Subscriber Comments for
Whole Foods Employees Smoking On Hitchcock

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 309777	2012-08-17 08:17 PM
or... you could say something to them directly. Or... you could walk on the other side of the street. For the moment though, it is still legal to smoke on the street, and as such, they have every right to be there, as you do. If you don't like it... well, you know the rest.
COMMENT 309778	2012-08-17 08:17 PM
I've made that walk too, and frankly it doesn't bother me at all. I'm a non smoker, work out at the Y, and if the Employees want to smoke let them, it's their choice. I'm not big on the Unemployed vagrants who hang out in the driveway scamming. I think you are being a little too picky. Go downtown and complain about the Umemployed vagrants that hang out in front of the habit. Leave the Employed alone.
COMMENT 309779	2012-08-17 08:18 PM
I worked at a place with some smokers who never picked up their butts. Some neighbor took the time to bag up the mess and get it to the owner so he could experience it in smell and volume. Things were better. I was glad the neighbor made the effort.
COMMENT 309781	2012-08-17 08:29 PM
this is my pet peeve. "I am a smoker and the world is my ashtray." Smoke away...but put your butt's where they belong.
COMMENT 309782	2012-08-17 08:29 PM
Cigarette butts are noxious. Most are not biodegradable and, as such, equivalent to dropping a chunk of plastic on the ground. Many - not all - cigarette smokers are so oblivious they drop them without even thinking. Would the same person so easily toss a plastic bottle cap on the ground? Probably not. Filters also contain a minute dose of very nasty toxins which the creeks don't need. For Whole Foods Market to have a smoking problem is a cosmic joke.
COMMENT 309784	2012-08-17 08:51 PM
How ironic ... a "healthy" place like Whole Foods? All those cigarette butts get washed into the creeks & storm drains and end up on our beaches and in the ocean. According to Channel Keeper, cigarette butts are one of the most numerous items they pick up on their beach cleanup days. I don't shop at Whole Foods anyways because their CEO (John Mackey) opposes health care reform.
COMMENT 309785	2012-08-17 08:55 PM
I feel like this is a kinda petty thing to post here. Why not go directly to the people causing the irritation to you and explain (calmly, respectfully and rationally) how you feel? If that doesn't work, voice your concern again to management or find out who is in charge of the regional offices for this store.
COMMENT 309796P	2012-08-18 02:06 AM
785.......One of the things that I liked so much after stumbling onto this site was the freedom to ask questions about things, make observations, express yourself, and enjoy the other contributions about the various and sundry other things, like traffic, road conditions, accidents, etc... I did become a paying member after the first two days I read thru. That being said.........perhaps I am too old school because the last time I worked you did not do anything that may be unbecoming to your employers, particularly if you are wearing a uniform or some sort of indication of your place of employment. I always cringe a little when I visit the Albertsons in 5 points and see the employees smoking, eating, and on their cell phones while sitting in the planters outside the store. I have mentioned this to management recently, so time will tell.
GILBERT	2012-08-18 03:12 AM
Cigarette butts are litter. Those who toss their butts are litterers.
COMMENT 309805	2012-08-18 06:46 AM
Whole Foods is owned and operated by a right-wing libertarian extremist who hates America. Does anyone really think he's going to care about littering?
COMMENT 309807	2012-08-18 07:19 AM
"unbecoming to your employer" that's refreshing to hear. Trying to explain this concept is daunting. Smoking at Whole foods is a cosmic joke. My pet peeve, too. "I'm a smoker and the world is my ashtray" so true I have mentioned that to Albertsons, too. Years ago. No action. TJ's on DLV, too. Don't even talk about the clubs downtown, the smokers have taken over the patios. I won't hire smokers. The mInute I smell smoke and I can smell a 1/2 of a molecule "we'll call you"...I won't. I'd like to get a new law passed that if one is smoking in a car the the cigarette must be kept within the body of the car. These smokers get the fresh air as they inhale and cars behind get their smoke. If we have to keep lights on when the wipers are going then this one ought to be easy.
SEEDLADY	2012-08-18 07:31 AM
Thanks for another reason not to support Whole Foods. The originator of Wild Oats who sold it to John Mackey --later to become WF--is now opening Sunflower Farmers Markets in western states. Low prices, lots of organics and Progressive. Ask them to open a store near you. http://www.sunflowermarkets.com/about-us.aspx
COMMENT 309811	2012-08-18 07:34 AM
The breakdown in civility starts with one person thinking they are more important than everyone else. What next? Will you be dictating what music they listen to? What clothes they wear? What language they speak? What religion they should embrace? What politics to follow? Rather than force a group to change its ways to convenience your sensitivities why not change your habits? Walk along a path that is more pleasing to you and leave the employees taking breaks from their labours the freedom to use the time as they choose. Or shop elsewhere.
COMMENT 309813P	2012-08-18 07:37 AM
Simple solution. Put an ashtray somewhere. It doesn't have to be in public view..
COMMENT 309816	2012-08-18 07:41 AM
After some deep soul searching on the subject, I came up with "why doesn't the owner buy an ashtray"?
COMMENT 309821P	2012-08-18 07:58 AM
You're getting to observe the working poor, those at the bottom of the employment ladder, on break (Whole Foods and Albertsons employees). Folks in that lower socioeconomic class are more likely to smoke than you are, are younger, and think that you're a wealthy old fossil. Accept that and move on.
COMMENT 309823	2012-08-18 08:00 AM
cigarette smoking should be banned in all of Santa Barbara county
COMMENT 309833	2012-08-18 08:31 AM
you can have all the ashtrays in the world and most smokers will still throw their butts on the ground. most smokers don.t care about the stinky and toxic air that they make the rest of us inhale. they think it is their right to do so.
COMMENT 309838	2012-08-18 08:43 AM
Get a Life! We do not need more laws to bend are social habits, education on this subject has made a big differance in Calfornia. To outlaw the use of tobacco, look the other way at alcohal and want to make illegal drugs legal makes no sence to me. We have broken down to a ME and THEM society here in CA.. Wake up It is US. And get an ashtry.
COMMENT 309840	2012-08-18 08:44 AM
I thought the WholeFoods crowd was pro-pot. Isn't that pro-smoking too? Confused.
COMMENT 309849	2012-08-18 09:10 AM
waaaaaaaaaaaaa
COMMENT 309851P	2012-08-18 09:18 AM
This is an anecdote about smokers and responsibility, and how a landlord I know handled a problem he was having: A tenant was smoking like a chimney and tossing his butts all over the common area. After several months of this wherein the maintenance person had to clean up after the smoker and the smoker was given numerous warnings, the smoker was sent the following letter: Dear (Tenant), As an owner, I have certain responsibilities to keep the property in good condition and maintain the grounds. I take my responsibilities seriously. As a tenant, you too have certain responsibilities. Your personal responsibilities include maintaining your unit, reporting any items that need repair and picking up after yourself, and this includes your cigarette butts. Now, should you not be willing to assume your responsibility to pick up your cigarette butts, then our maintenance person will be happy to assume that responsibility for you. We would consider this personal maid service for which he will charge you $100 per month. Should you elect this option, he will bill you at the end of each month and you will pay him directly. Sincerely, (the owner) Conclusion: Problem solved. Bottom line: Less ASKING people to assume their responsibilities and more 1. Clearly stating what their responsibilities are (while quickly showing them how others are fulfilling their end of the bargain) and 2. Cheerfully offering an option that will prove costly to them-but, giving them that choice!
COMMENT 309852P	2012-08-18 09:19 AM
I suggest that we levy a deposit on cigarette butts. The smoker pays at the time of purchase. Even if the smoker continues to litter, the opportunity exists for someone else to bring in the butts and get paid by the ounce. Butts are everywhere. I've even found one in the belly of a fish.
COMMENT 309860	2012-08-18 09:47 AM
Whole Foods whole image is healthy food, healthy people, healthy planet. Now that I know their own employees don't honor their image why would I want to shop there.
COMMENT 309863P	2012-08-18 09:53 AM
@852, that is a great idea. If returning butts brought in a little money, people would be more willing to gather them.
CORKY	2012-08-18 10:21 AM
Oh boy. Someone interjected music. I wish there were a noise control ordinance on the booming music coming from cars next to me at signals. Now that's pollution and assault to my ears. I don't care what people listen to, but please don't subject me to the pounding base, etc. On cigarettes, I pick up trash in Old Town, Goleta every two weeks and cigarettes are the majority of the refuse. Not that easy to pick up with the pickers and people seem to empty ashtrays from their cars into the gutters. The areas under bus stop benches are a real treasure trove also.
COMMENT 309873	2012-08-18 10:26 AM
your right to not be annoyed trumps the rights of others? Seeing people eat and smoke on their break is offensive to your sensibilities? Maybe you should work harder at letting people be, without any kind of social dogma. Is it really offensive walking by someone eating a sammich while enjoying the fantastic Santa Barbara weather?
COMMENT 309879	2012-08-18 10:44 AM
how about, as a good neighbor, WF management installs a container of sand, mounted on a post near the spot where their employees take their break to smoke and encourage their employees to be good neighbors....
COMMENT 309782	2012-08-18 11:06 AM
-873, cigarette smoke is more than annoyance or offense to delicate sensibilities. It is a proven health hazard and a huge health care cost, as well as a stinking addiction. It's tragic how many teens and twenty-somethings are hooked. Smoking in public spaces shows disdain for the well-being of others - the entitled "it's all about me" mindset that the neo-Objectivists find so endearing. The harms are clear, even to the cigarette companies. Dropping butts only makes a bad thing worse. Smokers have no control over where their pollution goes once they exhale...passers by have no choice but to inhale. At this point in history, arguing for "smokers' rights" in public places is like promoting muggers' rights.
COMMENT 309890P	2012-08-18 11:12 AM
Haven't experienced this, but have bought quick snacks at Gelson's, gone outside to eat them only to be surrounded by employees on their break yakking away at full volume across the tables to each other.
COMMENT 309860	2012-08-18 11:16 AM
@73 Of course we are not offended by seeing someone eat a sandwich on their break why in the world would any logical person be offended by that? Now if that same person was eating a garlic/sardine sandwich on the bus while sitting next to me, I would have to think about that one. You can't compare a normal, healthy activity such as eating a sandwich with something that is not only offensive but a health hazard to the person that has to breathe the second hand smoke.
COMMENT 309897	2012-08-18 11:42 AM
How much you want to be that the people who are critics of this post are smokers themselves? Smokers are often such staunch defenders of their addition and of their "freedom" to be left alone and smoker wherever they want. One writer said: "Rather than force a group to change its ways to convenience your sensitivities why not change your habits? ...." See what I mean? Smokers often do "think the whole world is their ashtray" and don't understand what they do to others and to the world. The stats are that 20% of Californians are smokers - interestingly about that same percentage in this edhat thread have a problem with the point of view of the author of the post. How much you want to bet they are smokers themselves? It is a case perhaps of "thou protesteth too much."
COMMENT 309899	2012-08-18 11:52 AM
The number of people angry about what people do on their break from work astounds me. Why don't we just put every low wage worker in chains and manacles and make them do exactly what their Corporate Overlords tell them? They don't need breaks, they can rest when they're dead!
COMMENT 309902	2012-08-18 12:09 PM
It's amazing that people still smoke tobacco, knowing full well that nicotine is one of the most addictive substances out there, the effects on the body are lethal, and it kills 450,000 Americans EVERY YEAR.
COMMENT 309903	2012-08-18 12:11 PM
At the very least there should be some kind of a receptacle for the ciggaret buts..really very ungreen of smokers to just drop their trash on the ground like that and leave it there! Saddest of all.. most of the smokers are young and feeding an addiction that is one of the hardest to break. Also interesting that so many employees at a "Health Food" store are not health concious at all. Also, I work at the Y... getting off the bus and negotiating the aprking loy entrance to walk further down Hitchcock is incredibly dangerous with cars racing in and out of the parking lot, swerving in from behind a parked bus where they cannot possibly see a pedestrian. Very scary. I have communicated this situation to MTD with no response. The bus stop needs to be relocated since Whole Foods put and entrance and exit right there on Hitchcock. Looks like nothing will be done until some poor pedestrian gets struck...!
COMMENT 309873	2012-08-18 12:12 PM
funny that the cigarette smoke is so much more annoying and dangerous than the odorless, and some not so odorless, car exhaust you breath in while taking your healthy walk to the YMCA. There was a comment made about the unbecoming behavior of the Albertsons 5 point employees smoking, eating, sitting and talking on their cell phones during their break. Something so annoying Management was called in to intervene. HELLO! It's 5 points! The only thing I am worried about when I am there is whether or not Fresco has sold out of their cupcakes! They should be responsible for keeping a clean space, but the minimal amount of second hand smoke that is being inhaled is an annoyance, not a health hazard.
COMMENT 309909	2012-08-18 12:30 PM
Try doing roadside or beach clean up some day and see the true results of the 'world is my ashtray' mindset of most smokers. If you find one butt, you find 100. Smokers dump their ashtrays (or whatever substitutes as an ashtray these days) whenever they stop at a light or a stop sign. Interestingly, most of the trash thrown from cars is often surrounded with butts also. Look at the butts on the beach (pun unintended?). I think public works should lobby to add another $2 per pack of cigs and use the money to clean up the beaches and roadsides.
COMMENT 309910	2012-08-18 12:32 PM
it is ironic and funny that so-called health-food workers smoke on their breaks. but you are just being judgmental and controlling as well as old school.
COMMENT 309929	2012-08-18 01:30 PM
I smoke. I walk Hendry's beach daily. I very seldom see cig butts on the beach. I too hate to walk were a mass of people are smoking. But to change the way someone lives their life because you don't like it, is a bit much. I agree with the person asking you to stop and talk to them directly. Better yet, let us hear how you want us to live. There must be other things that bother you. Speak up, change the way Santa Barbarians live their lives. Public Works has no say in adding $2 a pack tax to cig's. Please. As for the owner of a business, if it affects his/her bottom line (money) they will make the changes needed.
COMMENT 309897	2012-08-18 02:41 PM
Oh aren't the smokers making comments to this post oh so offended by this 'assault' (perceived in their mind only) against them - their defensiveness is astounding - who else but a smoking addict who doesn't realize how disgusting and offensive their addiction is - only they would be so critical of and lash out at the "complainers." These smokers' ongoing complaint is that now they can't smoke inside restaurants and bars - oh 'so unfair and discriminatory,' they say. So they smoke on the street and in front of stores and businesses and pollute the air of those around them. Sadly, they don't get it - most smokers do indeed think the world is their ashtray and don't give a crap who is offended, irritated, and sickened by their sickening addiction that they deep down wish they could kick but can't.
COMMENT 309953	2012-08-18 02:54 PM
Why don't you complain about car exhaust too, 897? There's a lot more of it than cigarette smoke.
COMMENT 309956	2012-08-18 02:57 PM
I am not a smoker and it occasionally bothers me if I am fairly close to someone smoking. I am also bothered by those who have a holier than thou attitude and invent violent over-reactions to minute microns of cigarette smoke. There are a two or three fast food restaurants in that area (one will now be chick fil-A, the other is a Jack-in-the-Box). When the wind is blowing the right way you can smell the smoke from their grills. If you go to the park like Tuckers Grove, or the beach you smell the smoke eminating from grilling going on. Then there are gas stations where you can smell the odor of gasoline and exhaust fumes. In buildins you can smell, perfume, floor cleaners, odorizors in rest rooms, furniture polish, etc. Supermarkets are fuill of various smells. You can smell popcorn and artificial butter in the movie theater, (they say that artifical butter is bad for you too). In fact we live in a world full of smells. I think you need to lighten up.
COMMENT 309873	2012-08-18 03:09 PM
didn't they just discover smelling microwave popcorn causes cancer too? I can't wait for the complaints to start coming in...
COMMENT 309967	2012-08-18 03:33 PM
When I was little, conventional hospitality dictated that every living room, dining room, and den be furnished with ashtrays, whether or not those who lived there, smoked. In the 50's, it was poor etiquette to not be ready and willing to accommodate cigarette smokers when they came to visit your home. Because I was exposed to thick noxious tobacco smoke, in unvented rooms, from infancy, I developed horrendous asthma and hyper-sensitivity to 2nd hand smoke, which put me in the E.R. twice before I was 15. I try like the dickens to avoid smokers and their toxic effluvium, but this doesn't work with those having a heavy "entitlement mentality". Recently, my doctors have told me that just breathing a tiny amount of 2nd hand smoke will trigger a violent respiratory attack that could literally end my life. Your right to light up, does NOT trump my right to live. You do not have the right to assume you know the other person's reality.
COMMENT 309976	2012-08-18 03:53 PM
I feel that the image employees present of their place of employment is very important. I always explained to my people that they represented the business even on their days off. I tried only to hire people with the ethics to understand and follow that way of thinking and behaving. I think it went a long way to promote trust, respect and good will in the community.
COMMENT 310138	2012-08-19 10:09 AM
I love how people think they somehow have a "right" to smoke. Was that in the Constitution before free speech? I must have missed it. I'm a former smoker and realized how stupid it was. Waste of your time, money, and a waste of my time and money. In the end, smokers end up paying for the packs, but the rest of the public pays through higher medical insurance to cover your cancer treatment down the line. If you want to be a responsible citizen, make an effort to be healthy and save us all the trouble of footing part of your medical bill. We are all adult enough to know that paying a slightly higher premium doesn't offset the costs of major surgery or cancer treatment. Not to mention the fact that you clog up the medical system with problems that would have been nonexistent.
COMMENT 310142	2012-08-19 10:26 AM
138 - are you saying that we should ban fatty foods, milk, sugar and everything else that is deemed unhealthy and too costly to the public? I am not a pro-smoker by any means, but this whole cost argument is silly. If we do that than we need to have a body/ health tax. I dont want to pay for all the fat people I see eating crap... I dont want to pay for the lazy people who refuse to eat well and take care of themselves... Where does it stop exactly? We have an epidemic of obesity and diabetes emerging. All from processed foods and an utter lack of healthy living. Do we tax them as well?
COMMENT 310144	2012-08-19 10:31 AM
310138 - Replace "smoke" with "eat Twinkies" in your post and then get back to me. Obesity is 10,000 times worse of a problem in the US than smoking.
COMMENT 310138	2012-08-19 11:06 AM
I never said a word about banning anything did I? I hold the same sentiment for food, alcohol, and anything else of that nature. The particular article in question was cigarettes, though. I 100% agree obesity is a bigger problem, but that doesn't excuse the selfishness of those who smoke. I don't want to pay for lazy people or ANYONE who thinks their gluttony deserves help when their number gets pulled. I can't be the only one who sees something wrong with our medical system when those with disorders from birth are penalized like someone who lessened their health out of their own free will.
COMMENT 310162	2012-08-19 11:25 AM
I love those disgusting butt receptacles in front of stores. Mmmmmmmm smells sooooo goooood!!
COMMENT 309777	2012-08-19 12:42 PM
right this minute, I am smoking a cigarette while microwaving buttered popcorn. When I'm done, I'm going get on my bike and run all the stop signs, ride in traffic lanes and on sidewalks while texting to take the popcorn kernels, oil and cig butts around to every soccer moms escalade that I can find, and I'll still produce less risk to the environment than they do. Hope y'all don't like it.
COMMENT 310181	2012-08-19 01:20 PM
Those soccer moms are shaking in their tennies. And I betcha they don't smoke. Makes them smarter than you.
COMMENT 310181	2012-08-19 04:05 PM
172 called himself a banana, or maybe it was a coconut!
COMMENT 310253	2012-08-19 08:19 PM
Really? A crybaby much? Do you wait endless hours for a neighbors dog to poop on your lawn? Do you have a hobby? Really?
COMMENT 309778	2012-08-20 10:07 AM
since this thread was started, I've noticed none of the employees hang out there anymore.....it appears WF took notice of this thread.
COMMENT 310440	2012-08-20 01:19 PM
I am a person who smokes. It is something I do, it is not who I am. I do not believe the world is my ashtray. My cigarettes are properly extinguished and tossed in the trash where they belong. I am aware that second hand smoke is a health hazard and that many people find the smell offensive, so I make a conscious effort to not be around non-smokers when I choose to have a cigarette. I do not appreciate the generalizations and accusations posted here about people who smoke. Having a bad habit does not make one a bad person.
COMMENT 310742P	2012-08-21 10:01 AM
If smokers like smoke so much, why don't they smoke inside their own cars with the windows rolled up? That way they can keep inhaling the smoke even after their cigarettes have been extinguished.

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