Sunday, November 21, 2010

Save Me!

So, the Government want to make tobacco packets plain. Apparently, it will make it less 'sexy', less attractive to smokers and wannabe smokers. Really? Funnily enough, I don't smoke because of the cool factor. I don't think smoking makes me sexy. Really. I don't smoke the brand of rolling tobacco I do, because of the packaging. I wouldn't care if it was white or if they made the pouches pink and sparkly. 

I'm so damned tired of the constant nagging. Believe me when I say, I understand the hazards. I've seen the effects first hand. And if watching my dad die from lung cancer didn't make me stop immediately, then forcing tobacco companies to change their packaging to plain, really isn't going to make the damnedest bit of difference to my smoking habits. I'm tired of being tutted at, lectured and made to feel like a social pariah. I will stop when I'm ready and nagging me is only going to make me roll and light up another one. 

You see, here's the thing: I'm an adult. It means I get to make decisions for myself. Good, bad and indifferent.

I'm getting heartily fed up of scaremongering in the media. I had a look on-line and unfortunately I can't find these ads, you'll have to take it on faith they exist. Apparently, there are germs that live on the top of hand wash dispensers. Oh yes, ladies and gentlemen. This is Bad. The company involved is busy marketing one of these motion-sensitive dispensers for the home. 

For anyone who got bullied into buying one of those, to you I say PT Barnum was right. Sucker!

Let's look at this logically. The product is sold as an anti-bacterial hand wash and claims to kill 99.9% of all germs. So when do you touch the pump of the hand wash? Oh, just before you wash your hands. Hopefully, when you wash your hands you'll do a good enough job to get rid of those 99.9% germs. Where exactly does this need for a hands-free dispenser come from?

Last night, I sat with my jaw open watching an ad for a stain and anti-bacterial clothes detergent. Not only do I need an anti-bacterial surface cleanser, but now I have to wash my clothes with anti-bacterial soap powder. Great.

Where does this fear come from? How the hell did the human race survive this long in this wilderness of germs? I mean, how did I make it to adulthood washing my hands with a scummy soap bar (when I bothered to wash my hands at all)? Did I tell you I grew up with four dogs and a cat that used to sit hopefully next to my mother on the counter as she prepared food (the cat, not the dogs. They used to sit round her feet)? I played in a drain where people threw their trash. I drank water from a hosepipe. I used to share food with the dogs and let me tell you, labradors are known for showing their gratitude with lots of tongue. How did I survive?

Now, don't get me wrong, I can be sarky about this because I don't have a compromised immune system. But people with compromised immune systems do not make up the majority of the populace. Most of us walking around, are relatively hail and hearty. It's normal to get a cold. To sometimes not feel well. What isn't normal is this whole 'I need to keep going' business. If you're ill, be mean, keep it to yourself. Don't carry on as normal, don't go into work and share it with everyone. This, I saw first hand. One person comes into work with a bug and next minute you know, everyone's pretty much got it. Employers, take note: instead of having one person off ill, you have a room full of sick people and how productive are they? Really? Not very. They're too busy mustering the energy to remain upright. I guarantee you, the mistakes they've made those 5 days they came in ill, would have been best avoided by having a couple of days off in bed.

Perhaps the marketing people have got it all wrong. They should be selling the germ warfare stuff to the workplace.

Oh look, this has been a post in two rants. It's a Buy One Get One Free special offer. You lucky, lucky people. Have a good week. Try not to kill anyone.

23 comments:

  1. Chalk another one up to the "Nanny state" out here they they threten to do the sme with ciggy packets. they doubled the price recently on "Health deterent" grounds rather than the blatant tax grab that it is for the gov.
    No wonder there are so many people around with germ phobias. We get fed so much shit by the advertisers and people are not able to think for themseves these days. Feed your kids a good dose of dirt every day that will cure the underdeveloped immune system... it's only underdeveloped because they are surounded by paranoid parents squirting and wiping them down with anti bacterial rubbish... what ever happened to good old soap and water?..

    WV: britle...Says it all really...

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  2. Anonymous1:02 pm

    Is this the future?

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  3. My daughter started smoking when she spent a summer in Greece. I wasn't at all pleased and begged her to stop and it became an edgy subject. So one day I said "about your smoking" and she tightened right up, I could see it. And I said "I'm not saying anything more, I love you and it's your decision." And then I asked her for a cigarette, smoked it and therefore couldn't claim any moral high ground. And she loved me for it, she was so pleased. So Roses, darling, smoke in front of me and I won't have a word to say.

    I'm really against those anti-bacterial cleaners, I think the bugs left behind get resistant to chemicals and more dangerous. And they say that children with pets or with boisterous boys in the family are healthier because their immune system is built up by more exposure to germs.

    What I do think is unhygienic are those nasty hot air hand driers.

    BTW, Weeza gave up smoking for her 30th birthday.

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  4. I've sort of bought into the germ thing. Most of it stems from the observation of how many guys don't wash their hands after using the toilet. So I always use bits of paper towel to avoid contact with door knobs.

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  5. princess ~ exactly that.

    mago ~ it really does seem like it's getting that way, doesn't it?

    z ~ I will give up when I'm ready, the thing is until I am, all the nagging in the world won't help me get there. I wish my family would take a leaf out of your book.

    You're a wise, wise woman.

    xl ~ public lavatories are a different matter all together.

    Like Z, I won't use the air driers either. I think they just heat up the germs to optimum temperatures.

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  6. Speaking as a man who shoves his hand down people's drains, I have no comment to make.

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  7. dave ~ you washed your hands before you ate. That's all people need to know.

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  8. Oh, I'm talking about ALL door knobs!

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  9. I'm a germophob in public loos. No matter how clean they look you just know that someone spit shined the seat to get rid of some massive poo smear and didn't bother to wash his hands.

    That's all.

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  10. Maybe once every 3 months or so if I'm out having drinks then I'll have a cigarette. It's probably a good thing that I don't live across the street from that piano bar any longer. There's something wonderful about sitting in a piano bar to enjoy a martini and a ciggie.

    Your use of the word hosepipe caught my eye. That word is used all the time where I'm from in south Louisiana and therefore I use it myself. Yet I get strangely confused looks from people where I live now who have no idea what that means. It's a regional thing here in the U.S. I suppose. I'm just tickled to have my use of it validated in some way by hearing it from you.

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  11. cyberpete ~ Thanks for that mental polariod. Ewwww....

    hayward ~ there is something strangely alluring about alcohol and tobacco. I always end up smoking more if I have a session. Couldn't tell you why and don't really care. I enjoy it.

    Hosepipe is standard around the UK. They have hosepipe bans in dry summers. You say hosepipe as much as you want honey. You're lovely and if that's your favourite word for it...go right ahead.

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  12. Anytime darling, that's what I'm here for

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  13. I haven't smoked a cigarette in over 8 years, but wish I still did. I miss it like an inappropriate lover. I dream about smoking. Camel Lights, Benson Hedges, Marlboro Reds. Gah. I'm going to start again when I'm 80 because, by then, who cares?

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  14. I have 3 different types of hand sanitizer in my handbag.

    I want one of those outfits from Mago's link.

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  15. cyberpete ~ I thought you were pink and sparkling champagne drinking buddie. Infomaniac is the place I go when my psyche needs a good bleaching.

    moi ~ that's a great idea, planning to take up smoking again in your 80s. I'm putting it on my list, mind you I have to give up first.

    mj ~ that's just wrong.

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  16. Right, sorry!

    I will go back to being my Champagne sipping, pink loving self. I'm just a little bit of an overimagining germophobe

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  17. Even as a non-smoker, I have to agree with you. Why should plain wrappers remove the urge to smoke? Maybe we should cover all alcohol in brown paper too. That would work. Or fatty foods. Or chocolate. Because they're all bad. We could paint gyms in sparkly colours to make thm more appealing too.

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  18. cyberpete ~ thank you. Cheers!

    *raises glass*

    mme deF ~ Exactly that. Even if they put Robert Downey Jr naked in my local gym, there's still no way I'd go in. Really.

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  19. marcinjakus ~ welcome. And thanks, you too.

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  20. Cheers!

    Now, I've finally done the meme. You never thought I'd finish it, did you?

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  21. cyberpete ~ awesome, I'll be right over. You're right, I didn't think you'd do it now. Yay meme!

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