When smoking in the workplace was the norm

[Carnation]

I hear you Nora, but Lencoboy's topic is something that is now well into the past. I can't see any point bringing it to the forefront. It's only going to cause an unnecessary argument and offence in my opinion.
With the world in its current situation I think people are more concerned about the virus, their jobs, businesses, finances, economy, family and friends and their wellbeing as opposed to whether smoking inside places bothered them 20 years ago.
Sorry Lencoboy, I don't often step to someone else's thread and voice myself like this, but I felt the need to do this on this occasion.
Sorry to you too Nora, but people are hanging on by thread in this lockdown and to ask people whether they think smoking was an issue for 20 years ago when people are locked up and starved of freedom and life, well there's no comparison.
Only yesterday I spoke to a neighbour who lives on their own, (smoker, I might add), who was struggling to cope and was obviously struggling with depression.
Subject matter is delicate at the moment and for someone people a fag is all they have to keep going!

[Lencoboy]

Just to reiterate, I am not intentionally bashing smokers and I do acknowledge many do smoke to help relieve their anxieties, and of course it's a free country where smokers certainly reserve the right to indulge in their habits, but of course at the right times and in the right places.

I have now decided to disown this thread and not post any more on it, as it already seems to be provoking angst and perceived as a smoker-bashing thread, which it wasn't originally intended to be, and more about how things have changed over the last 30+ years or so, but I shall still leave this thread intact for others to view and discuss at their will, and even get deleted if things get too heated.

[pulisa]

Do whatever you can to get through the day, Carnation. Whatever you enjoy, stick with it.

I've got really bad with stockpiling "safe" foods but so what in the great scheme of things?..If smoking helped I'd do it. xx

[Carnation]

I appreciate your last post Lencoboy, thank you.

Pulisa, thank you for replying.
January sure is hard this year.
And since starting a mental health help forum for my village I have 28 members so far. We try to help each other but there are some people that are completely on their own with no human contact at all.
Of course smoking, drinking alcohol, comfort eating, and medication increases are all responsible for this current situation. And of course stockpiling is all about feeling safe and not getting panicky.
Any debate risen at the moment will not be a true account of normal times. People are scared for the future and debating about the past is pretty pointless IMO.
I'm off to have a fag.

[pulisa]

Every little helps if it whiles away a small bit of the day? xx

Have you noticed how it is the athletic types who appear to be suffering from more cases of "Long Covid"? I often look at the runners who are out in all weathers pounding the streets obsessively and feel sorry for them. I've always been warned off running and know I'd have been joining them if I hadn't paid heed.

The food I stockpile isn't popular anyway so i don't feel as if I'm depriving anyone. I just feel more able to cope with the demands of my life which I know is a safety behaviour but I could have worse vices I know I'll not be able to stop doing it for a long while "After Covid" but that's my Confession For the Day".

Maybe this thread should change tack to a" Coping Confessions" slant?

[Carnation]

I didn't know that about the athletes Pulisa.
But I wonder why my local shopkeepers have managed to avoid catching the virus when coming into contact with hoards of people inside their premises and a few of the local fisherman who barely sees a soul on the freezing cold shores of the North Sea caught the virus.
I find the whole situation difficult to understand if I'm honest.
I think everyone has done a little stockpiling of especially as you say, their safe foods without being greedy.
For me, having a smoke calms my anxiety although I know it is not recommended and I wouldn't encourage anyone to do so if they have never smoked. It's my habit that gets me through the day and I'm not hurting anyone else.

Coping confessions sounds interesting Pulisa. c

[pulisa]

I was told by a psychologist once that the actual act of smoking- inhaling and exhaling- regulates breathing so has a calming effect. Better than breathing into a brown paper bag, I suppose? It's your choice and you're not harming anyone else as you say.

[WiredIncorrectly]

Sainsbury's had a smoking box in the cafe area for us workers who smoked. It was like the dying box

I'm with what @Carnation said.

[BikerMatt]

I remember my dad smoking in the house and car when me and my brothers were nippers. It's amazing how it wasn't thought about back then. My dad started smoking when he was in the RAF and I remember him telling me about how everyone did and the billets being smoke filled.
It wasn't all that long ago that most of the sports teams and events were sponsored by the tobacco companies.
I'm a smoker and always had a jobs that I could smoke at work, even after the smoking ban came in.
Smoking definitely calms my anxiety which I find strange as it's a stimulant.

[pulisa]

It's the inhaling and exhaling which slows breathing down,Matt so you feel calmer.