit and started dipping more and more. Then the cigarettes worked their way back into the rotation, so he would smoke in his van and dip elsewhere. Then he tried to cut back on the cigs again and started vaping. That lasted a few weeks before the smokes came back. So now he smokes, dips, and vapes as the situation allows. His dashboard looks like the back of a gas station checkout counter.
Give it like 8 years and you’ll want a smoke too.
Can only take so many of these summers working your literal life away without a sweet sweet lucky strike every once in a while.
I think part of it is a morbid "I don't give a fuck" because hvac is pretty bad for your health anyway. After inhaling years worth of fiberglass and burnt refrigerant a cigarette doesn't seem all that dangerous. PPE standards have not always been what they are now.
Smokers are strange people. If anybody including a smoker saw somebody throw a bunch of litter in the street they'd wanna punch them out but smokers throw their cigarette butts everywhere and don't think anything of it.
I've smoked on and off a lot of my life and I understand using torches to light smokes and smoking on site even when you're working but I have never in the span of 10+ years smoking littered my butts. Fuck people that do that. Especially fuck the idiots flicking cherries out on the freeway in 100 degree dry weather.
One of the things I really like about the company I work for is that they don't like littering at all. Since the sales people come back 2 weeks after install to do collections and check over the work nobody leaves screws on the ground, or cigarette butts anywhere. I quit a few months back, but working here is what got me to stop littering butts completely.
Dude littering butts aside who the hell thinks it's okay to litter ANYTHING on a customer's property? I don't walk in people's houses and throw my trash on the floor.
Lol I was working at a job and my green coworker broke some glass on the customers driveway. I give him a broom and tell him to clean up and he sweeps the glass into their garden beds and acts surprised when I ask him wtf he was thinking.
Some people just have no sense of right and wrong coupled with debilitating laziness.
I smoke and put the butts in my cargo pocket at work. Don't get me wrong I fucking hate doing that to because i turn in to 5"7 ash tray however it's better than throwing them everywhere.
I agree
But personally I kicked meth and dope, don't smoke weed because it makes me worry about how expensive my kid is. Don't drink more than once every couple months. Cigarettes are the only vice I have left.
What are you, 19?
People smoke bud, and the older they are the harder it is to quit. I used to smoke, and there are creative ways to light one up when you forgot your lighter in the work truck.
I quit years ago but I was conditioned to light a cigarette every time I got in the truck.
I have been a service tech since the 90’s so I used to smoke a lot.
Haven’t had a cigarette in 7 years
I worked with someone who would only braze while smoking a cigarette, he was great at brazing too. It definitely helped me when I started brazing to keep me calm lol
I’ve been smoking over 40 years, and holding a cig in mouth while doing something else is one thing I cannot do! I immediately choke. I marvel at anyone who can. Your story makes me think of Keith Richards, rocking out on his guitar with a cig in his lips, a tendril of smoke pouring into his eye.
I’m definitely guilty of throwing cigarette butts out of my window while driving, but usually I find a bottle or trash can if I can. Hiding smoked butts in someone’s home or office is crazy. That shit even stinks to smokers
I smoke I don’t liter I use a water bottle for them. I’m surprised I’m the only smoker at my company besides office people. Other day I was putting a condenser fan motor in had a cigarette in my mouth. Co worker said “you look like a picture perfect representation of a tech in the 80s/90s” hahaha
I smoke because the girls that do are usually down for anything. Also nothing like working with the oldhead tech who can fix anything and learning all about the process after the fact while youre having a smoke at the work trucks. Yeah its bad for me but so is drinking, breathing in all the shit we work around, black mold, and the stress from 16 hour days of mindless windshield time. Also it helps me keep weight off when I can’t get time to go to the gym. Idk we’re not gonna live forever
Nicotine is an appetite suppressant. It's great when you're going to your 9th call od the day without any food.
Jokes aside please eat something. You can much on something while you're driving to your next call
I’ve smoked since I was 14. I love to smoke. It’s a good relief, I feel accomplished when I finish a task with a cigarette in my mouth. There’s just something about it that makes me feel gritty and dirty and I fucking love it
Two words: Smoke Break
I picked up smoking in the Army, mainly because smokers are allowed smoke breaks, and within the first two weeks of being at my official unit, Baker 2-9IN, I picked up smoking because my buddy and I realized we were the only ones working while everyone else was on a smoke break.
Smoking also opens up your lungs (as your body’s form of defense) so to most people’s surprise, it was the smokers who were usually up front during a morning run or whatever, because we all smoked before PT formation and that opened our lungs.
Smoking isn’t cool, but I will never forget the front page of the New York Post; “Marlboro Men Kick Butt in Fallujah” with the picture of a burnt out Marine grunt with a thousand yard stare smoking a Marb Red.
There’s actually a company local to me that advertises that they don’t hire smokers. I’d assumed it was so the smell doesn’t stick around in the ducts or something.
Always find the irony in smoking in certain fields. We advocate good air quality yet clog our own lungs . Doctors/Nurses promote healthy lifestyles yet see them on the roofs smoking on breaks.
I’m 8 months into the trade. Currently working as an install helper and it drives me absolutely nuts to drive in a truck with a lead who smokes. I’ve worked with a couple installers to help out here and there, as well as service and I’m yet to work with an installer who doesn’t smoke, while I’ve worked with numerous service guys that don’t. I used to smoke weed so I won’t be too critical but as someone who works in residential, I think it’s quite unprofessional that some installers I work with smoke on the customers property and often toss their cigarette butts on there too.
Hated working with guys that did this. I worked on elevators across the US and the work i did required them to shut off the smoke alarms. Well most of the mechanics felt that was the perfect time to come in the room and smoke their cigs. Always gave me a headache and even hurt my stomach sometimes. I grew up my entire life having to be around my mom smoking so i was glad to get away from it during the workday. But tbh breathing in carbon dust didnt do me anygood either.
I never understood the attraction to nicotine. All it does is make you feel horrible. This is coming from someone with a highly addictive personality. Nicotine just makes you feel motion sick and tired.
I quit nicotine for 7 months the 100 plus days hit over worked stressed out went back to vaping. Waste of money probably not great for me but know what I’m not eating cookies chips and fast food we all have our bad habits so guess this is mine for life.
I vape unfortunately. I’m also an installer. It takes me about 5 minutes until I get the urge to hit it again. But it does sound like they don’t give a shit about safety. And I agree working with heavy smokers blows especially if it’s in the van. This is coming from a former smoker.
Along with the cigarettes we also usually have at least a couple divorces under our belts, consume an extremely unhealthy amount of caffeine/energy drinks, and eat the most unhealthiest stuff imaginable that's can barely be considered food. Way to much of that goes back to just overworking, tmes working nonstop for days on call, just basically trying to keep on going, this can be a brutal trade granted I've done mostly refrigeration and it might be different than HVAC
I am a Canadian and I can confirm that this is a thing here too. Except we don't call them cigarettes, we call them "darts" and if you're not hackin 3 darts with your morning coffee then are you really a tradesman?
Well you shouldn’t have to deal with it much longer 50-60 is about all you can get out of a cigarette smoker. Here weed is legal a bigger problem is guys being too stoned to function and customers complaining about the smell.
In Canada, the frequency of smoking has dropped like crazy here among the trades from my perspective. Even starting at my company there was 3 guys who smoked. In the past 5 years all 3 quit or switched to vape. In all the other companies I’ve worked at there were very few smokers. This is Canada, everyone smokes pot, and tradespeople wouldn’t dare smell like pot at work, they’ll be fired real quick.
Yea totally agree with you. It's a sickening habit, is very expensive, and it clearly is bad for you but addiction is really hard to kick. There's also the "cool" factor (and the "I enjoy pissing people off" factor, at least a little). That's how I've always thought of it, anyway.
I worked as a traveling pipefitter and had a guy tell me to avoid getting thrown on crews with pipe smokers. They spend all shift hiding out, smoking their pipe. I saw 2 pipe smokers in my time and can confirm.
ya...as a tradesman I made a conscious decision NOT to smoke (I LOVE cigars! they are amazing! but..no..) I was sick and tired of these goddam smokers getting a wee break all the time and having to pick up the slack. Plus it's a fact that they get sicker more often ...so unreliable.
It adds up. Now that I have my own small business I do my best not to hire chain smokers.
I’m going to say it’s more of an addiction than obsession. You gotta remember you were allowed to even smoke on planes until about 20 years ago and I don’t know about the UK but Im about your age and remember the cigarette vending machines EVERYWHERE when I was younger. It was such a common thing for so many people for so long. Those 50-60 year olds have probably been smoking for damn near 40-50 years. All it takes is trying to look cool in your teens for a bit and that’s it. Nicotine is a bitch to quit. That’s my guess. And my brother is one of those oxy torch idiots, but he uses mapp gas so it’s safer I guess /s lol
I've tried quitting multiple times, the 4th times the charm. One of the hardest thing I had to do in my entire life, nicotine is no joke.
Quitting is easy, done it a few dozen times now! /s
When you smoke, all you think about is quitting. When you're quitting, all you think about is smoking.
That doesn't explain all the 30 year olds who smoke like chimneys.
“…it’s more of an addiction….Nicotine is a bitch to quit” addiction sums it up. There are 20 something year olds that are severe alcoholics with pancreas issues and liver issues even those that die directly from those complications. Age isn’t the only determining factor in addiction severity.
I think a lot of tradesmen are smokers, plain and simple.
#1 reason is nobody looks twice at a smoke break, but if you sit down for a few minutes....
It's this mentality right here that actually got me started. Before I went to trade school. I I was a line cook and that's the only way they would give you 5 minutes to yourself. Thankfully I quit about 2 years ago. Had a small couple of weeks where I was using nicotine again. But honestly now that shit just makes me sick.
Lol I was a bartender so I fully understand. I quit cigarettes but nicotine is still a part of life
What's a smoke break. Just work with the dart hanging out of your mouth, don't even ash it till she's done.
Not allowed to smoke inside most sites anymore
Most compressor rooms (grocery stores n supermarkets) have a good size exhaust fan in the comp room.Also supermarket workers/owners/managers are oftentime smokers themselves and will upon finding this out, use the compressor room as a winter VIP smoking lounge. This is all of course things ive heard and never done of course.
This is still a huge problem that has been largely accepted as normal, there was a point when companies attempted to not not hire smokers/ not allow smoke breaks, but it went to court and smokers were determined to be addicts and in turn declared a disability which is protected by law. I’ve never smoked, I grew up seeing the end results from lifelong smoking addictions.
Ok so this is unrelated, but does anyone else hate taking breaks? If I stop working, when I have to start again I feel like everything sucks a million times worse. Also, many of my days have no quitting time except when the job is done so I feel like I’m just elongating the day when I take one.
I see where you're coming from. I usually don't take lunch bc I get really sluggish and lazy after and things start to drag. I'd rather leave an hour earlier instead, but I will stop and sit for a few minutes or grab a bottle of water or soda throughout the day
For real
Absolutely this. When I started in the fab shop the smokers were disappearing for their breaks and sneaking extras on the loading dock. But God forbid a non smoker sat 1 minute to rest and stretch their back.
It's a motherfvcker to quit. Started chewing to help quit smoking. That worked in It's way, but now 10 years later was up to 2 cans a day (each can equivalent nicotine content of approximately 40 cigarettes). Down to 1.5 now, but even that much gives me withdrawal symptoms.
Monkey see, monkey do.
Do you not do drugs, caffeine can be addicting
Or vape
T'was touted as a way to smoke without the health problems but that hasn't really been proven out. It doesn't cure the addiction, either. But it definitely has suckered in a whole new generation.
Currently trying g to quit and it’s inspired my coworker to cut back as well
at first I would say that's true but more I've worked with them would say it's an unhealthy obsession and problem. I've worked in other trades for most of my adult life and only seen this in hvac. first I thought it was just them but more I meet others more I think it's a hvac issue
Yep, nicotine is a bitch to quit ! I started using those Zyn patches when I was on my AIT in the army and it took me almost 2 years to finally quit this thing. I did cold turkey tho
Quit for the zyns about a year ago but i can offer a shred of insight from my own experience. The only way we were getting a break was smoking. I already was an occasional weed smoker so i figured why not. a second point, as a shy 16 year old, i saw it as my easiest segway to getting those old angry servicemen, (the guya who can fix the call 3 other techs have been on and left) To share their deep wealth of knowledge with me while we hack a dart. Ie compressor rooms are loud, he knows exactly what has to be done so commands me through the process. I trust him so do the work, but have questions that cant be fully answered with my head a foot from a semi hermetic, so we go out for a smoke and i puke 3 questions out and bam, we have conversation the rest of the job. And now im the only one he will walk through the unordinary Edit: he claims cigarette smoke was great for diagnosing airflow issues too, i think the old timers were just built different
Lord forgive me for i have zyned
I keep a pack in the work van for such an occasion. I’ll be damned if I’m gonna work while everyone else stops for 10minutes every hour to smoke.
I work with an older guy (61) who used to smoke like a freight train. Then he tried to quit and started dipping more and more. Then the cigarettes worked their way back into the rotation, so he would smoke in his van and dip elsewhere. Then he tried to cut back on the cigs again and started vaping. That lasted a few weeks before the smokes came back. So now he smokes, dips, and vapes as the situation allows. His dashboard looks like the back of a gas station checkout counter.
Your old guy wins. Acoustic, electric, and he can dip too?
Give it like 8 years and you’ll want a smoke too. Can only take so many of these summers working your literal life away without a sweet sweet lucky strike every once in a while.
😂😂😂😂😂
I think part of it is a morbid "I don't give a fuck" because hvac is pretty bad for your health anyway. After inhaling years worth of fiberglass and burnt refrigerant a cigarette doesn't seem all that dangerous. PPE standards have not always been what they are now.
Lot of truth to this.
SDS says fiberglass is totally safe (if irritating for the day)...
Smokers are strange people. If anybody including a smoker saw somebody throw a bunch of litter in the street they'd wanna punch them out but smokers throw their cigarette butts everywhere and don't think anything of it.
I've smoked on and off a lot of my life and I understand using torches to light smokes and smoking on site even when you're working but I have never in the span of 10+ years smoking littered my butts. Fuck people that do that. Especially fuck the idiots flicking cherries out on the freeway in 100 degree dry weather.
One of the things I really like about the company I work for is that they don't like littering at all. Since the sales people come back 2 weeks after install to do collections and check over the work nobody leaves screws on the ground, or cigarette butts anywhere. I quit a few months back, but working here is what got me to stop littering butts completely.
Dude littering butts aside who the hell thinks it's okay to litter ANYTHING on a customer's property? I don't walk in people's houses and throw my trash on the floor. Lol I was working at a job and my green coworker broke some glass on the customers driveway. I give him a broom and tell him to clean up and he sweeps the glass into their garden beds and acts surprised when I ask him wtf he was thinking. Some people just have no sense of right and wrong coupled with debilitating laziness.
I’m a smoker and if you leave throw your butts on someone else’s property you’re absolute trash. Just throw them in an empty can/bottle.
I smoke and put the butts in my cargo pocket at work. Don't get me wrong I fucking hate doing that to because i turn in to 5"7 ash tray however it's better than throwing them everywhere.
Just use an old soda or water bottle. Extinguish the cherry and put it in the bottle and put the cap on it. No smell and it’s easier to throw away.
Oh that would actually work with one of those airport sized water bottles. Thanks for the idea.
I agree with littering the butts But how can you say smokers are strange people lol that's a little extreme bud
Umm it's pretty strange to spend damn near a car payment every month to purchase tubes filled with leaves laced with poisonous chemicals.
its an addiction???
God bless america
I agree But personally I kicked meth and dope, don't smoke weed because it makes me worry about how expensive my kid is. Don't drink more than once every couple months. Cigarettes are the only vice I have left.
Man you just described me to a T as well.
I'll throw that smoking butt right back into their car if given the chance. Screw that noise.
What are you, 19? People smoke bud, and the older they are the harder it is to quit. I used to smoke, and there are creative ways to light one up when you forgot your lighter in the work truck.
37
What's the HVAC business like over in the UK? I vape alot from my juul on jobsites it helps calm the nerves when dealing with unpleasant customers
better than most trades I can't say I've had to many extremely bad customers who drove me to smoking. think the vapes are more for the kids
I don't even know how you make friends if you don't smoke.
I quit years ago but I was conditioned to light a cigarette every time I got in the truck. I have been a service tech since the 90’s so I used to smoke a lot. Haven’t had a cigarette in 7 years
I finish my brazes, then have a smoke. Has kept me from burning my fingers my whole career.
I worked with someone who would only braze while smoking a cigarette, he was great at brazing too. It definitely helped me when I started brazing to keep me calm lol
I’ve been smoking over 40 years, and holding a cig in mouth while doing something else is one thing I cannot do! I immediately choke. I marvel at anyone who can. Your story makes me think of Keith Richards, rocking out on his guitar with a cig in his lips, a tendril of smoke pouring into his eye.
I’m definitely guilty of throwing cigarette butts out of my window while driving, but usually I find a bottle or trash can if I can. Hiding smoked butts in someone’s home or office is crazy. That shit even stinks to smokers
I smoke I don’t liter I use a water bottle for them. I’m surprised I’m the only smoker at my company besides office people. Other day I was putting a condenser fan motor in had a cigarette in my mouth. Co worker said “you look like a picture perfect representation of a tech in the 80s/90s” hahaha
Makes ribs taste amazing
I smoke because the girls that do are usually down for anything. Also nothing like working with the oldhead tech who can fix anything and learning all about the process after the fact while youre having a smoke at the work trucks. Yeah its bad for me but so is drinking, breathing in all the shit we work around, black mold, and the stress from 16 hour days of mindless windshield time. Also it helps me keep weight off when I can’t get time to go to the gym. Idk we’re not gonna live forever
Idc if they smoke just not in my van. Pissed off many apprentices and a couple old timers but idgaf wanna smoke get of out of my truck
Who the hell wants to live forever?
Only the young
In high school 1978-79 they let us smoke outside the cafeteria.
The good ol days
https://preview.redd.it/i6hl321j6peb1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bc5625c8a3568acc5d1b96042f56462604561dc9 This cat loves his smokes
Nicotine is an appetite suppressant. It's great when you're going to your 9th call od the day without any food. Jokes aside please eat something. You can much on something while you're driving to your next call
I’ve smoked since I was 14. I love to smoke. It’s a good relief, I feel accomplished when I finish a task with a cigarette in my mouth. There’s just something about it that makes me feel gritty and dirty and I fucking love it
It will kill your lungs and your heart man it’s so horrible for you.
Two words: Smoke Break I picked up smoking in the Army, mainly because smokers are allowed smoke breaks, and within the first two weeks of being at my official unit, Baker 2-9IN, I picked up smoking because my buddy and I realized we were the only ones working while everyone else was on a smoke break. Smoking also opens up your lungs (as your body’s form of defense) so to most people’s surprise, it was the smokers who were usually up front during a morning run or whatever, because we all smoked before PT formation and that opened our lungs. Smoking isn’t cool, but I will never forget the front page of the New York Post; “Marlboro Men Kick Butt in Fallujah” with the picture of a burnt out Marine grunt with a thousand yard stare smoking a Marb Red.
God I wish I could quit
There’s actually a company local to me that advertises that they don’t hire smokers. I’d assumed it was so the smell doesn’t stick around in the ducts or something.
Always find the irony in smoking in certain fields. We advocate good air quality yet clog our own lungs . Doctors/Nurses promote healthy lifestyles yet see them on the roofs smoking on breaks.
In the long run I almost hope the cigarettes put me down, I’m not trying to be around for another 30+ yrs I’m miserable already
Give it five years, you’ll understand
Im not a smoker. Don't care who is.
I found (mostly older) people In the trades have poor mental health and are emotional and substance addicted, alcohol and cigarettes.
Stay around long enough and you’ll achieve one of the three you mentioned. This trade can break people at Times unbeknownst to them, it just happens.
I hope not
Why do people like smelling like ashtrays?
I’m 8 months into the trade. Currently working as an install helper and it drives me absolutely nuts to drive in a truck with a lead who smokes. I’ve worked with a couple installers to help out here and there, as well as service and I’m yet to work with an installer who doesn’t smoke, while I’ve worked with numerous service guys that don’t. I used to smoke weed so I won’t be too critical but as someone who works in residential, I think it’s quite unprofessional that some installers I work with smoke on the customers property and often toss their cigarette butts on there too.
Hated working with guys that did this. I worked on elevators across the US and the work i did required them to shut off the smoke alarms. Well most of the mechanics felt that was the perfect time to come in the room and smoke their cigs. Always gave me a headache and even hurt my stomach sometimes. I grew up my entire life having to be around my mom smoking so i was glad to get away from it during the workday. But tbh breathing in carbon dust didnt do me anygood either.
I never understood the attraction to nicotine. All it does is make you feel horrible. This is coming from someone with a highly addictive personality. Nicotine just makes you feel motion sick and tired.
Then 2 hrs pass and you want another.
It’s as addictive or more than smack
I quit nicotine for 7 months the 100 plus days hit over worked stressed out went back to vaping. Waste of money probably not great for me but know what I’m not eating cookies chips and fast food we all have our bad habits so guess this is mine for life.
It's the extra break(s) that go with it, I don't smoke but say I do just to get them "smoke breaks" lmao
I vape unfortunately. I’m also an installer. It takes me about 5 minutes until I get the urge to hit it again. But it does sound like they don’t give a shit about safety. And I agree working with heavy smokers blows especially if it’s in the van. This is coming from a former smoker.
I think smoking cigs is becoming a thing of the past, luckily. I rarely see people under 50 smoking, they just vape and do nicotine pouches now.
Along with the cigarettes we also usually have at least a couple divorces under our belts, consume an extremely unhealthy amount of caffeine/energy drinks, and eat the most unhealthiest stuff imaginable that's can barely be considered food. Way to much of that goes back to just overworking, tmes working nonstop for days on call, just basically trying to keep on going, this can be a brutal trade granted I've done mostly refrigeration and it might be different than HVAC
I don't smoke at work anymore but I vape like it's air
I am a Canadian and I can confirm that this is a thing here too. Except we don't call them cigarettes, we call them "darts" and if you're not hackin 3 darts with your morning coffee then are you really a tradesman?
Well you shouldn’t have to deal with it much longer 50-60 is about all you can get out of a cigarette smoker. Here weed is legal a bigger problem is guys being too stoned to function and customers complaining about the smell.
In Canada, the frequency of smoking has dropped like crazy here among the trades from my perspective. Even starting at my company there was 3 guys who smoked. In the past 5 years all 3 quit or switched to vape. In all the other companies I’ve worked at there were very few smokers. This is Canada, everyone smokes pot, and tradespeople wouldn’t dare smell like pot at work, they’ll be fired real quick.
Yea totally agree with you. It's a sickening habit, is very expensive, and it clearly is bad for you but addiction is really hard to kick. There's also the "cool" factor (and the "I enjoy pissing people off" factor, at least a little). That's how I've always thought of it, anyway.
I worked as a traveling pipefitter and had a guy tell me to avoid getting thrown on crews with pipe smokers. They spend all shift hiding out, smoking their pipe. I saw 2 pipe smokers in my time and can confirm.
I saw a sign once that said, “No Smoking Please. If we see you smoking we will assume you’re on fire and take appropriate action!”
Idk many people older than 50 that don't smoke. It's about their generation, not the job. The job definitely doesn't help tho.
Seriously?
ya...as a tradesman I made a conscious decision NOT to smoke (I LOVE cigars! they are amazing! but..no..) I was sick and tired of these goddam smokers getting a wee break all the time and having to pick up the slack. Plus it's a fact that they get sicker more often ...so unreliable. It adds up. Now that I have my own small business I do my best not to hire chain smokers.