Can I Force My Boss to Stop Smoking at Work?
Dear Stanley,
I work in a small office with three other people. Despite the anti-smoking laws, the owner continues to smoke a pipe in the office. We got together and bought a huge air filter. It helps, but our eyes water and my dry-cleaning bill is through the roof because my clothes smell like smoke. The building management has warned him, but he threatens to vacate the building and they need the rent. Should I notify the authorities anonymously? Give him an ultimatum? It probably won't work, and I like the job but am prepared to quit over this.
Non-Smokey
Dear Pleasantly Deluded Person,
You'd better quit. This guy is the owner! It's his ball. He can take it and go home at any time. I'm sorry, but he's not the chief shareholder, he's not the CEO, he's not the senior manager... he's the OWNER.
Frankly, I know I'm completely out of step on this, but me, I would suck it up and stay on the job if I liked it in all other respects. Do you really want to work with a guy who's smoked his pipe all his life and suddenly is now unable to do so at his own place of business? I know most of us have had to quit. But ... you know ... he's the OWNER.
A few years ago, I used to smoke a cigar at my desk. It seems so 20th century now, but it's true. One day, one of my trusted subordinates came in and said to me, "Hey, are you okay? Everybody is worried about you." I asked why. "Because," he said, "people have noticed that you smoke the cigar when you're upset about something. And you're smoking one now." I quit smoking at my desk that day. Why upset people with my smoke, I figured, when I can upset them in so many other ways?
I guess all of you could go to the boss and plead with him to cut down, or give him a beautiful new Meerschaum on the condition that he only enjoy it in some special location. Or just break down and cry in his office. He might be good for a while. But my guess is that he figures that it's his shop, he paid for it, he's going to be there long after everybody else is gone, and HE WANTS HIS DAMN PIPE.
Good luck getting around that one. Because after all ... have I mentioned that he's the owner?