Study: Restaurant workers heavy smokers

[The Straight Story]

Study: Restaurant workers heavy smokers

PITTSBURGH, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- Food and beverage industry workers are twice as likely as others to be smokers and face a higher risk of cancer, Pennsylvania health officials said.

Forty percent of such workers smoke in an industry in which smoking has long been tolerated, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Sunday.

Pennsylvania Department of Health spokeswoman Stacy Kriedeman said the risk of cancer among hospitality workers is higher than that for others.

"Hospitality workers have three times the (average) risk of lung cancer, which is 50 percent higher than any other industry," Kriedeman said.

http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2010/02/07/Study-Restaurant-workers-heavy-smokers/UPI-23051265584928/

[Codeine]

1. Means that sixty percent aren't smokers

and deserve to have their health and safety respected.

[Touchdown]

3. I'm much more concerned about how workers are being treated by their employers/customers than that.

Hospitality workers are shit upon daily. Few are treated as humans so much as farm animals by their employers, and the class conscious customers who think they should do their bidding, no matter how unreasonable.

In the majority of states, nobody smokes in restaurants any longer, including the staff, so your concern is a bit out dated.

[Codeine]

4. I agree with you,

but I just wanted to head off the use of this study as an excuse for the addicts to drag their filth back into restaurants off at the pass.

[fishbulb703]

8. If they want their health respected, don't take the job.

Would you complain if many men who hired escorts had STDs? Clearly there is a risk to every job.

To use an easier euphemism, lets stop eating crab and lobster because it endangers the workers' (who provide the service) lives.

[Lost-in-FL]

5. Most restaurants are smoke free these days. nt

[Liberal Veteran]

2. I'm going to go with "Having to put up with people's shit for peanuts"...

...as the reason for the high incidence of smokers.

[onehandle]

6. Smoking is largely an affliction of the poor and those in the service industry.

So this study is no surprise.

[MercutioATC]

7. But...but...we have to protect them from secondhand smoke!

:eyes:

[Peace Patriot]

9. I saw gov't stats rating stressful jobs--for women, WAITRESSING WAS NO.1!

Having waitressed, I know why. You are "on stage" for eight hours or so dealing with hungry--and therefore often cranky--people, who can't get up and help themselves in most restaurant situations, but have to just sit there and be hungry. Anything goes wrong in the kitchen--a slowdown, a messed up order--you are "on stage" to the customer to smooth things over. Best strategy is to pay lots of attention to them--even if it's just chatter or eye contact (but also bringing water, putting bread or crackers on the table, serving coffee, wine, juice immediately, etc.)--and the longer the wait gets, the more you make eye contact and talk. It works. But it is very stressful on long shifts. You are basically a visible "talk show" host or standup comedian and "mom" for eight or so hours, with trapped, hungry and occasionally rude and difficult people. You don't get to be rude back (except at some old chowder place in Boston I heard of once). You are literally "on stage" having to act the part of a cheery, welcoming person, no matter what's going on. It's an act. You should be a member of the Screen Actors' Guild (and get union wages).

THE most stressful job, bar none. Top of the list. I don't remember what the most stressful job was for men, but waitering was right up there, with just a couple of jobs above it as more stressful.

This could be why a lot of waitresses, waiters and other food service people smoke. Stress. Also, smoking is kind of a screen against others and a meditation--a way to pull back into yourself. If you are dealing with a lot of strangers, and have to be "on stage" cheery all day, you can get yanked out of yourself, into their problems and personalities. Going out in the alley or whatever, to get a few moments alone and a drag on a cigarette is soothing. It is a readjustment. And there may be some people who need this more than others--people who take things too personally, or have porous psyches (absorb everybody's troubles). It is a way to rest, regroup, gather yourself together and head back into the fray.

One other thing--if you're around food all day, it might be a way for some people not to overeat. I've noticed quite a lot of cooks smoke. It's odd, because you'd think they wouldn't want their taste buds dulled. But they do. And they also have a stressful job--in terms of hungry people waiting for food and complaints/criticism.

[RedCappedBandit]

10. Need an excuse to GTFO the kitchen, no? nt