Tradespeople smoking in the House!

Lads finished up this afternoon. No problem with work, so settled the account with the boss (who was one of the guys on site) Told him I had no problem with the work but that I was not satisfied with the smoking at all.

Took it well (what else could he do) and said he will be more careful going forward and that knew by me yesterday that they had overstepped the mark.

I will certainly know for the next time any one comes into my home to do any work, I will tell them before they start, strictly no smoking!
 
MandaC said:
Lads finished up this afternoon. No problem with work, so settled the account with the boss (who was one of the guys on site) Told him I had no problem with the work but that I was not satisfied with the smoking at all.

Took it well (what else could he do) and said he will be more careful going forward and that knew by me yesterday that they had overstepped the mark.

I will certainly know for the next time any one comes into my home to do any work, I will tell them before they start, strictly no smoking!
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Was actually thinking about this one last night, you are anti smoking, no one smokes in your home and you didnt want anyone to smoke there - thats grand.

But what if you had a person with some kind of condition that smoking would aggravate in the house? What springs to mind is a childhood friend of mine who had a brother who used to have to sit in an oxygen tent or nebuliser type machine inside the house for some time each day - I believe it was some complicated variation of asthma he had. Anyway, smoking was absolutely not allowed in the house, as it could make things worse for him.

If a tradesperson had lit up in that house he probably would have been bodily removed and sued.
 
Here's one. If I make an appointment with a client, I can request they do not smoke in their own house for an hour before I arrive and because their home is now my place of work they cannot smoke while I am there. However I have never requested it, but I might, it would be interesting to see the reaction I'd get.
 
DavyJones said:
Here's one. If I make an appointment with a client, I can request they do not smoke in their own house for an hour before I arrive and because their home is now my place of work they cannot smoke while I am there. However I have never requested it, but I might, it would be interesting to see the reaction I'd get.
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Do it and report back to us :)

Off topic slightly, but how does this work for people who work in someones home who also live in the home themselves - so their home is their workplace, like au pairs for example?
 
I wonder where they put their used cigarette butts? We had painters painting the outside of our house a few years back. They stored their paints, ladders etc in our garage. Some time after they were gone I found a pile of cigarette butts in the corner of our garage. I might just hold on to their DNA covered cigarette butts and place them at the scene of......
 
DavyJones said:
Here's one. If I make an appointment with a client, I can request they do not smoke in their own house for an hour before I arrive and because their home is now my place of work they cannot smoke while I am there. However I have never requested it, but I might, it would be interesting to see the reaction I'd get.
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Yes, might be an interesting one. If they are smokers and depending on how valuable or not they view your business/service, they may decide to choose not to engage you.

As we have very good anti-smoking legislation in this country and it to date has been very successful,one wonders at the reaction of some of the anti-smokers . Would smoking two cigarettes in a house necessitate such ill effects as to cause distress/dry cleaning/ranting in the daughter/sister of a smoker?

Maybe, may all your worries about your environment be as trivial,
 
Brianne said:
Yes, might be an interesting one. If they are smokers and depending on how valuable or not they view your business/service, they may decide to choose not to engage you.

As we have very good anti-smoking legislation in this country and it to date has been very successful,one wonders at the reaction of some of the anti-smokers . Would smoking two cigarettes in a house necessitate such ill effects as to cause distress/dry cleaning/ranting in the daughter/sister of a smoker?

Maybe, may all your worries about your environment be as trivial,
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Firstly, there was never any mention of distress. I was both annoyed and surprised at the lack of courtesy by professional people who were being paid to do a job in my house. I am actually surprised that people take liberties by smoking in other people's homes without asking. It is disrespectful.

Read the first post again. Nothing to do with a rant at all. I was trying to get feedback from tradespeople/self employed people about their policies on smoking in customers homes.

Why is the fact that my mother and sister smoke relevant? They are grown ups and can make their own decisions.

At the end of the day, I am the person (unfortunately) paying the mortgage on my home for the next 20 years or so. What I allow in my home is up to me. She who pays the piper and all that.
 
Brianne said:
As we have very good anti-smoking legislation in this country and it to date has been very successful,one wonders at the reaction of some of the anti-smokers . Would smoking two cigarettes in a house necessitate such ill effects as to cause distress/dry cleaning/ranting in the daughter/sister of a smoker?

Maybe, may all your worries about your environment be as trivial,
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I could not agree more. While I am not and never have been a smoker and while I agree that the buider should not have lit up in MandaCs house nonetheless I find the fact that MandaC even briefly considered getting curtains drycleaned after one cigarette to be ridiculous... I think we are becoming way too precious and PC in this country!
 
Madangan said:
I could not agree more. While I am not and never have been a smoker and while I agree that the buider should not have lit up in MandaCs house nonetheless I find the fact that MandaC even briefly considered getting curtains drycleaned after one cigarette to be ridiculous... I think we are becoming way too precious and PC in this country!
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Double check the posts - both guys smoked in the house - it was actually two cigarettes (in a very small room)
 
MandaC said:
Double check the posts - both guys smoked in the house - it was actually two cigarettes (in a very small room)
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I'm afraid i gotta agree with the previous pisters mandac.

Be it one cigarette or 2 cigarettes or multiples of that, thinking of getting teh curtains dry cleaned is way OTT in my book.

Like - a few fags would definitley not have any lasting effect on teh curtains.

There's absolutely no way you can put your hand on heart and say you will still get the smell next week, or next month or whenever.
In fact - try it - and come back and tell us whether the smell is still there.

In my book a fw fags would make absolutely no difference.

Yes - they certainly should have not lit up out of respect.
But the thought of getting the curtains dry cleaned was not in any way apropriate to teh crime.
 
To be fair to MandaC, I don't think she was ever going to do that, more that she was very annoyed at the time. To be honest I have the odd smoke but wouldn't smoke in my own home, never mind in a clients. I think you have every right to be mad. If someone lit up in my home they would be quickly ushered outside when they can smoke all they like, and yes I'd probably let them back in.
 
MandaC said:
Came down this morning, smell of smoke lingering. Am still quite annoyed over it. They are due back today to finish. Should I deduct the cost of getting the curtains dry cleaned,(which will be quite expensive) or is that being petty! I am going to have to end up getting the curtains cleaned because of this.
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OK so I can understand how non-smokers feel about cigarette smoke but seriously! OTT is an understatement, come on now MandaC! Open the windows all day and the air will rid whatever smell there is, simple as that. I know because I have done the same. It's not like they had a smoking session in the house with the windows closed is it? Good job you didn't ask about deducting the cost of dry cleaning, I can imagine where you would have been told to go if you had ;)
 
If you read my post No. 7, you will see that I said perhaps I was being a bit OTT getting curtains cleaned and left it at that. I did make a point of saying it to the guys though that a lot of people would not be happy with them just lighting up and don't think I would really be the only one annoyed if someone smoked in their home.

Still get the smell this morning - think they probably did smoke out the window but beside the curtains. Have not been in much this weekend, but am going off today to get some Febreze and light up the smelly candle.
 
MandaC said:
Double check the posts - both guys smoked in the house - it was actually two cigarettes (in a very small room)
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MandaC you are so so funny, this is a great post got a great laugh out of it. Don't know the febreze product but I'd say it's bad for your health might even be worse then the smoke from two cigarettes.
 
I am pleased to say the smell of smoke is gone.

Febreze got rid of the stale smoke smell off the curtains and brought them back to nothing.

I did burn a smelly candle in the room, but thought better of it, as it is small enough room and sometimes those candles can be sickly sweet and over powering and it was better to leave windows open.

Still, no more tradesmen (or anyone) for that matter smoking in the house. I will tell them before they even come in. I dont think the majority would do it anyway, I think the ones I got were just cheeky. Also, because I was so nice when them came in, saying I was going to the shop for biscuits, making plates of sandwiches, etc, I think they thought I was a soft touch and would not say anything so pushed their luck.

No more sambos or biccies - let them buy their own when they are having their smoke break!
 
Everything is resolved now:) ........ as regards the guys thinking you were a soft touch, I don't think so. They just don't think. As smokers, smoking is 'natural' to them. I gave up about ten years ago and as a workman, worked in other peoples houses. My rule of thumb was that if I saw evidence of smoking ..... ashtrays, cigs etc I smoked inside. Otherwise waited for break time to puff outside.
 
gebbel said:
OK so I can understand how non-smokers feel about cigarette smoke but seriously! OTT is an understatement, come on now MandaC! Open the windows all day and the air will rid whatever smell there is, simple as that. I know because I have done the same. It's not like they had a smoking session in the house with the windows closed is it? Good job you didn't ask about deducting the cost of dry cleaning, I can imagine where you would have been told to go if you had ;)
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In my experience, most smokers have no idea how long the smell of cigarettes lasts on clothes/cars/rooms etc. If you've been stinking of the same smell for years yourself, you're going to be desensitised. Non-smokers can indeed pick up the smell of an individual cigarette. My wife can tell if I've walked through a smoking area from the smell on my clothes.
 
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