Dogs To Sniff Out Smokers 136
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has turned to "tobacco detection canine" teams to sniff out workers sneaking away for a smoke. Careless smoking by workers inside the former Deutsche Bank building is blamed for the Aug. 18, 2007, fire that killed two firefighters. "This is just one part of the project team's multifaceted approach to ensuring that all site regulations are strictly followed and enforced," said LMDC spokesman Mike Murphy.
So they sniff out tobacco... (Score:2)
...but do they sniff out cannabis?
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
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So chemical crystallized substances should be fine?
Re:So they sniff out tobacco... (Score:4, Insightful)
I suppose you're talking about meth, which is not flamed directly but is vaporized by hot glass, AFAIK, so the fire risk isn't the same as smoldering ashes from a cigarette (or joint). Of course, if one of your employees is a meth user, you may have a whole other set of problems to deal with.
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How about smoking weed with a vaporizer, would that pass the fire codes? :)
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YES! Try sneaking one of those into your cubicle though...
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Yeah, I don't know what the point of that comment was other than to get an easy first.
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Not to mention the open fire pit in the back room to keep warm when the HVAC folks forget to switch from A/C to heat....
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It runs deeper than that. Many large corporations have agreements with health insurance providers that state that no one is allowed to smoke on their premises, forcing workers to leave work to smoke. This might not sound like a big deal to most of us, but many of the large corporations that have bought into this (Lockheed Martin, for instance) have property that dwarfs large college campuses. Basically, you have to drive off property just to sneak a smoke and means you'll probably be away from your desk
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Sooooo, quit smoking...
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Then again, I guess I can't indulge my vice at ALL while I'm at work. ("Just going out back for a shot of rum" is frowned on for some reason
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Well, you downing a shot of rum doesn't cause direct adverse health affects in those around you. Smoke all you want in private homes or in you car (with the windows up).. but otherwise, you're around others that don't want to inhale extra toxins.
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As someone who did just that, all I have to say is god but you're an idiot. Giving up butts was the hardest thing I've done in my life. You might as well tell a heroin addict to "just stop shooting up"; tobacco is more addictive then heroin, crack, or any other drug. It is also the deadliest of all drugs; if it was easy to quit nobody would smoke.
"Just stop smoking" indeed. Educate yourself before making such asinine remarks.
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I'm sure the point is that you shouldn't be igniting any plant substances in these places as per the fire code.
If fire safety depends on people not smoking, perhaps they shouldn't run around singing "I built this house of straw"...
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The fire code may or may not actually prohibit such an activity - in California at least, it certainly does not. Only CAL-OSHA laws (IIRC) prohibit smoking inside of a workplace building. Incidentally, any commercial building which can be destroyed by failing to extinguish your cigarette is horribly misdesigned. They DO make fire-retardant carpets etc. Of course, I hate to even enter such a building any more, because practically every major fire retardant we use today is carcinogenic...
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Cigarettes have rings of saltpeter (an oxidant) on the paper to promote even burning and to keep them from going out. Zig Zags and other pot papers don't have the saltpeter rings, so they "run" and go out.
Not only is a potsmoker's chances of not getting cancer far better than a cigaterre smoker's, his chances of not burning up in a fire are better, too.
They should either legalize pot (which is non-addictive) or outlaw tobacco (perhaps the most addictive substance on earth).
What dimwitted fucktards write the
Shampoo (Score:5, Funny)
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In Soviet Russia, shampoo is invented by Idea.
Re:Shampoo (Score:4, Informative)
explain?
See this recent idle story... [slashdot.org]
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FWIW , if you have to include an instruction book with your joke. its NOT FUNNY
Sorry. Here's the missing instruction book.
1) Read the idle story I linked to.
2) ???
3) Profit!
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Oh and by the way:
This is fucking slashdot , you expect people to work to understand your jokes.
Not really, and I didn't post the joke, but many Slashdot jokes do expect that you read Slashdot occasionally.
fucking idiot.
Bad day?
dogs? (Score:4, Informative)
since when do we need dogs to do this? smokers smell like, well, smoke, I've yet to meet a smoker who was able to surprise me with that fact, I could tell just from the smell of their clothes, their hair, everything around them.
Re:dogs? (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes, of course it's obvious. But if it's a human doing the detection, charges of bias can (and would) come up. The dog gives it a veneer of objectivity, and much easier and cheaper than an ion mobility spectrometer.
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unless they "victim" is a cat person
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How would you know if someone successfully hid their smoking? While indoors chain smoking is hard to hide, a stick of gum and a hand wash goes a long way for the casual smoker.
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Not to a non-smoker who doesn't live or work with smokers, it doesn't.
Your lungs will still smell, even with the gum. Also, are you going to shampoo your hair? Send your clothes out to be cleaned?
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sorry to hear you don't like the odor of an orange. I think OJ is ok but I don't like eating the rind, and I like the smell. I also recall reading somewhere a long time ago that an orange's smell (like squeezed OJ) can be detected after an incredible amount of diluting. (sorry can't find a reference) Shame on your bad luck.
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OK, so the dogs can tell who smoked. What does that get them? The "article" is very lacking.
*Bark, bark, bark*
Hey, you smoked.
Um yeah, at lunch off company propery, off company time.
Or is this more a roving patrol dog?
Will it constantly bark at crushed cigarettes that people throw in trashcans to taunt the dog?
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I actually catch myself wishing it was still legal to smoke in office buildings, just to cover that horrible stench of oranges that can't be sensed a good four offices away...
I reckon everyone has a particular office stench they hate. Personally, I wish microwave popcorn was fucking illegal. The smell of that disgusting shit hangs around for HOURS.
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30 minutes or so? If you're anything like the kind of smoker I was, that'd only leave you about 15 minutes before you'd need to go and stink yourself up again!
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30 minutes or so? If you're anything like the kind of smoker I was, that'd only leave you about 15 minutes before you'd need to go and stink yourself up again!
Psh. Back when I smoked, That 30 minutes would be long enough for me to have already smoked 1 or 2 more cigarettes.
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Some of us are hypersensitive and/or allergic to tobacco smoke. I can't stand it - it out and out stinks. Ditto for weed. At one place I worked, a coworker came in, and from 10 feet away, I said "You've been having a little 'fun time'." "That was hours ago. You should work for the RCMP as a sniffer dog."
It stinks. It reeks, even at very low levels. When I walk my dogs, I notice it outdoors. Last night is a good example - I smelled the stink
Re:dogs? (Score:5, Informative)
How would you know if someone successfully hid their smoking? While indoors chain smoking is hard to hide, a stick of gum and a hand wash goes a long way for the casual smoker.
No. No, it doesn't.
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Meh. I'm a smoker. (Coincidentally, I also have a very strong sense of smell which is only blunted by smoking right after having had a cigarette - I will often/usually be able to smell things others can't.)
I have 'surprised' quite a few people in a work environment when they have found out I smoke. Most people can not tell if a person is a smoker.
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what's annoying is going into a bar loaded with smokers for a little while with some non smoking friends. You leave, and can continue to smell the stench on each other's clothes for quite awhile.
If you find you have to plant your nose in someone's jacket to tell if they've been smoking recently, either you're a smoker, or you're around them too much and it's dulling your sense of smell.
People come in and out of the door behind me all day long, and I can tell when someone just put out before stepping in. A
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I don't have a particular problem identifying someone that's just come in from a smoke break, they usually reek really bad, (clothes, and especially breath) but given 5 minutes, both usually settle down to about the noise level of my nose.
Though if you have a bit of clothing that you don't wash regularly, like say a fall jacket, or have long hair, that can hold the odor for quite awhile.
HOUSES of smokers though, can be REALLY bad. IMHO there ought to be a law against smoking in your house when you have a k
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Most people are surprised to find that I smoke. I guess sneaking out once or twice during a nine hour day isn't much, but I'm still a smoker. Most coworkers don't know that when I go up to get a coffee, I'm going out to have a smoke on the way back.
Last week my aunt and uncle, who I lived (as a smoker) next door to for five years and see every weekend 'found out' that I smoked.
Also, I have a tendency to brush my teeth and wash my hands after I smoke, that probably helps. And I never smoke inside, because th
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Will it hold up in court? (Score:2, Funny)
"Really Lassie? Bobby was smoking by the water cooler? And he put out his cigarette the wrong way?"
The trash can (Score:2)
Well, putting it out in a trash can indoors is definitely the wrong way...
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No problem - just have your "service dog" that accompanies you be a bitch in heat :-) Heck, just petting a dog in heat for a minute of two, you'll
I can imagine where this goes (Score:2, Interesting)
My company offers a small "discount" on the health plan for non-smokers (yes, it's really a tax for smokers).
I thought this story would be about a company using dogs to sniff out people who said they are non-smokers but still smoke.
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The summary says the smoking was done inside an employers building. If you consider an employer trying to make a building safer for the other occupants oppressive, then you may have difficulties finding an employer who isn't such a tyrrant.
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Its not the non smoking rule that i think is unreasonable and oppressive, its sending out dogs that is.
The proper thing would be to stick a camera out in the break area.
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However they would get hit with a discrimination suit if they advertised smoking as the reason for the terminations. Remember, its a legal act.
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Smokers are not a protected class; everyone is free to discriminate against them.
Wearing orange spiked hair is also legal, and you can easily get fired from many jobs for that.
Imagine all the sentries (Score:1)
Escape from New York (Score:2)
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The second vermont republic is another option. 05401 in the house.
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Yes, you're right... Vermont is an EXCELLENT option for New Yorkers who want to move someplace with the level of "government services" to which they are accustomed (aka taxes and bureaucracy).
New Hampshire is not really a good choice unless you want SMALLER government.
McGruff the Crime Dog (Score:1)
Lunch (Score:2)
I smoke on the way into work, at lunch, and during an afternoon walk.
What happens if you get sniffed out after smoking off company property and just reek on Deutsche Bank property?
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You're going in the dog house buddy.
Who checks on the dogs? (Score:1)
it's only a matter of time... (Score:2)
This will no doubt lead to the use of dogs to determine whether people are smokers when they establish a health insurance policy.
Dog training 101 (Score:3, Funny)
This is how I trained the dogs to do this important work.
Step 1: Get dogs addicted to cigarettes
Step 2: Withhold cigarettes
Step 3: Dog goes apeshit when it detects cigarettes
Theory 101 for coke sniffing dogs (Score:2)
I hope this theory doesn't fly up for coke sniffing dogs who can't sniff their own butts anymore ...
It'd be a hell of an addicted life; a cat's life would be luxe!
Here's an idea (Score:4, Insightful)
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Designated Smoking Area? (Score:2)
Re:Designated Smoking Area? (Score:5, Interesting)
Is there not a designated smoking area for these people? If so, how does the dog tell the difference between a worker who smoked in the designated area verses someone who snuck one someplace inappropriate?
Designated smoking areas!?!? What, are you from the '80s?
Companies stopped providing any sort of concessions to smokers years ago. These days, walking into many workplaces is like walking into a minimum security (for now) prison.
I started working for a company in Indiana about 7-8 years ago, and right after I was hired, they instituted a zero-tolerance policy towards smokers (I smoke). It was crazy! They actually had 'monitors' that followed employees around whenever they left the main production floor to make sure they didn't smoke. They didn't SAY that's what was going on, they just quietly took one or two people every shift that were due for an employee review, and told them what they wanted. They wouldn't come out and be straight and tell the workers why they were being followed around, and it made working there a little vacation to hell. It was creepy!
You weren't even to have tobacco in your vehicle in the parking lot. Not that employees were even allowed to leave the building during their shift or anything.
If they knew you were a smoker, you were pretty much gaurunteed to be "asked" to open your car for inspection every couple weeks. Refusal meant a pink slip on the spot. Cigarette butts in the ashtray were treated the same as if you had 50 cartons and a vending machine in your car.
Even though I was very well-paid, as I worked in electrical/electronic maintenance and so escaped much of the Smoking Politburo officers' attention, I just couldn't take such a horrible work environment and "East German informer" atmosphere and quit.
Now, I run my own business where I smoke whenever I want, and there's a sign on the door that informs people that this is a smoking environment. They're free to take their business elsewhere if they object, that's fine with me. If they're such anal-retentive types, I don't want to deal with them anyways.
I had a college kid come in once and get upset that I stood there smoking and actually threatened me that he'd get the health inspectors and zoning commission to go after me.
I laughed in his face and told him good luck, as the shop is outside any city or township, and I own the building and the land.
While he stood there sputtering in outrage, I told him, "Son, you're gonna die early of a heart attack with all that anger and stress...here, have a nice relaxing smoke!". :D
Strat
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Wow - that's all completely unconscionable, if not downright illegal. They can prohibit you from smoking on their grounds, sure, but they certainly don't have any right to force you to open your car nor can they stop you from leaving the grounds on your time to have a smoke.
I'm glad to see you've removed yourself from that situation. As an ex-smoker, I feel the pains from both sides of the argument. While I understand that there are valid concerns for the rights of the non-smoking population, lets not forge
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Wow - that's all completely unconscionable, if not downright illegal. They can prohibit you from smoking on their grounds, sure, but they certainly don't have any right to force you to open your car nor can they stop you from leaving the grounds on your time to have a smoke.
I'm glad to see you've removed yourself from that situation. As an ex-smoker, I feel the pains from both sides of the argument. While I understand that there are valid concerns for the rights of the non-smoking population, lets not forge
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Wow - that's all completely unconscionable, if not downright illegal. They can prohibit you from smoking on their grounds, sure, but they certainly don't have any right to force you to open your car nor can they stop you from leaving the grounds on your time to have a smoke.
Slight search-and-replace yields:
Wow - that's all completely unconscionable, if not downright illegal. They can prohibit you from having a gun on their grounds, sure, but they certainly don't have any right to force you to open your ca
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Sir, you are my hero.
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Now, I run my own business where I smoke whenever I want, and there's a sign on the door that informs people that this is a smoking environment.
Lucky for you you don't live here in Illinois. They outlawed smoking in about every public building whether or not you own the building.
The law is against the Illinois Constitution (and everyone who went to court over it won on those grounds) but the lawmakers and health departments don't care about the state (or any other) Constitution. Witness the fact that the Go
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That whole EPA report saying that secondhand smoke > primary smoke? Yea, repeatedly proven to be almost entire falsified.
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Yeah! Let's not forget those freakin' coffee breaks, either! Dadgum caffeine addicts!!! Oh, and FOOD, if they can't wait 10 hours to eat, they don't deserve to work!!!!
Whatever. As long as I have to wade past the crowd at the coffee pot to go outside in the cold rain to take my 5 minute break (once in morning, once at lunch, once in afternoon... you know, breaks I'm legally entitled to... anyway,) once I don't have to smell burned freaking popcorn... every day, and once I don't have to smell that god-awful
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There isn't a designated drinking area for the alcoholics, or a designated shooting-up area for the heroin addicts. So why should there be a special area for those addicted to nicotine?
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Drinking and drug use while on the job isn't acceptable because those activities cause impairment. Smoking is a personal habit akin to drinking coffee, soda or some other socially acceptable form of non impairing recreational substance use. The difference between nicotine and caffeine is that caffeine doesn't produce 'second
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Designated area? They are illegal in most of europe. The only places you are allowed to smoke are in your own home, outside, in a prison or in a mental hospital.
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Really? That surprises me. When I went to Zurich in September, there were smoking rooms in both the Zurich and Frankfurt airports.
Switzerland isn't part of the EU.
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Uh, you used it twice...
C'mere, puppy . . . (Score:1)
Bullshit (Score:2)
My BS detector always goes red-hot on stories that blame a careless smoker for starting an inferno, because - despite having smoked for 15 years, I've yet to start even a small fire with a cigarette. If you throw a cigarette into gasoline, it goes out. If you throw it on some dry leaves, it goes out. If you throw it on cloth, it'll burn a hole...but then, it'll go out. If you throw it on some sawdust...well, I haven't tried that one - but I suspect it'd still go out. And since the building is covered [nytimes.com] in fl [wikipedia.org]
Smoking Hinders Productivity (Score:3, Insightful)
By the way, I've seen this happening at a few different places now. If I claimed I was addicted to Hacky sack, do you think I could take extra hacky sack break times through out the day?
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I can understand you being upset about it because it looks like you're being cheated out of your time, but that's not necessarily true. Those workers are taking time out of their day to destroy their bodies. Would you rather they do it indoors right next to you?
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Where I work it generally seems that non-smokers take longer breaks than the smokers. Most of my smoker co-workers seem to take 2-3 breaks (not counting lunch) and these are generally a quick "breath of fresh air", a refill of their coffee and then back to work. Most non-smoking co-workers tend to take two breaks that are "15 minutes" each, although the trend seems to be to that if co-worker 'A' goes on break 10 minutes before co-worker 'B' then you can pretty much count on 'A' not returning until 'B's bre
Solution Simple (Score:1)
Stop whining, the solution is simple here bud...
Just start smoking and get your ten minutes of overtime too.
(Of course there is another way to look at it-- those 10 minutes are more like charity for people who are drastically reducing their lifespans by smoking...)
I Love Smokers (Score:2, Funny)
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Sure they would. The tobacco company isn't THAT bad. I'm sure they'd piss on a fellow smoker if they were smoking their brand, was willing to sign an affidavit that they'd BEEN smoking that brand for 20 years or more, and could produce the STATE STAMPS from 50 or more packs of their brand of cigarettes as token proof.
Alternately, I'm sure they'd be willing to piss on just about anyone for a small fee. (A little more if you wanted it done in private.)