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.

I have found the smell of the smoker varied with, well, the smoker. As Robin said, heavy smokers who smoke in an enclosed space carry the smell with them all the time. But I don't necessarily notice the smell of smoke on someone who tends to smoke outside, except right after they have had a cigarette break.