Originally Posted by BonnieJ2

About a million years ago, when you could smoke freely in offices, I worked in a pretty contained space with four other people, including our boss, who smoked 1-2 packs a day. Our coats and clothes reeked when we left at night. I remember that there was an ashtray in the department that was on a stand about two feet tall. It was filled with sand. We hated the smoke and had air filter systems near our desks, but the smoke still permeated everything. One day some little plastic palm trees from a nativity set appeared in the sand of the ashtray. Still a few cigarettes were put out in our desert scenery. Piece by piece, the full nativity set started to appear in the ashtray stand and it was our pride and joy. It was a visual joke and maybe sacreligious, but it intimidated our boss in a way we couldn't otherwise get by with.
Fast-forward to today. After a whole weekend of rain, when I got to my desk today, a few of the ceiling tiles were missing and a few were stained from a fresh leak. Obviously someone had been working there while we were manning the pumps at home. The area by my desk smelled faintly of stale cigarettes, which never happens - I'm thinking that some tradesman who wasn't thrilled with getting an emergency call lit up in the office.
We really have made a lot of progress in this area, and it was interesting to see how everyone got all up in arms about the smell of a cigarette from awhile ago when we used to have to inhale 1-2 packs worth every day. That was just the way it was, but I'm thankful it's changed.