smoking/smelling colleage

[baritonehome]

I have a newish colleage who has an hourly smoker's break outside the office in a designated smoking area.

We share a desk. When she comes back to her desk, she stinks. I cannot stand the smell of cigarettes and having to sit next to her when she is oozing the old stale smell of cigarettes (which is always there to some extend) really bothers me. it is absolutely disgusting. yuk.

WIBU to ask my employer to ask my employer to stop her smoking during working hours? Is there a legal basis did it?

our office is air conditioned so I cannot even open the window. speaking to her won't help, I tried that. She is addicted.

Yanbu. Why should you put up with breathing in her fumes all day.

I feel for you. I was in the library yesterday checking on the PC my account when someone sat at PC next to me reeking of smoke. It was so powerful I logged out and left. Unfortunately not an option to you - air freshner?

Like any addict she should seek out a method to stop as it's interfering with her ability to do something. If she is taking hourly breaks i am amazed she is still employed. What a waste of a job!

I think that you would be better off asking not to share a desk with her. The smell is indeed disgusting but not really any different to BO or cheap perfume. But you can't ask your employer to stop her from smoking in the designated smoking zone.

It is different to BO, as there are health implications due to breathing in 3rd hand smoke.

I recently discovered that this is called Third Hand Smoke and can be a health issue. I wouldn't put up with it

www.no-smoke.org/learnmore.php?id=671

YANBU at all. And I say that as an ex smoker who has the odd one every few weeks still when I'm stressed.

Second hand smoke, even on clothing, wafted back in, can have a damaging effect on your health. In the times I've been a total non smoker (Years at a time), the sustained smell of it has given me migraines and tightened my asthmatic chest.

Tell your employer it gives you headaches and you can no longer tolerate it as it's damaging your health and request to be moved.

Can't believe how many posters would just accept having to breathe in someone's smoke all day at their workplace where they can't just leave! If I was smoking and my employer told me it was affecting colleagues I'd stop doing it during the workday, it's a cigarette not oxygen.

Lemon, it's pretty unusual to be able to pick up and put down smoking like that. My DH quit pretty easily and I have battled on and off for years, mostly without success. Had I been told I could no longer smoke during the working day I'd have found a new job.

Whether the frequent breaks affect her work depends on the type of job - I used to take 2-4 fag breaks a day, but only took 10 mins for lunch. Didn't affect my productivity at all.

There are things this person can do though - wearing a coat that's left far away, febreze on her clothes, gum, washing face and hands after smoking. In fact for a while I hid my smoking quite successfully even from my DH by wearing a big coat and using gum, and scented face wipes on my hands and face (not proud of this but it's true!).

Hourly smoking breaks? I hope shenakes the time off. Sounds ridiculous. I would also asked to be moved. Hate the smell of smoke yuk

Put one of those stick air fresheners on your desk? I forgot their name. It's like a bottle of perfume/scented water and you stick wooden sticks in it. Diffuser?

Get one of those air-fresheners that is designed to remove the smell of smoke.
Your colleague is not doing anything illegal, and is probably just as productive as you are.

YWBU to ask your employer to make her quit, but I agree you're in a really awkward spot.

YWNBU to ask if you can move desks or rejig the office so you don't have to sit with her. I had to share a desk with a heavy smoker while I was pregnant (my already sensitive sense of smell went into overdrive) and it was horrendous. Thankfully the hot desk policy meant it wasn't every day!

Apologies @WorraLiberty is right and actual smoking breaks aren't a legal requirement. Only requirement is in a 6 hour shift you're allowed a 20 min rest break. So she shouldn't be allowed to have these breaks hourly.

tell boss that as stinky gets an hourly drug break, you want an hourly fresh air break just afterwards. Smokers do reek, it is revolting.

aircon in the UK never works and this must be horrible. Spraying other stinks around is not the answer.

OP already said the smoker takes a very short lunch break, to make up for the time on fag breaks.

Have you told her how smelly she is and how disgusting you find it?
That may seem rude, but how rude is she, inflicting her stink on you.

If she then says "What do you expect me to do about it?", suggest she has vape breaks instead.

Yes Tammy, it's hard to quit for lots of people. But the difficult inherent in reducing or quitting smoking is not an excuse to continue doing it once it starts to harm someone else. Just because something is difficult doesn't mean you can just decide not to do it when it's affecting someone who has no choice but to be exposed to it.

The coworker could possibly take other steps as you say, but given that that's not within the OP's control I think her best course of action is to speak to her manager and explain she can't tolerate it. It's then up to the employer and coworker how to manage this, whether that's employing the methods you mention or not doing it at work or the OP being moved.

I have huge amounts of empathy for people with addictions but i nontheless would prioritise my health over concern for someone's addiction if it came to it and I think most people would too. And so they should.

I don't think her productivity is affected. She is very much on the ball and only has a very short lunch break. in fairness, she doesn't work less than me.

I told her that I am pretty sensitive to the smell of smoke and asked if she can limit smoking to home/after work. She said she had smoked for years and the manager agreed to the smoke breaks. I don't think she understands or cares about the effect her stench has on the rest of the office. Addiction trumps.

I was hoping there would be some legislation on relation to the right of a smoke free work place (which includes 3rd hand smoke). Clearly not.

I may start looking for a different role next year. Want a change in any case so the smelly colleague is just extra motivation to sort my CV.

I once went for a job where it was noted in the conditions that you were expected not to smoke during your contracted hours. Not sure whether it is legal (it was actually a job at a law firm though!) but obviously some companies do ask.

As an occasional smoker OP you have my sympathies. A word with the boss re how you can work around it, I agree.

I work with a colleague who really smells, not of cigarettes but of other bodily smells, it's really strong and everyone notices it. I asked for a desk move and they allowed it ... for 2 weeks, then they moved me back. I've had to endure it for a long time now and some days it stops me from breathing much. So I buy air fresheners and perfumes to hide the smell. I can't think of another way.

Tell your boss to sit next to her 😬

I'm a smoker but don't think YABU. Does she wear a jacket she can remove and hang away from you? Does she wash her hands and use chewing gum? I find drinking water helps bad breath from smoking too. She should at least try to reduce the whiff. You have nothing to lose by speaking to her directly or you will just have to put up with it.

You can't really ask a smoker to only smoke at home.
YABU to try and dictate this.
YANBU to not like the smell.

"You can't really ask a smoker to only smoke at home"

Of course not. What a smoker does while not at work is entirely up to them. She can smoke as soon as she leaves the house in the morning so it's mostly worn off by her shift time. She can light up on the way home. Go out with friends and spend the night in the smoking area. Smoke all day long on her days off.

What is it about smoking that means people expect others to put up with the effects on everyone else? Is it the cultural normalisation of smoking? Is it the fear of being seen to not understand addiction?

Drinking alcohol is legal. It would be unreasonable to expect an alcoholic not to drink at work? I know the main difference there is that's probably forbidden while smoking isn't during working hours, but it's a fair comparison when you consider it's also an addiction and would negatively impact coworkers seriously.

Anyway. The OP isn't trying to ensure the coworker no longer smokes at work. That's beyond her remit. She's trying to ensure she isn't having to breathe it in, which is both unpleasant and harmful to health. Being moved away is a perfectly normal request. Let the smoker sit alone or next to another smoker. It's not the OP's job to change the workplace rules so that the coworker can't smoke, it's her job to protect her own health and workplace wellbeing.

Let's imagine for a second the OP is about a coworker impacting other colleagues through another addiction such as Heroin, that in some ways negatively affects her colleague's health and comfort at work (although to be fair heroin isn't gonna directly harm everyone around if it's being injected). Would we all be saying the OP is being unreasonable not to want someone else's addiction to be given a free pass while she deals with the consequences?

I'm addicted to clean air. I bet the OP is too.

Is this not a health and safety issue that employer has to address?

Alternatively a gas a mask would solve it.