Vaping at work

[Divorcedalongtime]

So I just started working at this place and we are a small team working in very separate parts of a big building, my team stays a couple of hours longer than the other teams and one member, who is older and has been there a long time, sometimes vapes inside the building.
he does it somewhat sneakily so that by the time you can smell it he isn’t obviously doing it.
I am super new and haven’t confronted him.
I also am not entirely sure what company policy is but assume and hope it’s not allowed.
AIBU to just tell my manager?
or should I first tell him?

I really like this job but hate the smell of vapes and worry about breathing this in…

I also worry that I’m completely deluded about this and people find it perfectly acceptable to do everywhere…

Course you are.

Funny how you didn't mention it til someone else did.

Go grass him up, see how far it gets you. Please.

Drip feed, but that's perfectly valid.

I am in fact allergic to many smells

🙃

First of all OP, you need to check your workplace policy on vaping.

Probably it's banned indoors but it's possible it's allowed if people are discreet and don't annoy others / only vape in certain areas. If your colleague is adhering to the policy then you need to treat this exactly the same as you would if someone was creating any other sort of smell near you, e.g. 'would you mind not doing that near me?' (I am assuming you would also say something if it was e.g. perfume, which you have said is worse than vaping).

If vaping is banned you could say something to your colleague like 'I didn't think vaping was allowed indoors here' and see what he says. He might dissemble and give a vague answer and keep it away from you in the future, even if he doesn't go outside. If he continues to bother you and vaping is clearly banned then you can approach your manager or HR.

If there is no vaping policy then you might want to speak to your employer about creating one (maybe when you've been there for a bit). Please point your employer at the PHE guidance linked upthread. It's not unreasonable for an employer to ban vaping indoors but it's extremely unreasonable to make vapers stand with smokers because the vast majority are ex-smokers or smokers who are trying to quit.

I don't expect you to understand this but the vast majority of vapers are vaping for their health (as well as the health of their loved ones).

There is a small chance that this colleague is allowed to vape discreetly in the workplace as his own reasonable adjustment. Perhaps after decades of service and decades of heavily addicted smoking he has developed serious heart or lung disease and has been told he will be dead in a year or two unless he quits smoking. Perhaps vaping is the thing that finally works for him but like most vapers, especially when they have recently made the switch, he finds little-and-often works much better than a couple of set breaks per day.

There's only a small chance that this is a reasonable adjustment for your colleague but it's a much bigger chance than someone being 'allergic to lots of smells'.

aye I’m sure you’re ‘allergic to many smells’

🤔

I totally think you should tell management. I expect you have proof other than “Bob leaves behind a strawberry scent’?

Our cleaners use a disinfectant like spray on staircase hand rails, door handles, light switches, etc. Whatever it is has me reaching for my inhaler, sometimes I have to go outside to clear my lungs. Not pleasant but we have vulnerable elderly here. First sign of norovirus, flu every touchable surface is deep cleaned.

If all smells affected me this way I'd have to find a job working from home

The reason people have such a strong reaction against vaping is because it reminds them of smoking and we have all been conditioned to react to smoking with disgust.

It has been a wild ride watching how public health has prioritised destigmatisation in their efforts to combat HIV, monkeypox, covid, ebola etc. while at the same time deliberately using stigma as a tool in an attempt to make smokers quit.

Of course it doesn't work. Why would it when it doesn't work for any other health issue? We don't even treat other addictions like this:

Things changed in the UK in around 2015 when PHE started engaging seriously with the evidence on tobacco harm reduction.

We're now world leaders on this.

See also:

I'd just love to know what other smells you're allergic to. Oh and also, how one can be allergic to a smell

Great posts, @LangClegsInSpace

Tell your managers OP. I'm sure they'll be v interested.

For the record my experience is the same as a pp's in that I've never, in years of vaping, set off a smoke detector. Including the one in our chief exec's old room (now permanently works from home and has done since covid same as all management, but it still gives me a wee buzz to vape in the space he used to occupy) and the one in my flat that goes off if I have a slightly too long shower and don't leave the bathroom door closed for an hour after) .

@LangClegsInSpace definitely (I've NC but was on the long running vape threads)
My dad was whinging about vaping the other day so I said well would you prefer smoke because I can go back to smoking as can everyone else who vapes?
Dad "I'll take the vaping then"

My doctor and dentist both count me as a non smoker because I'm vaping and the dentist is amazed very happy I've been quit for so long

Now if I can just find a replacement for my beloved discontinued tank in case I break it...

What tank are you using?

Rebellios23 have you looked on Ebay for a replacement glass for your tank? I have bought new ones for my Freemax Fireluke tanks.

Funny how you only came out with that one after someone else introduced the idea. Picked up on because this thread wasn't going entirely the way you had hoped it would.

Why did you not mention this AT ALL in your OP

*your allergies

You sound like a prissy nightmare OP, even if you are allergic to 'smells'🙄
Never mind, I am sure you'll fit it perfectly well with your new team and they will love working with you.

You skipped a few science classes in your youth I see?
We smell things when tiny particles of that thing go up our noses and hit our smell receptors. So yes, smelling things means literal tiny parts of that thing have entered your body.
Of course it’s possible to have an allergic reaction to those particles. What do you think hayfever is?

Mini triton (with a tip from the mini nautilus as I like the shape)

Hahaha love the way this thread has turned out with recommendations for tanks
Brilliant

No idea, sorry. You could ask on Planet of the Vapes? There are other Aspire tanks on Amazon but I don't know what they're like.

A few suggestions here:

www.ecigclick.co.uk/best-mouth-to-lung-mtl-vape-tank/

I'm still using my old Kayfun Lite V2 clone ('This tank has "Designed in Russia, Built in Germany" engraved on the base and is made in China' 😂) and rolling my own coils for tuppence. Before the TPD I stocked up on loads of spares and spare parts so I should be OK tank-wise for years to come.

BUT I just went to see if there were any Tritons on Fasttech and it's GONE! They went out of business. So at some point I'm going to have to change my eliquid flavour. I've been vaping the same RY4/RY6 mix since 2014 😨

it’s horrible and smelly and makes me feel sick

I read this in a Miranda Richardson/Queenie voice