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.

I don't like how smoking smells much, when trapped. I don't mind how smokers smell, in the same way I don't mind how people smell -- unless they're doing off things with their personal hygiene.

I just pulled off the class lab fine, despite having missed an hour and a half of this morning's class, and, really, not having paid attention all week. Still, a co-worker is calling me Omarosa, and I mightn't watch reality TV, but I know that's not good.

Katie and Burrell speak for me WRT smoke and smokers.

Only time I really really truly hated and despised and got a rotten headache from being around a smoker was one who also smelled pungently of stale instant coffee, stale sweat, old-person breath mint (there is really no other description) AND cigar smoke. I think it was less the smoke than the combination. It was a professor, and I used to always try to sit by an open window. Even in February.

I don't like smoking anywhere not well ventilated. The minute I can smell it on me, it's time to shower or do laundry or something.