Any "older" members still recall the time when smoking was acceptable indoors?

[AngelicTomPetty]

I was born in 1990 so I have never seen anyone smoking indoors, but I have been watching some movies from the 80s and it seems like everyone was lighting up anywhere without even a bat of the eye.

Is it true that people would smoke casually in banks, airplanes, restaurants, etc - without any uproar? It blows my mind that this period in time existed. Like didnt anyone complain about the smell? About kids being around? Second hand?

Do any members who lived in that time have any stories to offer, I find this stuff kind of interesting.

 

[qorax]

I was born in 1990 so I have never seen anyone smoking indoors, but I have been watching some movies from the 80s and it seems like everyone was lighting up anywhere without even a bat of the eye.

Is it true that people would smoke casually in banks, airplanes, restaurants, etc - without any uproar? It blows my mind that this period in time existed. Like didnt anyone complain about the smell? About kids being around? Second hand?

Do any members who lived in that time have any stories to offer, I find this stuff kind of interesting.

Till 1999 I had smoked inflight with all international airlines.

 

[VHRB2014]

Oh yes. Bar rooms, VFW`s, and bowling alleys.

 

[AngelicTomPetty]

WOW. See now that is interesting. I cannot fathom how the general consensus was that it was okay to light a cigarette in an airtight capsule flying through the sky. Was it just considered that normal?

 

[Podunk Steam]

Planes used to have ash trays in the arm rests as well as buses. People smoked everywhere!

 

[pwheeler]

I was born in 1956 and I used to smoke in grocery stores. They actually had ash cans at the ends of every aisle. Movie theaters had ashtrays on the backs of the seats in front of you. Yes, I remember when smoking wasn't taboo and was socially acceptable.

Sent by REO vapor

 

[qorax]

WOW. See now that is interesting. I cannot fathom how the general consensus was that it was okay to light a cigarette in an airtight capsule flying through the sky. Was it just considered that normal?

Ha, the flight attendants used to carry lighters as well. So did the waitresses in all the restaurants

 

[dbrandt01]

I was born in 91 and I remember when people could smoke in Burger King and other places like that. Half the side of a fast food place had ashtrays.
I don't remember ever seeing it in banks, stores, or planes though

 

[rowsley]

yeah I remember ppl smoking in burger king, waffle house. A lot of bars around here still let ppl smoke but use pop,beer cans as ash trays

 

[caramel]

Yes. I'm old enough to have smoked in airplanes. They had larger seats and more leg space too.

 

[r77r7r]

I remember one of the last places I smoked inside was a grocery store. No ashtrays so you just crushed it out on the floor and maybe slid it to the side. Employee walking around all day with a dry mop pushing the butts in piles.

Lot of smoking at the deli and cashiers'.

I watched an old B&W movie last nite and the guy landed his Bi-plane and lit one up right there in the cockpit, lol.

 

[snork]

When we would sweep the store's floor, we used to carry a spritzer bottle to put the fires out in the broom because people hadn't stomped their butts out completely.

 

[electricbamboo]

I remember people smoking inside shopping malls...not in the stores themselves but in the general area

 

[ReigntheGamer]

I remember the first time I was on an airplane they had ashtrays built into the armrests.

 

[Vapenstein]

when I was a child smoking was allowed in theaters, grocery stores, waiting areas at the hospital

it was only a little over 20 years ago that you could smoke in malls and stores, restaurants, just about anywhere except the grocery store or hospital

the insurance lobby threw a lot of money at generations of politicians making things the way they are now

 

[PapawBrett]

Born in '59, I can remember when John Wayne smoked. People on TV smoked. People smoked at gas stations, movie theaters, bars, etc. The first pack of cigarettes I ever bought was for my Grandmother. I was maybe 10 years old, and they cost something like .35 cents.
I remember smoking in the Maintenance Dept. of a Pharmaceutical Plant where I worked. The ladies on the Assembly Lines of a Black & Decker Plant had ashtrays at their work stations. My first 'Non-Smoking' experience (other than school) was Boot Camp.

 

[mcol]

I also can remember smoking on planes. Also chain smoking in my hospital
bed with the doctor in there =) Yes smoking in supermarkets you just smashed it
out on the floor. Yes in a mall court yard. How about at sports games.
Oh the good old days =)

 

[joeybear]

I remember smoking in malls and some stores even had signs that said "smokers welcome". I smoked in movie theaters in Indiana and even at the first school where I taught in the middle of nowhere central Illinois. There was a smoker's lounge for teachers and a non-smoker's lounge. During our weekly Friday morning all school meetings there were ashtrays on the tables in the library.

 

[Bgren99]

I remember as a kid me and my friend smoking a fake cigarette in a mcDonalds in a mall, and some lady came up to us shocked that we were smoking so young, but not that we were smoking in the middle of mcDonalds. As far as me actually smoking indoors, I can remember smoking in the bars when I went out.

 

[joeybear]

Ahhh, I forgot sporting events, mcol! I smoked at Wrigley Field when the retired Ron Santo's jersey and I was in the first row behind third base. Back then they said "please try to refrain from smoking". No one listened