posted
I'm not talking about someone blowing smoke in your face. I'm talking about the slight odor of cigarettes from a room where someone has been smoking.
I get this a lot from guests at the hotel where I work. They get stuck in a smoking room because they make their reservations a week before the busiest weekend of the year and don't really have a choice in the matter.
Upon arrival, they get sent to the room and come back with some half-thought out sob story about how they or someone more pathetic looking than themselves (son or daughter) are allergic to cigarettes. Now, I have no basis to cry "liar!" but I'd like to know if it's actually possible to have an allergic reaction to the residual odor of smoking.
Posts: 4753 | Registered: May 2002
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I am a smoker and I have had friends who I could only talk to from a distance (or right after a shower and toothbrushing) because they are so severely allergic. The scent in my clothes alone could make breathing difficult for them. Not full-on anaphylactic shock (or whatever), but still, uncomfortable and just plain Not Good.
Someone that allergic, however, should have known better (or their parents should have known better) than to accept a smoking room, even in an emergency.
Posts: 1545 | Registered: May 2002
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posted
Here's an additional kicker - many people who have super-sensitive reactions to tobacco smoke have a lot of other allergies as well. Many of them avoid hotels entirely - since some of them use cleaning agents that make MY eyes water. And I don't have anything beyond moderate hay fever and pet allergies.
Posts: 4344 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
It just seems, in most cases, to be complete bullcrap. I've been fed so many lines while working here that I hardly take anything at face value unless it's one of our regulars.
I mean, I had some kids steal from the kitchen last night. I had to round them up and have them give me all the food back. It was just shocking to me. The only reason they knew how to get in there was because I gave them some cereal because they were hungry.
I also had a guy try to convince me that he had a reservation when he most obviously did not.
I guess I just don't trust the average hotel-goer.
Posts: 4753 | Registered: May 2002
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posted
Oh, I wouldn't take everything a customer says at face value either (my Dad runs a Motel 6, I've heard some doozies), but it IS possible to be that allergic/sensitive to cigarette smoke residue.
posted
Yeah, I agree with jexx. I wouldn't doubt that a lot of them are just giving you crap, but it can be a valid complaint. Mark's not allergic to anything else, but if he's in a smoky area, even an only slightly smoky area, for a couple of hours, he'll be coughing and sneezing for over a week. Posts: 1681 | Registered: Jun 2004
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posted
Well, ask Toretha if one can be allergic to cigarrette smoke! She has asthma and is very sensitive to that in particular. It's absolutely no joke not to be able to breathe. She will start gasping for breath even if someone's clothes in the room with her have been around someone else who was smoking that day. Any lingering smell of smoke at all is enough to set her off.
I get really angry at people who brush off her problem as though she invented it, or should just suck it up and get over it, or something else. Mostly they just refuse to believe that something they are doing could possibly be truly hurting someone else because then they might have to think about changing their behavior and that would be too much trouble for them to have to consider. Mostly they just care more about their convenience than her ability to draw breath.
Every time I go to my mom's house, (who is one of those people who gets angry at any hint that someone else is bothered by her smoke) my head stops up totally. It's not that bad for me, cause I can still breathe through my mouth, but it's just unpleasant and uncomfortable. If it became worse, to the point that my mother had to choose between smoking and seeing her daughter, I've no doubt at all which she would choose. She would pretend I had invented the problems to try to bully her into quitting, and she would continue to smoke. She would be angry at me, and insist that I was creating problems between us. Addiction is not pretty.
[ June 28, 2004, 12:57 AM: Message edited by: ak ]
Posts: 2843 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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posted
The thing that really frustrates me is when I call the city of Glendale police and tell them I can smell marijuana coming from a certain room, the squad comes by and I take the cops upstairs, they sniff around and tell me they can't smell a thing despite the cloud of vapors floating around their head and the sweet smell clogging their friggin' nostrils.
Posts: 4753 | Registered: May 2002
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I don't call as much these days, and I don't usually call unless I can tell there's some other criminal activity going on in the room.
We had a pretty major drug bust a few months back. The cops took in a few kilos of cocaine. We just can't let people think they can do that kind of stuff in our hotel.
Posts: 4753 | Registered: May 2002
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posted
Which hotel do you work at? They have a right to that policy, but I try to boycott companies that support things I disagree with.
Posts: 1364 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
Danzig, try to be at least a little understanding. If a hotel gains a reputation for tolerance of illegal activity, they soon end up with only a certain class of clientel -- those who come there to engage in illegal activity. They have to protect their investment. And, like it or not, contraband drug sales are illegal.
In some places in the US, law enforcement is actually allowed to confiscate property used in the sale of drugs. I'm sure hotels aren't normally seized as part of a drug bust, but I'm also sure that some enterprising sheriff will someday get the bright idea to take the seizure powers to the next step.
Imagine the hassle of trying to get a multi-million dollar property back from a zealous sheriff.
Anyway, I'd suggest not boycotting hotels for something like this. In fact, they're protecting their reputation and, in some cases/cities, your life.
A drug deal gone bad is not very good for business.
posted
I understand perfectly. They are a private organization, and they have every right to whichever policies they wish. I the consumer have a right to take my business elsewhere, for any or no reason.
Also, smoking marijuana does not mean selling cocaine. Personally, if I were making a cocaine deal I would not have marijuana anywhere on me; that would be one more way to get caught and one more drug charge to add to my mandatory minimum sentence.
Posts: 1364 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
I knew you were a smoker before you came to pick me up, Sandy. If I'd had a problem, I would have told you. I only have a problem with smokers' cars (and yours was WAY better than some others I've been in) when my allergies are in overdrive. I was fine! Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
Does it really make a difference if one rolls the windows down in a car to smoke? I do not allow people to smoke in my truck because the space is too confined, but they always think it is because I worry about the smell sticking and give that as a solution.
Posts: 1364 | Registered: Feb 2003
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If you boycott hotels with this policy, you will end up having to avoid every major chain in the US.
Of course, you could stay at the places where drug deals actually do happen.
I'm just saying, you know...you might as well cross them all off your list because if they think you're smoking marijuana in their room, they all will report you. It's policy everywhere.
It's probably one of those policies you don't want to ask about when making your reservation either.
Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
I am aware of that, and honestly I doubt I will be any more successful boycotting these hotels than I am boycotting Budweiser and Altria / Miller and their subsidiaries. (I doubt anyone will be doing this for the same reason as I am, but Altria owns Kraft and Nabisco. So boycott those foods too, you will probably be healthier for it anyway.) But I would like to at least feel guilty about giving them my money.
Then again, I may end up boycotting every major chain in America and staying at the places where drug deals actually do happen. I doubt I have that self-discipline, but everyone needs a goal to strive for. In the meantime, I will know for certain that this chain does it, and they will not get my business. It has to start somewhere.
Posts: 1364 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
Wait, what are you boycotting and why, Danzig?
PC: It's possible that the people in question didn't have "cigarette allergies" as much as severe asthma. In certain cases it's easier to represent severe asthma as something that sounds serious, mostly because asthma is a fairly common ailment and usually not very serious. If someone has had experience with nonserious asthma, saying that it's a problem can cause them to scoff. But I agree that it is their responsibility to get a nonsmoking room if they or their children have an illness like that.
Personally, I'd rather stay at another hotel than get a smoking room, if I have a choice.
Posts: 4816 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
I try (not completely successfully) to boycott Budweiser and especially Altria because they financially support causes I disagree with. Furthermore, I feel Budweiser and Miller (among others, but these two are the worst) are responsible for much of the unhealthy attitudes about drinking today among my peers. I do not have a television, so I watch it rarely, but those commercials are sickening on multiple levels. The "wingman" commercial was one I found particularly disgusting. This is just a side issue; as bad as their commercials are it is on some level the fault of the viewers for putting up with (or supporting) that crap.
I want to boycott whichever hotel chain Primal Curve works at because of their anti-drug policies, which I also disagree with. Furthermore, it is not entirely ludicrous to suppose that I may one day want to smoke marijuana or opium in a hotel room myself, so even if it was not a moral issue it would be a practical one.
Posts: 1364 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
My sinuses get stuffed up around smoke, and I end up with a headache. It's not something life-threatening, but it is uncomfortable. Too many scented candles do it to me, too, however.
So I think an allergy exists but so do rude, whiny people who exaggerate their ailments to win sympathy.
Posts: 407 | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
The allergy does exist. However, if those people are so stupid as to get a smoking room, knowing they have that allergy-I fail to see where they have basis for complaint.
If they weren't told the room was smoking, or had the odor of smoke in a non-smoking room, then their complaint would make sense.
posted
Yeah, okay, look, you simply CAN'T do opium, okay. It is the one drug upon which I totally agree with the administration's war on drugs. Opium poppies are forced on farmers in Afghanistan by warlords who are allied with the Taliban. They use the money to directly support terrorism. The money you spend on opium kills innocent people and keeps the Afghan people from progressing to a safe and free society.
Cocaine has a similar story in Peru (one of the major producers), but the Shining Path has been mostly decimated of late so the money actually goes more to the local farmers, or so I hear. But that doesn't mean that the cocaine trade isn't also still full of extremely bad people who use the money to subjugate others of their own people and to foment revolution, or keep the government as corrupt as possible.
Marijuana has a similar story, but not quite as bad because it can be grown locally by just about anyone. The thing about marijuana is that we really ought to just legalize it in small personal-use quantities. It would make the street market (and thus the drug cartels) selling it disappear overnight. Some would switch to harder drugs, but many, I think, would just vaporize. And the goverment could tax it and use the money to provide drug education and treatment for addiction.
The major reason for not legalizing it in the US appears to be that it would harm the liquor industry profits.
But I'm not even so sure about that. I think people would probably drink more. And that has traffic safety implications. There are conflicting studies about the negative effects of pot on driving ability, but the most replicated result appears to be that pot and alcohol show up together a lot and their effects somehow enhance each other -- the the detriment of the driver's ability to avoid accidents.
I oppose the image of liquor. I oppose the fact that it is more dangerous than opium, and yet accepted. I oppose the way it is advertised. I oppose the philosophy behind 21 shots on 21. I oppose Miller Lite because it tastes like shit. I oppose the fact that alcohol is one of the crappier drugs out there, certainly not nearly as fun as opium, and yet it is the only hard drug that is legally sold to be used as a recreational drug. I oppose the hypocrisy behind "Drink responsibly" when these companies are promoting a lifestyle that is irresponsible in general. I oppose the hypocrisy behind these companies selling drugs and then donating to the Partnership for a Drug Free America. Even if they were not hypocritical, I would oppose them for donating to PDFA because they hate my freedom.
I support having a beer after work to wind down; I will have one when I get off in the morning. I support splitting a bottle of good wine with a friend or a lover. I support getting drunk on New Year's, if that is what you want to do. I support sitting in the dorm room or standing behind an abandoned house with friends, passing around a pipe of opium.
I do not oppose alcohol; I oppose alcohol (and in the case of Altria, which owns Miller, tobacco) companies. I oppose tobacco personally but respect and support the rights of others to use it in public spaces or in private establishments where it is permitted by the owner. I support opium as long as one knows the risks. Alcohol is not that great of a drug anyway; it is better than stimulants but not much else.
I support using drugs because they feel good, not because they will make you cool or get you chicks or whatever bullshit the commercials are spewing now.
posted
Ah, the replies are coming faster than I can handle. Good thing it is a slow night tonight.
I can do opium; do not blame me for the fact that the US government would never allow Afghanistan to turn it into a national industry. It is an obvious cash crop, and the "legitimate" government is hamstrung by not permitting and encouraging it. Furthermore, I seem to remember hearing that we gave money as late as 2001 to the Taliban (and supported their rise) precisely because they cracked down on the opium trade. The Taliban killed opium growers; why do you think heroin production has risen so much since we took them out? It is the local warlords that are encouraging and/or forcing the farmers to grow opium. Also, the opium poppy can grow in other places besides Afghanistan, although it grows particularly well there.
I might try cocaine once or twice if it is offered to me, but in general stimulants suck and I would rather use opiates.
This is all beside the point that no matter who I am supporting, by the time I actually use the drug I have already paid the money. I am harming no one merely by using; and the neither the DEA nor anyone else on the other side give a shit about Afghanistan or Columbia for their own sake.
Anecdotally, an increase in marijuana use would result in less alcohol use. I know a few people who prefer alcohol, but not many. Certainly my own alcohol use goes up drastically when I cannot get cannabis. Also, you may be safer if you smoke pot, drink, and drive than if you only drink and drive. That is the most recent study I have heard of. Usually, pro-drug websites will link to negative information about drugs if it comes out, but if you have a link to anything more recent I would love to see it. Outside the US would be better.
Posts: 1364 | Registered: Feb 2003
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