Captains second hand smoke is killing me...

SteveC said:
Look, either it's important enough to you to quit your job over, or it's something that you deal with quietly. You need to decide which it is, then do what you have to do. If it is so important to you that you can't live with the situation, then the ball has to go into his court - he quits or you quit. If you're not willing to make that sacrifice, then I wouldn't recommend confronting him any further (assuming you really have asked nicely), because that will be one of the possible outcomes.

Do not, and I repeat, do not continue with the situation as it is now or it WILL affect your relationship in the cockpit eventually. If you decide that the job is more important than confronting him about the smoking, then you need to honestly treat the situation as one that has been resolved. You cannot afford to carry resentment and anger with you as a professional pilot.

You have to decide, then you have to live with whatever the outcome might be.

Oh by the way...life isn't fair.
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This right here is the best advice! LISTEN TO STEVE! The CA is going to smoke! You already voiced a concern, he obviously answered it, he lit up again! As an ex smoker, second hand smoke is really nasty to me now. If I'm in a car with someone who smokes, I roll the window down and point my head out, I barely even notice it like that! If your in YOUR car you tell them no smoking. It's HIS car and PLANE. You are not going to die of second hand smoke in a 5 min car drive to the hotel with your window down and face out! Look on the bright side...if he is such a bad chain smoker, you will probably be upgrading very soon! I really would not make a big deal about it with your CA!
 
I think you just need to suck it up and deal with it. 5 miles to the hotel?? Can't be THAT horribly bad, and if it is... you need to speak up but need to be able to live with the outcome. There are lots of possible outcomes though, maybe turning on the air in the car, maybe he smokes only 1 on the way to the hotel, etc etc. You never know. In any case, the longer you wait to say something, the more 'okay' it is for him, and the worse you're gonna look when you finally do speak up.

SteveC is spot on though, if you choose not to say something then you need to treat the situation as resolved.

BTW flying has plenty of health issues, 5 min of second hand smoke a day probably pales in comparison to body clock issues, radiation, breathing jet exhaust, ramp noise, spinning props, caffeine addiction, etc etc :)
 
I reiterate my most excellent, yet completely ignored advice: Grow up and start smoking yourself!

[YT]T3jsnKhuF60[/YT]
 
Boris Badenov said:
Yeah but you're a fancy AIRLINE pilot now. You wouldn't really deign to sit in one of those little planes anymore.
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You would have been so proud of me last week!

We had an airplane with a deferred ACARS for 4 legs. So, for 4 legs, I had to call out/off/on/in times with the radio, pull landing numbers from the data cards, use the phone to get dispatch to run W&B numbers (we don't have wheels anymore), and listen to the radio to pick up the ATIS!

I guess I've still got it!:rotfl:
 
WacoFan said:
Does anyone remember sitting in the smoking sections of a 121 flight? That was the life - enjoying a nice cocktail with a refreshing pack of cigarettes while on the flight from IAH-MCI. It was great. Really made traveling on the airlines tolerable.
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Sigh...born too late.
 
shdw said:
Start saving 5 dollars a day and....

evo5000-mask.jpg



At the very least the guy will get a kick out of it. You can go with cheaper options at home depot with little filters in them. Oh and here http://www.approvedgasmasks.com/sge-400-3.htm Only 165, a bit steep but that smoke will never bother you again. One request though, if you go this route please take some pictures.
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:laff: Ha, this actually what came to my mind, too.

Maybe it is my age and experience level (the guy looking up to the older guy), but if I felt like I was up against a wall, like it sounds like you are, I would try and turn it into a joke.
Maybe a light hearted joke can drive the message home better than a confrontation on smoking (which never turns out well.) For that matter it could work out better than talking to the boss too, because he really will not like it if the boss decided to tell him to stop smoking with you in the car instead of getting you a second car.

Maybe like this: Get in the car-
"seat belt, check
Gas mask, check"

Laugh about it, and maybe he will ask you if it really means that much to you.

If not, I really only see getting your own car out of pocket the only real solution. If you have a problem with your "nose" move your "nose" and don't mess with his. It could be expensive, but it is your health and your job.
:bandit:
I think I should get some points for being the first to use the smoking smiley . :D
 
Basically it comes down to growing some balls.


Next time you have a minute, ask him for a word. Take him to a office, or outside somewhere and lay it out for him. Something like this.


"I will not tolerate you smoking near me, especially in confined spaces such as the rental car. This is not okay"

If he gives some kind of rebuttal, let him finish, then say this.

"You are not understanding me. This is not up for discussion. If you continue to smoke near me in a confined space I will be forced to take this up the chain of command."

Then walk away.



Also, make sure you follow through. If he indeed does it again, don't say a word to him. But when you get back from the trip, write a nice letter (a professional one that just lays out the facts) and send it to the C.P. and HR. Make sure you keep a copy of this letter. It creates a paper trail.



Although it can sometimes feel like you have no options in a situation like this, there are laws that protect you. He does not have a right to smoke near you.


Either do that, and be willing to take it all the way, or deal with the smoke. Nothing else will work.
 
If second hand smoke is the worst part of your job then you must have a nice gig. Just ask him nicely not to smoke in the car, it is that easy.

"Would you mind not smoking in the car? The smoke is really getting to me."

Worst case is that he says no and your back to square one.
 
I'm not an expert, but isn't it true that second hand smoke "dangers" are usually exaggerated?

I mean, if you LIVE with a chain smoker, that might be one thing. But thinking that it's a "health risk" to ride in a car for 5 minutes while someone lights up is probably not entirely logical...:dunno:
 
TFaudree_ERAU said:
Our home FBO has a LONG hall from the lobby to the parking lot, and I can get a lot done during that walk.
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Yeah....WTFO? I like to take care of the bags personally so that I know my pax are in their car (or rental, or cab, or whatever) and on the way to where they need to go with what they need. It's got to be a funny sight watching a fatass like myself dragging bags down that hallway. I need two rest stops and a twinkie break just taking bags out to the car there. Something seriously needs to be done about that. Maybe a golf cart or one of those moving walkway things that people STAND on in the terminals (another "wtfo" for that one) to speed things up.

TFaudree_ERAU said:
Wow, I'm impressed with all you people calling him a •.

Real mature.
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But I bet they have more total time than him, so it's okay. Did you miss that memo? It's either that or post count.

-mini
 
Nothing worse than a disrespectful smoker. This ain't the 1950's anymore, I always contemplate making someone who is stinking up my air, eat their cancer stick. I got nothing against someone smoking if that's what they want to do, but you are not going to be making my life miserable.
 
MikeD said:
BTA, we know what weakness to exploit if you ever go to SERE school. :)
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:rotfl:

OP:

You need to grow some balls and talk to the man a bit more assertively.

"Look (captain, capt, sir, boss, man, guy, jerk, jerkface mcjerkins), I like you, I think you're a great CA who treat's me fairly, however, your chain smoking has raised concerns about my health as well as yours. If you can live without smoking for the X amount of hours we are flying together, you can wait until reaching the hotel smoking area. I'm not asking you to quit all together, it's your life, your body, however, I just want the smoking in the car to stop..."
 
Propilot said:
Basically it comes down to growing some balls.

Next time you have a minute, ask him for a word. Take him to a office, or outside somewhere and lay it out for him. Something like this.

"I will not tolerate you smoking near me, especially in confined spaces such as the rental car. This is not okay"

If he gives some kind of rebuttal, let him finish, then say this.

"You are not understanding me. This is not up for discussion. If you continue to smoke near me in a confined space I will be forced to take this up the chain of command."

Then walk away.

Also, make sure you follow through. If he indeed does it again, don't say a word to him. But when you get back from the trip, write a nice letter (a professional one that just lays out the facts) and send it to the C.P. and HR. Make sure you keep a copy of this letter. It creates a paper trail.

Although it can sometimes feel like you have no options in a situation like this, there are laws that protect you. He does not have a right to smoke near you.

Either do that, and be willing to take it all the way, or deal with the smoke. Nothing else will work.
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Umm. Smokers have a right to smoke. One always has the option to leave. Now if he was following you around and blowing smoke in your face when you were attempting to leave, that's a different story.

I'm not a smoker at all, but I disagree with "smoke free" laws, simply due to my being someone who doesn't like more and more laws being created to "protect us". If a private owner wants to make a restaurant, for example, smoke-free, then that's up to them. But there shouldn't be laws created for that purpose.

Now, this doesn't keep you from asking in the form that mikeyG above stated........a tactful request.
 
MikeD said:
Umm. Smokers have a right to smoke. One always has the option to leave. Now if he was following you around and blowing smoke in your face when you were attempting to leave, that's a different story.

I'm not a smoker at all, but I disagree with "smoke free" laws, simply due to my being someone who doesn't like more and more laws being created to "protect us". If a private owner wants to make a restaurant, for example, smoke-free, then that's up to them. But there shouldn't be laws created for that purpose.
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I'm with you MikeD, but when you're sharing the car with someone, it's courteous to respect the other persons wishes. I am a smoker, if I am in an environment with non smokers, I will ask, "Does it bother you if I smoke?" If they say no, I light up, if they say yes, it won't bother me to wait until later.
 
Mikey_G said:
I'm with you MikeD, but when you're sharing the car with someone, it's courteous to respect the other persons wishes. I am a smoker, if I am in an environment with non smokers, I will ask, "Does it bother you if I smoke?" If they say no, I light up, if they say yes, it won't bother me to wait until later.
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Exactly, that's why I added that to the end of my post above after reading your response. I agree that courtesy does go both ways. Just the heavy handed response from the "you WILL NOT smoke around me!!!!" poster's, won't work IMO.

Funny that you picked up on the SERE reference too.....:D
 
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