----- Original Message -----
From: "Shanna Hollich" <Shadow123@r...>
> As an often-broke high school student, I choose to> have a part-time job
at a local bowling alley. Hence
> my problem - I am exposed to a heinous amount of> second-hand cigarette
smoke at work.... it isn't
> much of a job to begin with; I really only work on> weekends from the
middle of March through the middle
> of July.> > ... I'm wondering if there's anything else I can> be doing to
minimize the effects of the smoke, and/or> to soothe my throat and get rid
of the dry cough once> the weekend is over....
Hello Shanna,
If you read my recent previous rant on butts, you know pretty much where I'm
coming from...
Speaking of which, I am grateful that I live in a relatively sane part of
the world where public indoor smoking has been almost a non-issue since it
was banned here about twenty years ago. This ban includes virtually all
public indoor areas, including recreational centres like bowling alleys as
well as bars, nightclubs, etc....
Try doing an internet search on "secondary smoke" or some such and you will
almost certainly find reams of data that tell us there is no known safe
level of secondary smoke. Ventilating systems are ineffective at best.
Tobacco smoke is loaded with some of the most toxic, most carcinogenic
substances known to science. The cough and sore throat you are experiencing
is "the tip of the iceberg". As I have mentioned recently, the global
incidences of death and injury from secondary smoke are astronomical.
Regarding your immediate situation, you say it's hard to find other work,
but you also say, "it isn't much of a job to begin with...". I deeply
believe that health and especially personal health must always come first -
the right to breathe clean air is a fundamental right... Consequently, as
difficult a decision as this may be for you, I would suggest that you
immediately quit this "job from hell" and seek other ways to create
wealth... I also believe you have every right to leave this job with no
notice, for the sake of your health. One thought, before you take this
action, you might try approaching your boss - Explain your situation and ask
if there is any possibility that your work place, i.e., the entire bowling
alley, could be declared a smoke-free area - have signs put up and have all
ash trays removed. In the absence of a comprehensive ban such as we have
where I live, I would not be optimistic such an approach would really be
effective, but "nothing ventured, nothing gained"... Last summer,
attempting to make a long story short, I actually succeeded doing something
very much along these lines, in Whitehorse, Yukon, where I had a gig in a
hotel which allowed butts in the lobby - It did take an appearance before
City Council, and various letters to the editor and other media things... I
didn't get any laws changed, but I guess the hotel was embarrassed enough
with the publicity that they banned the butts on their own...
In certain long-term "bigger pictures", I believe that we all have certain
duties to be aware of and protect ourselves from butt pushers and other
corporate thugs who would harm us, blinded by the psychosis that is greed...
to be mindful of the myriad connections between Big Tobacco, Big Oil, Big
Military, Big Media, Big Politics, Big Food, etc. etc....
The world of whom we would sing is critically ill... The good news, is, we
still have more power to heal and (re)create than we know... something like
that...
Cheers.
Michael
Michael Eckford michaelb@i...
Earth, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Meanwhile, a skeleton keeps walking into bars, trying to order a beer and a
mop...
"The twentieth century has been characterized by three developments of great
political importance: the growth of democracy; the growth of corporate
power; and the growth of propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power
against democracy." - Alex Carey
|
