Is it really that bad? Like when I'm just sitting next to someone?

My grandmother was a pack-a-day smoker, and, well, the smell was distinctive in all her clothes and her person. Sometimes, at the library where I used to work, you could tell whether the person who had last checked out a book was a smoker just by sniffing the book's spine.

But not barfworthy.

A lit cigarette smells like somethign burning, which isn't particularly obnox for me; I do find the leftover smell of cigarettes obnox, because it stays for hours, and it gets into everything. Sometimes when I'm at a smoke-friendly bar, and come home, I take off my clothes and realize my bra smells like cigarettes. Which is annoying.

But not barfworthy.

It can be bad, Allyson. More if a person is in an enclosed space and smokes, as my parents used to do all Winter. They ALWAYS smelled like stale smoke and it was not a pleasing scent. If you smoke outside, it shouldn't be that noticable.

Every so often, like on the train, I notice myself smelling smokey, but I firmly believe it varies by what I'm wearing and the weather, since I usually smoke outside.

What Nutty said about it clinging to your effects. But it stinks way less than say, bodily functions, which we all have.

I had a colleague in graduate school who was a very heavy smoker, had standards of oral hygiene that I can only hope were not normal for her home country in Eastern Europe, and who wore very strong rose-scented essential oil. When I had to sit next to her in class it was really torture. She sort of smelled like a charnel house. It didn't help that I hated her for reasons completely independent of her smell.

When I go out to a bar or a smoky party (which is never, anymore) I always come home and strip completely naked before falling into bed. Usually I'm too tired/drunk to wash my hair, but I would if I could, because if I don't I have to wash the sheets the next day because of the stale smoke smell.

Our timekeeper sends us a reminder about our time sheets every pay period. Which really comes in handy since we switched from a paper-based system (where getting the physical timesheet was a good reminder) to an electronic system.

Which reminds me, my timesheet is due today.

Stale smoke smells icky but I've known a lot of smokers and only one smelled obnoxious. Nothing that opening a window, stepping outside, washing her hands or any of a zillion other things wouldn't have fixed.

It wasn't the smoke, per se. It was the smoker.

In the same way I don't think cats smell but lock 'em in a closed house without changing the litter box and there is stank.

I don't actually mind the smell, as such; I just can't cope with being around cigarette smoke for more than an hour or so, because I end up with nasty upper respiratory systems and feel lousy.

I'm responsible for payroll, which means I make sure that all the timesheets get turned in. Regular employees get paid their 40 automatically, so sometimes a guy just forgets that he needs to have it turned in.

However, I call and remind them if I don't see it. For any Monday holidays (we have to run payroll by 5 pm Monday)I email the supervisors, call the supervisors, and remind the supervisors when I see them. It's slightly overkill but then I don't have to wait until the last minute.

msbelle really might be the nicest.