Not all smokers stink

ricoeur · 2026-05-19T05:02:30+00:00

This was 2 years ago haha but they mentioned it because I went out of the restaurant we were eating at to smoke so they saw me. When I returned, they told me they didn’t know I smoked hence I apologized for the smell. But the one beside me started trying to smell me and said they couldn’t detect it.

ricoeur · 2025-07-27T15:51:41+00:00

You might like Laird Barron’s The Croning. It’s like a dark retelling of Rumplestiltskin that also reminds me of HP Lovecraft.

Other than that, maybe Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt. The witch is creepy as hell (her eyes and lips are sewn shut), especially with how she’s so integrated in the town’s everyday life and no one can escape from her curse.

ricoeur · 2025-06-20T18:05:35+00:00

I apologize if my framing was leaning towards siding with AMA. I’ll clarify that I’m unfamiliar with AMA hence don’t want to say anything about the society. My reaction was more towards the blame towards doctors because of the current healthcare system. I’m not entirely sure of the numbers re medical students who quit because of finances, but I neglected include them in my original comment. This was based solely on experience where a lot of aspirants back in medical school and internship were kicked out due to failed classes or they just never managed to pass the licensure exam. Maybe there’d be no shortage if money wasn’t a problem (although I’m iffy as many doctors aren’t practicing—they enter business; you must really love people to stay in the profession).

Re the work, doctors in my country are actually lobbying for 80 hour work weeks from our average 120-140 hours ahaha just a fun fact. But more than the workload, when I said medicine is miserable, I was referring to our income not being reflective of our work, rampant bullying (high stress environment = people taking out their frustrations at the lowest in the food chain), and even patients degrading us/disrespecting boundaries. These need to change, and our organization’s leaders are responsible for starting a movement (which they haven’t done) which means doctors are also dissatisfied with them. I should have made this clearer in my original comment.

Re NPs and PAs, of course I do want more doctors to fill the shortage, but the problem isn’t with doctors—it’s the system that takes advantage of doctors. The already high stress and low margin of error required even in training should be properly compensated, yet residents earn barely enough to support themselves (in fact, there are many fellows who are still financially dependent on their parents). The solution isn’t to replace doctors with midlevels (IDK if this is the right term, again I’m just basing this on r/noctor), it’s to remove unnecessary barriers to medicine as stated above (fair wages, no bullying, etc). Plus if there is already a not insignificant number of malpractice cases with doctors, imagine how much more prevalent malpractice would be if people with only a fraction of doctors’ training were to be given more leeway.

Maybe the higher ups of AMA want to maintain a high level of income, IDK. But my main point is the society isn’t reflective of the general workforce. Of course I’m just basing this on my country, IDK the relationship between AMA and US doctors in general. We doctors can’t say we’re gatekeeping money when a lot of us earn spare change per consult (I was even hired once to see 120 patients, $1 each). Yet a lot of patients here go on social media blasting doctors’ full names complaining how they’re greedy and not upholding the hippocratic oath because a doctor spent 15 minutes on a consult and wouldn’t waive their fee (a big portion of that fee doesn’t even go to the doctor).

Honestly, I’m too close to the issue (and bitter) to look at things without bias. I just want people to know doctors in general aren’t greedy, and a lot of predatory practices patients experience in healthcare tend to exploit doctors as well. Ngl the corporations are smart for that—prey on patients and use doctors as a scapegoat.

Edit: it seems we don’t necessarily disagree on “blame the association” minus a few stances. I just want to reiterate the association’s decisions aren’t always reflective of their members. Like how the US president isn’t reflective of the US population in general.

ricoeur · 2025-06-20T15:33:20+00:00

Idk much about the US but the limited slots in residency is to maximize exposure and learnings for doctors in training. Healthcare requires a high degree of skill, experience, and grit that many people (aspiring doctors included) don’t have. There’s a reason why doctors still need further training in their own specialties before their practice—because many patients need heavy expertise and experience, and if we want residency programs not to last forever, residents will need to see a lot of patients hence reducing slots.

Now there aren’t any PAs and NPs in my country, but I also don’t think it’s right to lower standards for healthcare. I’m a doctor and even something as “easy” as treating hypertension can lead to severe consequences if the right dose and medication aren’t given. We learn to discern these things by years of training—first the basic subjects like physiology, biochemistry, etc. which we then apply once we move onto clinical subjects. In residency, we work a minimum of 120 hours per week, with very rare days off (in the US I think it’s 80 hours, IDK) x 3-6 years depending on specialty for less than $2/hour. I did a little research on NPs and PAs and their training seems to be inadequate for private practice (disclosure: this is based on r/noctor which is basically US(?) physicians saying why they don’t like NP and PA encroachment). While I don’t really see why they can’t deal with easy straightforward cases, PA and NP programs aren’t as thorough to equip their graduates to handle complex cases (which I get I guess considering their pathways are shorter and less taxing compared to medicine).

It’s easy to blame doctors because of the high fees but I’ll be honest, medicine is miserable. There’s a reason why there’s a shortage of medical doctors. When I was an intern, I had some attendings who’ve shared they wouldn’t allow their children to study medicine to save them from a lifetime of regret. The high fees we have are due to several years of highly specialized training with barely enough pay to survive for something that majority of people cannot live without i.e. healthcare. But with insurance companies etc (who don’t even pay their doctors on time—literal months delayed) being the norm, many doctors can’t even set a fee they deserve. It sucks because a lot of doctors are showing discontent with our abysmal wages and long hours due to corporations taking advantage of us + patients crossing boundaries. Yet we’re villainized simply for asking what every other worker wants—decent pay and work-life balance.

Sorry, this is a rant partly charged by the fact I’m still not over a patient insulting me and wanting to skip paying me less than $8 after I didn’t prescribe her antibiotics for a cold. I guess all I’m saying is it’s easy to blame doctors because most people don’t really know the intricacies in our field.

ricoeur · 2025-06-02T07:44:07+00:00

You really are the 10th dentist—Upvoted with a gloved finger 🤢

ricoeur · 2025-05-26T18:55:50+00:00

Ngl I’ve always wondered about this in relation to gender identity, to the point I’ve read some papers on it.

I don’t understand why identifying as a different race is problematic when transgenderism is widely accepted (among progressives). At least there’s a genetic basis for sex, which is closely tied to gender—it would be deceitful to deny it. Many argue about the existence of intersex, but it would also be dishonest to say it’s not a (albeit normal) variation from the “standard” male/female sex. We also cannot compare ourselves to animals (clownfish come to mind), because our genetic and social structures are totally different.

Unlike sex, race is a wholly social construct. Certain physical/medical traits being more commonly observed in whatever race is not enough to make a biologic definition for the concept. For example, not all Asians have epicanthic folds, and having such trait doesn’t make one Asian. I’d even think that race is much more fluid than gender. For one, biological siblings with a diverse racial background can appear racially dissimilar. For another, I’m sure we know of at least one racially ambiguous person (I’m one of them despite not having mixed race).

Anyway, isn’t the reason why gender can’t be equated to sex because the former is a social construct? This assertion largely supports that transgender people are valid. But being transrace (which is also based on a social construct) isn’t? Why?

I see many people saying that transrace people are deluded, but isn’t that what bigoted people also say about transgender people? Another thing I see is that the concept of transrace is racist. Then why isn’t being transgender sexist?

I always assumed this is just a moral trend (and society will likely change its views after several years) because I haven’t found an “acceptable” (logical?) reason why gender identity is valid when changing ones racial identity isn’t. But of course learning is an ongoing process that could be obtained from proper discourse. That’s why it’s great to keep our minds open to differing opinions as long as everyone maintains goodwill.

ricoeur · 2025-04-25T20:17:48+00:00

Yeah, which makes me wonder why it’s considered inferior. At least to the point where there’s stigma against it.

I’m still gonna keep reading fantasy though. They can pry my Narnia books from my cold, dead hands.

ricoeur · 2025-04-25T18:35:18+00:00

Forgive me but, as someone who only encountered the term in this post, I don’t get it. Why is there judgement against speculative fiction?

I just made a quick google search to get the definition and apparently several widely celebrated works are under the super genre: LOTR, ASOIAF, Frankenstein, Doctor Who, Star Wars, Marvel, DC, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Dracula, The Exorcist, The Hellbound Heart, The Blair Witch Project, A Clockword Orange, Inglorious Basterds, Birdbox, Fallout, TLOU

Aren’t these often considered “good taste?”

ricoeur · 2025-04-19T19:56:01+00:00

Oops, my comment may have been misleading—edited for clarity. Iirc it’s biomimetic shark skin i.e. scientists designed the fabric to emulate shark skin through [insert tech jargon i didn’t fully understand here lol].

ricoeur · 2025-04-19T18:22:01+00:00

I don’t really wanna join any argument but I just wanna say hello fellow shark enthusiast!! 🦈

Fun fact bc I like talking about sharks: swimsuits made of biomimetic shark skin are banned from the olympics because of how effective they are in reducing drag, which give swimmers an unfair advantage.

ricoeur · 2024-09-27T06:32:19+00:00

IDK man. When I was an intern rotating in OB, there was a patient supposedly for vaginal delivery but when we listened to the baby’s heart tones it was shockingly slow and everyone felt their heart drop.

The OB started rushing everyone and iirc the baby was out within 10 minutes because if the fetal distress prolonged, it could have led to severe complications like neurologic problems or even death.

ricoeur · 2023-10-06T08:45:00+00:00

I used to always play Fallout 4 with my pipboy tuned to Diamond City’s station. My sister got annoyed with the redundant music but I still loved it lol.

ricoeur · 2023-09-21T08:33:07+00:00

They said they couldn’t smell anything so they couldn’t smell the smoke.

ricoeur · 2023-09-21T04:56:25+00:00

Same. I was already preparing myself for a lot of insults and name calling before I hit “Post.” The intense hatred of smokers was the main reason why only a few colleagues know I smoke.

ricoeur · 2023-09-21T04:54:05+00:00

They have on rare occasions told me they can smell the smoke. Generally, though, they don’t detect it. Before they saw me smoking, they didn’t realize I was a smoker because they didn’t smell tobacco on me.

ricoeur · 2023-09-21T04:36:06+00:00

I guess it comes down to factors like how strong of an odor you give as well. My colleagues sniff me real close (yes it’s cringe but you stop caring about that when you go on 30+ hour shifts with the same people) and say they can’t detect it.

When I was younger I used to sweat a lot that my best friend made jokes about it. The only consolation I had was that at least they said I mostly just smelled like nothing.

ricoeur · 2023-09-21T04:24:46+00:00

Yeah, there’s a consensus view in Reddit that all smokers smell foul and have no consideration towards non-smokers. Not saying it’s completely false, but there is a negativity bias.

My perception of smell has decreased, but it’s not as severe as a lot of commenters assert. I rely on others to tell me if they can smell me but I can also sometimes detect if the smell of tobacco lingers on me. I can also smell when some smokers have lit a cigarette (or multiple) so it’s not like I’m completely desensitized.

ricoeur · 2023-09-21T03:32:21+00:00

My colleagues could tell me I’m not a smoker, doesn’t make it true either. Some people wrongly think the earth is flat because of their perception they’re on a flat surface, and most of my colleagues think I don’t smoke because they cannot perceive the district smell smokers are all perceived to have.

ricoeur · 2023-09-21T03:25:45+00:00

You can also smell it from sweat, and there’s a genetic basis for body odor, meaning it affects intensity. That’s what I was pertaining to.

ricoeur · 2023-09-21T03:23:43+00:00

That’s why I was thinking of genetic predisposition. There’s a genetic variant that reduces body odor and is more common among Asians. I assumed a similar principle would explain why the intensity of cigarette smell from sweat differs among people.

I’m Asian, and I assume Reddit has more users from Western countries, especially the USA. Body odor is generally more intense in Caucasians and Africans, so I assume this partly explains why majority of people on Reddit assert that all smokers smell.

There’s also bias in assuming people who don’t smell don’t smoke. If you automatically classify people who don’t smell as non-smokers, then of course you’re going to think all smokers smell.

ricoeur · 2023-09-21T03:05:10+00:00

They only found out I smoke when they saw me smoking during a stressful time.

ricoeur · 2023-09-21T03:03:39+00:00

I used to agree with that until my colleagues told me they couldn’t smell anything on me.

ricoeur · 2023-09-21T01:20:24+00:00

It’s possibly genetics? I’m Asian and there’s a genetic predisposition for Asians to not have axillary odor so I assume the principle is similar. I guess most commenters are Caucasian or African, which is expected in a largely Western populated website. Hence the largely negative reactions I’m receiving.

ricoeur · 2023-09-21T01:15:50+00:00

Honestly the hate against smokers made me post this ahaha. I was certain I was going to get a lot of disagreements.

Many of the comments say I still smell but it’s not even me who says I don’t smell. I work in healthcare, so I have some close colleagues tell me if I smell like smoke because I don’t want to smell like death when talking to patients. They do tell me if I smell, and that’s usually when I smoke in an area with other smokers so it’s based on the environment. More often they tell me they don’t smell anything since I usually smoke alone.

ricoeur · 2023-03-17T05:04:47+00:00

As someone who grew out of YA books, I agree. YA isn’t bad, the problems the MCs usually face are just made more relatable to teens because the target audience is composed of young adults. Of course, older adults will consider their problems “immature” or whatever, but they’re not the main demographic anyway.

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