SERIOUSLY !!!!!!

Unfortunately, no law at the moment!!

For your work premises,I would ask that you ask your manager to reaarange office so non-smokers are on side (or corner)...thats a start.

You can then start reasoning with the smokers to designate a smoking room etc..

(non smoking area in restaurants is a fairly newish concept here...from my conversations, there is no concept of the damage of passive smoking..or the courtesy to stop smoking when someone does not apprecaite the smoke)

xtreme, man you're screwed....you will die faster than those who actually smoke... Contact anybody from HR and voice your concern. Or raise your concern to your manager, that this situation is affecting your work and that it is hindering you from performing your task efficiently, and point out the reasons why. Make suggestions like segregation, adding exhaust fans, ect. Any situation can be resolved through communication and through proper channels. Good luck.

thanks guys , i cannot fight the flow , it's the high management that wants this , and the office i am in , is not full of smoke , but the other offices are connected and u can smell tobacco in the whole company .
i wish there was a law against this , and even if not , how would we expect our customers to like the smell ?  imo it seems unprofessional.

Xtrem ...
Unfortunately there is no law to prohibit that act. It is so hard to do your work properly in that atmosphere it is bad for work. I guess if you went to your boss and give him a suggestion to make a smoking room any body wants to smoke he can go to this room and does.
In my company a decision has taken to stop smoking in the company anyone wants to smoke he can go out of office to smoke.

Wish you a good working atmosphere.

Well if cant beat them you can do something to be a bit better.
whenever some one startst o smoke on the premises, spray the area with an air freshner. At least you will be less smelly..

And then perhaps people will get the idea that you dont appreciate it much..

RedGoblin wrote:

Well if cant beat them you can do something to be a bit better.
whenever some one startst o smoke on the premises, spray the area with an air freshner. At least you will be less smelly..

And then perhaps people will get the idea that you dont appreciate it much..

I like this...psychological warfare.... you can also cover your nose with some towel or hankie, signaling that the smell irritates you. One extreme suggestion that will definitely create a buzz...wear a gas mask while working....lol. That will get their attention...

If higher management doesnt listen at all... you can write the saudi ministry of health about your complain. If Saudi Ministry of health doesnt do any action you can write king Abdullah.

Xtrem wrote:

imo it seems unprofessional.

Yes, in your opinion.  Not to defend the practice, but it's acceptable here so it's not unprofessional.  It might be unprofessional in your country, but remember, you aren't in your country any more.

Just because something is different than back home doesn't make it wrong...it just makes it different.

Good luck, but I don't see a resolution to this in the manner you seek, imposing the will of 1 against the will of many.

A good practice of environmentally aware companies is to allocate the stairways for smoking, so whoever wants a smoke has to get up leave the office floor and smoke in the stairways which have high exhaust.
Unfortunately there is no law passed yet against smoking in public or office places.

I had the same problem. But then I took up smoking. Now its guaranteed that I won't have to put up with it for as long as I would have if I didn't smoke.

Seriously though, I like the Air Freshener idea.