To not want to walk through a fug of cigarette smoke when I do my Tesco shop?

[WF]

The staff at my local Tesco store use the space by the trollies (immediately next to the main entrance) as a smoking park. The other day there were 6 staff there, puffing away, presumably on their break.

AIBU not to want to drag myself or children through that when I do my twice weekly shop? It's a large Tesco store and I know there is space around the side.

YANBU - ex 'social' smoker here. Now pregnant and in the first 4 or 5 months the smallest whiff of smoke would bring on dry retching at best and a day full of nausea and sickness at worst. Made me realise just how many people smoke outside shops/bus stations/hospitals(!) and how actually it's quite difficult to avoids clouds of it. Still makes me slightly nauseous just thinking about it actually.

However, as much as some people dislike it, what rights do we have to tell people where (outside) to smoke? Why should smokers be hidden away as opposed to having easy access to a shelter to use, especially if working long shifts with short breaks for example?

I'm a smoker but yanbu. I don't think it looks professional and it is unpleasant for non smokers.
What makes me cringe is people with pushchairs who have to light up the moment they leave the store until they get to the car. Really? You can't wait till you get home?

OP I'm wondering if our local Tesco is the same one Everytime I go there it seems as if half the staff are outside smoking. Not only near the trolley bay but also right next to the parent & child parking spaces!

I haven't and probably never would complain though. As a former smoker myself I remember well how good it was to get that 5min cigarette break in the middle of a busy shift.

Agree though that Tesco should provide a dedicated smoking area away from the public for its staff. Can't see them ever doing it though as, like me, no one ever complains!

YANBU, the management should tell them to smoke away from the main door.

There was a similar thread not long ago about people smoking outside hospital entrances (not staff mind). That all kicked off.

Or outside the front of any building ? What really hisses me off is the bloody smokers outside the bike stands. I've just turned up after 10-15 miles with a pumping heart rate and deep breathing, and I'm met with the stench and smoke. Time to rant at the property manangement !

I think that you so rarely smell smoke now as a non smoker that when you do, and it's en masse it turns your stomach.

Wouldn't take much more than that for them to go around to the side of the store... though of course, they probably don't want to do this as there is no shelter

So you'd like them to get wet? Is there any other humiliation you'd like to heap on these people?

Smoke=get wet
Don't smoke=stay dry

Simple.

YANBU and I wold speak to the manager. Gives a terrible impression of the store and rather intimidating.

Calm down, Limited. My point was more to do with the management failing to provide an adequate shelter. Of course I don't want them to get wet. Why should I want that? If they were provided with a shelter around the side, they'd be dry, happy and protected from the elements. Myself and kids wouldn't have to walk through their smoke. Everyone would win.

These problems with smokers forming crowds around entrances would all be solved if management admitted that some people smoked, and put a designated, easy-to-get-to shelter. Instead, they just announce that they have a No Smoking policy, and leave the smokers to work it out for themselves.

Telling people "no smoking on the premises" just results in people congregating in the closest sheltered spot, that is just off the premises, because they don't want to waste most of their break on the journey to and from a smoking spot. Surprise, surprise, that is generally entrance ways.

I think a really well-ventilated room would be better than all this nonsense.

There was definitely an identical thread not that long ago.
I even had to check the date as I was sure I'd read it before.

If its like my local tesco the ashtrays are just infront of the doors so everyone smokes there as it would appear to be the designated smoking zone by tesco its self one ashtray each size of the door at both entrances...

Smoke inside = bad
Smoke outside = still bad

Smokers cannot win can they?

Don't smoke by the doors
Don't smoke by the bike rack
Don't smoke sitting on the benches
Don't smoke here don't smoke there...

So where would you like smokers to smoke? I don't like the look of people who are a size 20 trying to fit into a size 10 can we put those people somewhere too as it makes me gag

At my Tesco the staff have to walk down the seating area far from the store and right outside some other stores.

Agree with you chatty.

OP - here's a solution. Get on with your day and stop your I-want-to-control-the-world-to-suit-me whining.

I can remember the similar thread, a pregnant woman, who actually vomited when she smelt smoke commented on it.

We all need to learn to vomit on demand, I think the ability to vomit on people, at will, would solve a lot of our problems.

So where would you like smokers to smoke?

In your own home so other people don't have to breathe in the fumes.

I sincerely hope that we're moving towards a complete ban on smoking in public places like they have in the States.

YANBU in case you didn't guess!

With the cigarette smoke - you just have to take it into account as part of your day that isn't your favourite. It's fleeting and there's nothing you can or should do, but ignore it. If it bothers you that much, get a trolley from the car park instead.

Like chatty puts it...I don't like the way the neighbour parks, but I'm not starting a self righteous thread about it.

Oh to only have this to worry over ! Get a grip ..

no shelter? So it is get a bit wet if it is raining or, perish the thought, get help to give up the drug? Wow, it is so tough being a smoker.

nowhere I've ever worked lets the stinkers smoke in uniform, or in site of the customers. You can't booze or inject heroin on your work breaks, don't see why tobacco is any different.

complain to the store.

Smokers should be able to smoke outside, but they shouldn't position themselves where people have to walk through their stinky fug.

Yes, it's fleeting but walking through it is enough for it to get into my hair and I can then smell it all day.

Give them an enclosed shelter away from thoroughfares.

You can't booze or inject heroin on your work breaks, don't see why tobacco is any different

You don't?!

pictish I hope that was a tongue in cheek comment. Being annoyed by someone's parking or someone's weight (WTF!) is not the same thing at all and you know it. You only have to look at the risks of passive smoking to know that.

I'm with you OP - I would complain.

I would go as far as to say that smoking should be banned on the street aswell and that smokers should only be able to smoke in their own house/garden.

I was walking behind someone the other day on a crowded pavement and by the time I got to where I was going, my clothes and hair stank of smoke. Horrible.

Ok so the second paragraph was a bit tongue in cheek - but the smell is gross!

Birds I wonder if that was me, or some other woman with unfortunately dreadful nausea!