Big decisions in the executive suite

[jlong]

I'd rather do something (or make something) to deserve a drink and a smoke in my office rather than spend my entire paycheck just to drink and smoke at home to further dull the doldrums.

Well you've contributed to this forum by writing about what you smoked. That counts doesn't it?

 

[Kyle Weiss]

I'd rather do something (or make something) to deserve a drink and a smoke in my office rather than spend my entire paycheck just to drink and smoke at home to further dull the doldrums.

Well you've contributed to this forum by writing about what you smoked. That counts doesn't it?

I believe I had a drink or two to add to this fact as well. :cheers:

 

[riff raff]

I blame the airline industry and the ease of flying. Can you imagine being in an airplane for six hours with cigarette smokers all around you? (I'm too young to remember that). Didn't the ban smoking on planes set all of this in motion?

 

[LIPIPE]

Cigarettes did us all in. Years ago everybody smoked them everywhere. People smoked on planes, on trains, in theaters, in hospitals, everywhere. I even remember doctors lighting up as they spoke to their patients after examining them. Then the restrictions came....cigar smokers and pipe smokers got the "heat" for the damage done by nail smokers. It's definitely a backlash that I hope comes full circle. It's time for us to become Fred McMurray dads so our three sons have a strong manly role model to become men around.

 

[user 2031]

*

 

[idbowman]

I agree with the second hand smoke thing, Its like global warming. STRESS kills more than any thing. Causes more addictions than any thing. Folks arent happy less they got some one to point at and complain about. In the days of old when men were bold, where has it gone. Hell the government is in our homes now. SHHHHHHH. They are listening

This. A whoooooooole lotta this.

 

[Richard Burley]

I blame the airline industry and the ease of flying. Can you imagine being in an airplane for six hours with cigarette smokers all around you? (I'm too young to remember that). Didn't the ban smoking on planes set all of this in motion?

That's the way I remember it. You could still smoke a pipe on a plane in the late '70s, at least in first class. But the smoking ban began with pipes and cigars shortly thereafter. Ditto for restaurants, although there it was up to the management for a long time--the way it should still be if we still lived in a free country. I believe you are correct in blaming the airlines, in the sense of their rolling over for any bureaucrat's edict. They were the first on this issue. But most businesses and businessmen don't really believe in free enterprise--not free free enterprise, much less liberty in general. They can't stand up for a principle if they don't believe in the principle.

 

[calipuffer]

Cigarettes did us all in. Years ago everybody smoked them everywhere.

Cigarette manufacturers are the root cause of much of the drive to ban all tobacco in any form. The additives and cover-up of the knowledge of addiction of nicotine made tobacco evil. What most of us know is that tobacco in natural form isn't what is rolled up into a cigarette (not speaking to RYO). The focus should be on provision of clear information/labeling to the public and ensuring that the customers are adults. The same problem exists for alcohol except for the second-hand smoke issue. Advocates to ban tobacco entirely stipulate there is no way to "ensure" the "safety from second-hand smoke" to minors because an adult can smoke with children in the room/car/immediate space and the minor may not have the ability/capability to remove them self from the space.

I still don't understand why it isn't treated like alcohol. If you are drunk driving you are cited. Why can't it be that if you are smoking with a minor in the car you get cited. If I'm an adult, and choose to smoke in my car alone, then no problem. Unfortunately there are too many people that don't do the right thing and do put children in harms way, whether that be driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol or second-hand smoke. What we need more information on is how far is the danger of second hand smoke from the source. This is an issue here in CA in apartments. Some say if you can smell it, then dangerous. But that shouldn't be true.

Where smokers can be better is in being pro-active. If you work with your politicians to create laws that make smoking legal under safe conditions then we get to enjoy our pursuits and minors get to be free from the potential harmful side effects of second-hand smoke.

 

[monbla256]

I really hate to see this subject come up as it is a NO WIN situation for BOTH sides of the subject. I've seen it deteriorate into a total screaming match on other Forums when it comes up and as much as I have my own ideas about it I'll NOT get into it. Smokers of ALL sorts are right. Non-smokers are right. As far as if the LAWS are correct, "money talks, the rest walk" so we all know the system and how to work it Let's just let this one die :lol:

 

[Guy]

Here in Fun City ........I will admit I have become a “Closet Smoker” (not literally a closet) in a well ventilated studio/study room. I just don’t need the condescending to confrontational remarks, not to mention the fines you can get for smoking in the population.

 

[Dave_In_Philly]

Obviously no smoking in the office - but there may or may not be a bottle of bourbon in the hypothetical bottom drawer of my hypothetical desk - and similar bottles in the hypothetical desks of the other attorneys in the firm. Hypothetically speaking, now, because it is technically against corporate policy, it may or may not be common for those of us who remain at work after 5 to enjoy a libation or two to make those long hours seem a little shorter. You might be surprised how many of the larger decisions effecting the firm as a whole are hypothetically made during these hours.

 

[LIPIPE]

Guido: If more men made it a point to be out and about in the community with their pipe as I am, guys like you would not have to be disinclined to be out and about with yours. Your decision to only enjoy your pipe in "closeted" fashion indicates that you feel, or have literally been "bullied in the school yard" so to speak , and that sucks big time for a talented professor!

And.....

Dave in Philly:

Counselor, I certainly would not be surprised about the bourbon "effecting" your decisions. Don't have too many though, when writing a brief so it does not affect your grammar. Your words must deliver the message and have the desired effect or you cannot bill as much for your expertise brother.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Save the bourbon for the clients, stick to cold tea for yourself. They'll look the same in side-by-side decanters. :lol:

Then once the deal is sealed you can dip into the bourbon. 8)

 

[ADK_Pipe]

Reading this thread reminded me of some old photos that we have of our office. Take a look at these fine gentlemen enjoying an afternoon of work. I'm guessing that this was taken sometime around the 1940's, judging by the suits.

Interesting notes: The one guy at the back right is smoking a pipe and I still use the drafting table on the left every day - although that's not me in the photo.

Enjoy!

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Cool. I want an old drafting table like that for map work!

Judging from the suit style, I'm guessing that photo might be pre-war 1930s, but I could be wrong.

Neat image.

8)

 

[ADK_Pipe]

You are probably right on the suits. Now that I look closer... most likely pre-war. Our office has been around since the 1870's... very cool old tools around.

There was a point about five years ago when they *threw out* about six of those antique tables. I kept the one that I liked to work at, but they got rid of a bunch. They also dumped a ton of old drafting tools --- which was just plain crazy.

I still prefer hand drafting over CAD any day.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

I work with a little GIS and CAD mapping, but there's just some stuff I gotta do by hand. My father is old school, I'm more technological, so we really are teaching each other. Our maps are usually hybrids. Funny enough, he's more fascinated by the computer stuff and I like the old way more. :lol:

When we get proper office space, I'm going to get a wooden draft table to work on--it doesn't matter if it's old, just as long as it's well-made and wood! I have a small collection of portable pre- and post-war typewriters, an old tube radio, and some leather and lead paperweights, metal and wood drafting tools--my office is going to look like a throwback. :lol:

8)

I

 

[the macdonald]

The good ol' days. Remember the days when you could walk into a colleague's office and see him sitting in a high back executive chair, leaning back in his shirtsleeves, feet crossed on the desk and a pipe in his mouth? Those were the days that you could ponder a problem discuss a strategy and plan a course to solve a problem. Clear heads always prevailed in a manly environment and a good scotch could always be shared frrom the bar behind cabinet doors in the conference room. When further discussion of the plan of action ensued, the board would convene around the conference table, men all shared their favorite cigars and the bar was open. Early in my career as a hospital administrator in the '70's a day and an evening in the workplace was sheer delight. There was a congeniality that doctors and executives enjoyed in partnership. We enjoyed each other's friendship, and we made serious and long reaching decisions. We built empires and we solved any and all problems that faced us. We spent meaningful time together and we went home knowing a job was well done.

After a tough case in the OR (operating room) or a successful code 99 (cardiopulmonary resuscitation event) in the ICU (intensive care unit) or triplets delivered in the DR (delivery room) celebrations took place in the smoke filled doctor's lounge. A celebratory cigar was lit, a pipe was enjoyed and drinks were poured. Those were the good times. What happened, I wonder? Are we better off now, are we healthier and are we happier, I wonder? Do we still share the fellowship, are we as civil? Something seems to be missing now. Sad, so very sad isn't it?

You should join a financial firm, it's like Mad Men:2012. In this business, men are men, that it.