Okay, so I used to be a cigarette smoker myself up until about 4 years ago. Both my parents still smoke and I work with my dad. He owns the business and it's just the two of us. Well, even though it's pretty much illegal for him to do so, he smokes at work anyway. I guess he figures that I like my job and he's my dad so I'm not gonna turn him in or anything.
Well, I've gotten to the point where I'm starting to feel like the smoking in the workplace may be having an adverse effect on the way I'm feeling. The weird thing is it's not my breathing that I think is being affected. It's my stomach. I remember I used to get stomach problems (mainly painful cramps and gas) when I smoked. Then it seemed to subside quite a bit after I quit.
In any case, it's strange because we work in a fairly nice sized warehouse and have our own offices so it's not like I'm constantly right next to him or anything. But he does smoke quite a bit, probably as much as 3 packs in a day and 2 packs while at work.
I guess I'm just trying to figure out - is it possible that the second hand smoke is contributing to my stomach issues?
I've made some questionable decisions with putting things in my stomach over the years so I've been trying not to be too quick to point the finger at anybody else. But I've also been ruling out a lot of other things like fiber pills that I take at night, morning cup of coffee, the breakfast sandwiches that I get on weekday mornings (from a convenience store, not McDick's). It doesn't seem to be any of those things. Plus, I was just off from work for over a week and felt fine the whole time. Then I started having problems again today, my first day back. I'll get progressively crampier throughout the course of the day and, tonight anyway, it was worst between when I left work and had dinner. Eating is usually the only thing that makes me feel better.
If anybody could give me some feedback on what they think asap, it would be much appreciated. I don't want to go into work tomorrow all accusatory and shit unless I feel like I'm justified.
It just sucks because I only have a high school diploma and I get paid pretty damn well there. I consider myself really fortunate for that but I just don't know if I can deal with the downside anymore. I don't know what else to do but I don't think I can stay. I've tried talking to my dad about his smoking and he's talked about quitting but I don't think he really wants to. I can't help but think about how much it would help everything with the business (including our image) but he acts like I really don't care about that and that I'm just intolerant and selfish. Go figure. I'm the selfish one.
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Yeah, that's the thing. I've tried talking to my parents repeatedly about it but it's never a good time. My parents have had my grandmother from my mom's side living with them for well over a year now and that doesn't help with their stress levels I guess. But taking care of my grandmother was something that my mom elected to do, rather than putting her in a home.
I guess it's just frustrating because there's a whole bunch of reasons why I wish they would quit and my dad acts like I just want that for my own benefit. He thinks he's got me all figured out but he's fucking clueless. One way or another I'm gonna have to have a sit down with him tomorrow. I don't want to be threatening as far as leaving but if that's what it comes to, so be it.
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