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

[The Torch]

Those old cigarette machines were gone from here such a long time ago, I remember using one of those for myself in my entire 20 years of smoking.,, They still have them all over the place in Italy. I even saw one on a building wall in a small street, just as if it was an ATM for cigarettes.

[...]
Come to that, last professional dancer who ever modeled for me, maybe 15 years ago, about my age, smoked about as heavy as I did through an entire career. Somehow smoking seemed less counter-intuitive than it does now, for a field like that. Like that scene in Chariots of Fire where one of the characters finishes his cigarette before practicing for the Olympics.

I did so much bicycling in my late teens/early twenties; I remember leaving the bar with a friend to go see the barmaid at another bar about 3/4 mile away on our bikes. When got back to the first bar, we sat down and lit a smoke right away. Everyone looked at asking "why didn't you go?" We made it so fast, no one believed we actually had time for a beer. We made them call the barmaid and they still had a hard time believing us.

 

[Roknrolusa]

Come to Greece where one can still drink and smoke one floor down from the courtroom.

 

[skoony]

I remember the ones that you had to PULL on, and some of them you had to pull so hard, it was almost more than a 13 yr old girl could manage. I figured it was the way they kept little kids from smoking, make the knobs too hard to pull out -- if you can pull them out and get a pack of smokes, you're old enough to smoke!

Andria

back in 1973 i worked at the airport as an overnight janitor.
every 100 feet or so there were vending machines with
the usual fare.candy,chips,beverages,sandwiches and soup
and,of course cigarettes. on the red concourse which i was
responsible for there must have been 40-50 machines.
i would check them every night for jammed coin slots.
by working the coin return and a good boot in the right place
one could free up the jammed coins. i usually made between
5-10 dollars a night. once in a while the cigarette machines
would malfunction allowing one to continually pull the knob
and get a pack of smokes without putting in any money.
you could clean out the whole slot.sometimes all the knobs
were not working properly.i was a very popular co-worker.
since that time i would check out any mechanical machine
for this defect.a lot of machines operated with the pull knob
system. but alas all good things come to an end. electronically
operated machines took over.

mike

 

[caramel]

Come to Greece where one can still drink and smoke one floor down from the courtroom.View attachment 424468

Greece smoking prevalence: 40%
Greece average life expectancy: 80.6 years

US smoking prevalence: 20%
US average life expectancy: 78.7 years

 

[cllmda]

I remember coming to the UK from the US sometime in the '80's and being blown away upon discovering that one could SMOKE at the movies!Way cool and great for us smokers....dunno how long it lasted though????Probably was one of the first to go, I can see that it musta made for a very smelly movie theatre, alot of extra work emptying and cleaning the ashtrays and must have been extremely offensive/disagreable to/for non-smokers.....

 

[Bob Chill]

I was working in a mall when I was 16 at a sub shop. I used to go to the tobacco shop in the mall to buy cigs when I was working. The manager liked me so offered me a job at $6/hr (min wage was just over $3/hr in 1985 so I thought I won the lottery). I was allowed 1 free pack of cigs for every 8 hours worked. And smoking was encouraged on the job! It was so awesome.

Then when the mall banned smoking outside of the restaurants and our tobacco shop, our shop became a haven for smokers. It was so much fun. Just hanging out, selling cigs, pipe tobacco, and cigars all day while talking to mall employees and best of all....getting paid for it!

Little did I know at the time that it was the beginning of suffering through a powerful addiction for nearly 3 decades with no way out until nearly 2 years ago when I discovered vaping. I don't miss inhaling smoke in any way shape or form.

 

[AndriaD]

Greece smoking prevalence: 40%
Greece average life expectancy: 80.6 years

US smoking prevalence: 20%
US average life expectancy: 78.7 years

Which illustrates the value of extra-virgin olive oil and wine that tastes like pine trees.

Andria

 

[sos2001]

Till 1999 I had smoked inflight with all international airlines.

I'm so old ((how old are you)).... I'm so old that on my first airplane ride, going to New Orleans for the 1982 Sugar Bowl, I could smoke on a domestic flight on Eastern Airlines.

 

[The Torch]

Greece smoking prevalence: 40%
Greece average life expectancy: 80.6 years

US smoking prevalence: 20%
US average life expectancy: 78.7 years

Which illustrates the value of extra-virgin olive oil and wine that tastes like pine trees.

Andria

You're definitely on to something, Andria!

While I was in Italy, I drank a LOT of wine. In Italy (or Europe as as far as I can tell), the cheapest/worst wine is better than the most expensive or best tasting wine we can get here. When I came back after only one week, the one thing that struck me like a brick on the forehead is how much our wine (even great wine) tastes like preservatives... YUK! If it kills small organisms, like your taste buds, it can't be good for the big organisms like us... we, after all, are a pile of small organisms (even if a pile of small organisms is not necessarily a human being, but that part can be lost in definitions )

 

[The Torch]

Come to Greece where one can still drink and smoke one floor down from the courtroom.View attachment 424468

I just can't help to ask if the one on the right is actually taking off her panties on that picture...

She does look like she's trying to wear a lampshade on her head...

 

[cocacola31173]

Hey! That's one of my favorite passtimes! I love it when I buy some thing for say $9.17. Give them #10.27 and they have no idea of what to give you back unless "the machine" tells them. I did that one time and actually got back $1.10 all in coins!

I tried to teach my kids to count money back. My first job at Captain D's our registers didn't tell you how much change to give to you learned really quick how to count back change in your head.

I was in the drive thru one time and their registers was down and they were using calculators ...my total was 4.75 and I gave her a five...she went to punch it in the calculators to figure my change! I just smiled and told her it would be 25 cents!

 

[AndriaD]

You're definitely on to something, Andria!

While I was in Italy, I drank a LOT of wine. In Italy (or Europe as as far as I can tell), the cheapest/worst wine is better than the most expensive or best tasting wine we can get here. When I came back after only one week, the one thing that struck me like a brick on the forehead is how much our wine (even great wine) tastes like preservatives... YUK! If it kills small organisms, like your taste buds, it can't be good for the big organisms like us... we, after all, are a pile of small organisms (even if a pile of small organisms is not necessarily a human being, but that part can be lost in definitions )

I've heard a lot about the healthful properties of wine, particularly red wine, but I have to forego those benefits, since my rate of consumption would completely cancel out anything healthful -- it's never healthy to consume a couple liters in one evening.

I'm all over that extra-virgin olive oil, though.

Andria

 

[caramel]

The difference is stress level, Andria. Does things to people's hearts. Check Canada, we have the same diet as you, yet a 81.2 years average life expectancy.

 

[AndriaD]

The difference is stress level, Andria. Does things to people's hearts. Check Canada, we have the same diet as you, yet a 81.2 years average life expectancy.

I can believe it, and I'm willing to bet that the stereotype of Canadians as polite has a lot to do with it -- politeness is far less stressful than all the rudeness that goes on all over the place, all the time, down here. As this thread has constantly reiterated, people in the US used to be a whole lot more polite to one another than they are now -- which is why we tend to look on those times as "the good old days" -- there was a lot less stress, when common courtesy was the rule rather than a striking exception. You know that old adage about honey and vinegar, and I have proved it over and over -- even bureaucrats are far more helpful, when one is polite to them rather than the reverse.

Andria

 

[wjosephsimmons]

I got thrown in a "Drunk Tank" one night in 1982 in Colorado, and the deputies there kept a complimentary can of Bugler RYO tobacco, papers and matches on the meal table for 'communal' use. I thought that was nice.

 

[KattMamma]

The difference is stress level, Andria. Does things to people's hearts. Check Canada, we have the same diet as you, yet a 81.2 years average life expectancy.

I believe you are right Caramel! And I think there are LOTS of things causing us stress here, but the number one is money.

I think our economy has been in a severe decline for decades, it just sped up a bit starting with the 2007-8 recession (which is supposedly over, but we all know better). Nothing is more stressful than worrying about how you're going to pay your mortgage or put food on the table when money is tight. And I place the blame squarely on the shoulders of our crooked politicians.

When I think about the 70s and the big deal about the oil embargo then the "energy crisis" -- it pales in comparison to today, because despite those "crises" everyone had job security and a good outlook on their future. The US still actually manufactured things, which was the heart of our economy. If I had a time machine I would go back to the 70s in a heartbeat!!

 

[Fuzzy Bruce]

I know for a fact that Canadians worry less than most when it comes to certain lifestyle choices. Thankfully, most of the snow birds are now leaving the area I am in. No more bikinis, banana hammocks and g-strings along with sandals and black socks on the beaches by folks who are what could be called older folks.

 

[Bernard Marx]

Come to Greece where one can still drink and smoke one floor down from the courtroom.View attachment 424468

Hatchi Momma!

 

[arth1]

I was in the drive thru one time and their registers was down and they were using calculators ...my total was 4.75 and I gave her a five...she went to punch it in the calculators to figure my change! I just smiled and told her it would be 25 cents!

Next time, blow their mind by saying it will be two bits. Or by giving them 5.05 (or 10.05 or 20.05) for a 4.80 charge. They won't understand why they you hand them the nickel.

 

[mojofilter]

People still use money for transactions? That's so last century! We've had debit cards since 1998. I cannot remember the last time I had money in my pocket that I gave to someone at a store... obviously it was prior to 1998. We've been using the debit card since before they were accepted at places like McDonald's, or some stores would charge you $1.50 to use them. If I wanted to have money, I would specifically have to go to the bank to get some. Well, at Golden Corral (a restaurant chain), they still operate under a system where you pay in advance with a debit card, but you have to request some dollar bills to give as tips. I don't really understand why it can't be a charge on the bill like everywhere else. Otherwise, I haven't needed to carry any cash in so long, it isn't even an issue anymore.