Bad Trip Today

[lteak]

1-800QUITNOW

 

[roomette]

My last SCA stood in the vestibule while the train was moving enjoying a smoke via the door window, immediately following an announcement that smoking in the restrooms would not be tolerated and you would be put off at the next stop. Ha!

 

[AlanB]

Amtrak used to provide a place to smoke on all of the longer distance trains; that is until the smokers abused the privilege. Basically far too many left the special room a total mess and worse on occasion they would prop open the door allowing the smoke into the rest of the car. So Amtrak removed all the smoking rooms rather than deal with the mess.

 

[fillyjonk]

I dunno. I'm not a smoker but I'd rather be on a train that made up time when it was late than be on one that made all the scheduled "long" break stops. (I'm trying to think about how many smoke breaks the TE makes between the stop I get on and the stop I get off at - I think it's Longview, Texarkana, Little Rock, and St. Louis? Four over the course of maybe 16 hours? And they sometimes cut short Texarkana if they're running late.)

(The only thing in my life I could equate it to is dessert. I'd rather miss dessert on the dining car and get to my destination only an hour late than have dessert and wind up at my destination two hours late. But even that's not comparable and I see that; I'm not addicted to sugar like a person could be to nicotine).

But yeah, "punishing passengers"? What about the ones who need to make connections? Wouldn't having longer stops wind up being more of a punishment to them?

 

[Peter KG6LSE]

Sad something can be so addicting. What do coke and heroin addicts do? I guess they take pills. I think nicotine addicts who can't quit should get a small prescription for Oxycondin and put themselves out for the duration but I guess you can't control the duration on a trip in a plane or a train.

I was on Oxy a few weeks back from my knee job .And Yea no High here . But MAN O MAN did I sleep ,,,,,,, 18H a day HA!

 

[tubaia]

If I were on a train that was running late and became later to accommodate smokers, I would be very unhappy. I, too, am surprised that smoking is still allowed on the Auto Train.

I am old enough to remember smoking sections on planes, which was a joke since the smoke (or smell) NEVER crossed the line between the smoking and non-smoking sections. :lol:

Yeah, I'm old enough to remember that, too, as well as on transit buses.

There are still states (thankfully not mine) that allow smoking in restaurants. I once heard a comedian equate having a no-smoking section in a restaurant to having a no-peeing section in a pool. :lol:

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Add me to the list of folks who can understand the OP's annoyance but would still strongly prefer to avoid missed connections or late arrivals instead of taking additional time to keep the drug addicts happy. I haven't smoked a cigarette since I was six or so. I guess that experience soured me on the whole idea. However, I have smoked tobacco through a hookah on multiple occasions. I found it relaxing and enjoyable but I never craved it and I typically go several months in between smoking sessions. Nor have I noticed anyone else suddenly becoming a routine smoker after enjoying a hookah or two. Is there something substantially different between cigarettes and hookah tobacco that makes cigarettes much more addictive? Or is it simply a matter of predisposition and/or length of exposure?

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Perhaps my point was too subtle. What I meant is that 35 years ago planes had smoking sections.

Oh, yes. Now I understand. I'm afraid the OP is really just a nicotine addict. If so, I guess it's actually good that Amtrak kept hm/her on board so that he/she would not smoke, as it is not good for health. Even if the OP did not want to smoke, at least there were probably other smokers on the train. I don't really know if nicotine gum or patches ork, but I think they do, though the smoker might just get addicted to that nicotine instead.

All nicotine is the same and the complainer is already addicted. Gum is much safer than smoking....no lung cancer.

That said, I'd be really disgusted if the train was delayed JUST so the addicts could smoke!! Sheesh!

I know it is. So I guss if the OP wants to smoke than he/she can just use nicotine gum. No big deal!

Last train I was on, some smoke stops were longer than usual even though the train was already late! Maybe it was because of smokers! :excl:

 

[Ana]

If I were on a train that was running late and became later to accommodate smokers, I would be very unhappy. I, too, am surprised that smoking is still allowed on the Auto Train.

I am old enough to remember smoking sections on planes, which was a joke since the smoke (or smell) NEVER crossed the line between the smoking and non-smoking sections. :lol:

I absolutely agree with Penny, though I have seen times that some conductors appear to allow stops for horribly late trains to last way too long at smoke breaks, when by all appearances, train related business (detraining, boarding and servicing) has been done for a few minutes. That does not make me happy.

Take a scenario where a plane is delayed for hours on the tarmack. They don't have smoke breaks. Other times planes are delayed hours and hours for mechanical problems or weather delays. If you are in the flight concourse, you would usually have to go all the way out past security and get rescreened to get back to your gate; just to smoke. I have never smoked, but imagine that if I was traveling on a long trip, I would have either gum or patches to get through the long stretches.

Yeah, I well remember the days of smoking on long haul flights ('m talking Australia - Europe via Asia). And we found some smokers would choose non-smoking seats and then go to the back of the plane to stand in the aisles and smoke while we were stuck with seats in the smoking section (my mother and two small children). UGH!

I like the smoke breaks as a chance to get out and wander around a bit, I feel like I can really say I've been to a state if I've actually touched the ground ;-) but I appreciate that people have connections and I thought it was good that they cut the breaks shorter on my last two LD trips so that we could make up a bit of time.

Flying home recently I was 45 mins on public transport to get to the airport, 2 hours ahead of my flight, one hour flight, 2 hours in next terminal waiting for connection, 14.5 hour flight followed by another hour diversion to another city because we couldn't land, 2 hours on tarmac waiting for a gate (so many flights were diverted) 6.5 hours spent in a combination of the international terminal, the train between terminals and the domestic terminal, then another hour and a half flight back again. All up that's nearly 32 hours in non smoking environments. I guess a smoker could've wandered away at some point when transiting between the two terminals but the train was directly connecting the two and that (and the platform) were non smoking so they would've had to go out of their way and that would've been only one opportunity during that whole time. Best to be prepared with the patches/gum!!