Why do I do this? Any ideas? I work in retail. I take the plastic off of cigarette packs at

applegrove

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Mon Jun-22-09 09:32 PM
Original message

Why do I do this? Any ideas? I work in retail. I take the plastic off of cigarette packs at

one hotel job but not at another. Is it because there are no garbages at one location and not another? Nope. It is simply habit. Plus I sell more smokes at one location than another. So I got into a groove at one gift shop and not the other.

Any other suggestions?

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Texasgal

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Mon Jun-22-09 09:36 PM
Response to Original message

1. huh?

:shrug:

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applegrove

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Mon Jun-22-09 09:50 PM
Response to Reply #1

2. I have different habits according to location. I take the plastic off of cigarettes I sell to help

the customers out. Cause I have easy access to a garbage. I do it to be nice. But I'm not in the habit of doing it at my second job. I just thought it was strange. I just never thought of doing it at this other location until tonight.

I have such a context dependent memmory. I guess that is the answer.

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Skittles

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Mon Jun-22-09 10:14 PM
Response to Reply #2

3. do the customers want the wrap off?

I sometimes buy smokes to include in care packages to the troops and would not want the plastic off

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applegrove

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Mon Jun-22-09 10:31 PM
Response to Reply #3

5. Oh I ask if they want the wrapping off. Sometimes they say no.

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Catshrink

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Mon Jun-22-09 10:32 PM
Response to Reply #3

6. About your packages

do you send them via anysoldier.com? I've been doing that lately -- and sending them to my nephew. The captain to passes out the packages at the base always writes me a thank you letter which I appreciate, but isn't necessary. She knows my nephew is also in country and understands our family's anxieties.

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applegrove

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Mon Jun-22-09 10:34 PM
Response to Reply #6

9. That is so cool you are sending the soldiers stuff. Both of you. Cool!

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Catshrink

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Mon Jun-22-09 10:56 PM
Response to Reply #9

16. It gives me a lift to know I'm doing something

they are so far from home and so homesick! Believe it or not, one of the things they ask for is Capri Sun. I have to remember that most of them really are just kids.

I was sending a check periodically to USO but that's kind of impersonal and maybe just too easy. I feel like I connect more when I actually shop for them. I like sending the packages to "Any Female Soldier" loaded up with girlie stuff.

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applegrove

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Mon Jun-22-09 11:02 PM
Response to Reply #16

19. What is Capri Sun?

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Catshrink

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Mon Jun-22-09 11:07 PM
Response to Reply #19

21. It's one of those drinks in pouches

It comes in different flavors. I don't drink the stuff so I have no idea what it's like.

My nephew wants Slim Jims and Junior Mints. In Kabul he was eating fresh fish and ice cream and drinking fake beer. They can't have the real thing in a Muslim country. We were told not to send pork but he said they have pork on base. :confused: I just know the rules for sending his stuff: no pork, no porn, no booze. Don't send chocolate in the summer. And don't mix a box with toiletries and food because the food will end up tasting like the toiletries after being in the heat.

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applegrove

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Mon Jun-22-09 11:10 PM
Response to Reply #21

22. Way to go. Some people in the USA have voted to send people to war

and have sacrificed nothing for those soldiers over there. Good on ya!

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Skittles

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Mon Jun-22-09 11:13 PM
Response to Reply #9

24. check out this email reponse I got from Marines I sent smokes to

:D

Haha, I was hoping you were going to give me your email soon. I just wanted to let you know, there are Five Marines with Ji-normous grins on thier faces, you can't see them behind the smoke of course. All we got out here are hadji smokes, and our supplies are nearly depleted. The smokes they have out here, you stare at it "Well it tastes like rolled shit, and might be laced with Anthrax............... Fuck it, Something just exploded down the block. I need a smoke!" So it was friggen spectacular to get those smokes from you. I loved the "Candy" Writ down in the contents part, that was awsome. Justin, Matthew, Sterling, Kristopher, and myself, now worship you.

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applegrove

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Mon Jun-22-09 11:16 PM
Response to Reply #24

26. That's really great. Nice responce. Makes me want to do something like that. Except I'm

allready a year behind on the webpage I have built and managed for a charity in Ontario. You are inspiring though. I think I'll do that webpage once I get back from my trip.

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Catshrink

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Mon Jun-22-09 11:16 PM
Response to Reply #24

27. What a great response!

Do you always send it to the same unit/people?

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Skittles

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Mon Jun-22-09 11:55 PM
Response to Reply #27

28. sometimes I send several packages to the same unit but

I like to spread 'em around.....my last packages were very simple, Fathers Day cards for some infantry guys nowhere near a BX and Lone Star bandana and cigar, to lietenant in Baghadad who is from Houston - honestly, I think these guys would get excited if you sent a box of dirt as long as it came from home. :D

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madeline_con

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Tue Jun-23-09 01:22 AM
Response to Reply #24

30. I heard today that they need Silly string to detect laser booby traps.

Do you know if this is true?

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Skittles

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Tue Jun-23-09 02:32 AM
Response to Reply #30

31. from Wikipedia

Silly String and similar products have long been used by American and British forces to detect tripwires for explosive booby traps. To use it in this manner, the soldier stands in the doorway and sprays the material over the suspect area. If the string falls to the ground there are no tripwires. However, if there is a tripwire, the string will be suspended in the air without pulling the wire<5><6><7>

As of 2006 it is being used by U.S. troops in Iraq for this purpose<8><9><10>. However, because the material is an aerosol, it cannot be shipped privately to Iraq and it is not provided by official channels. Thus, 80,000 cans unintentionally got stockpiled in New Jersey<11>. In October 2007, a shipping company with the required credentials was finally found

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Skittles

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Mon Jun-22-09 10:38 PM
Response to Reply #6

11. yes; been doing it for five years

:D

I've also sent over a thousand Texas postcards, some of them quite smutty, like gals in Lone Star bikinis :D

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applegrove

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Mon Jun-22-09 10:45 PM
Response to Reply #11

14. Well good for you.

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Tangerine LaBamba

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Mon Jun-22-09 10:17 PM
Response to Original message

4. You're not a smoker, I'll bet -

I'd be mighty upset if anyone took the cellophane off my cigarette pack, back when I smoked.

That's where I stashed my matches.........

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applegrove

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Mon Jun-22-09 10:33 PM
Response to Reply #4

7. I ask. I was a smoker. I always wanted a smoke right after buying a pack and I'd take

the plastic off myself and ask the cashier/bar tender if they had a garbage. Sometimes they'd look at me like I was "using" them by handing them my garbage. I swore I would never do that to people. If I'm working a service job I'm there to serve.

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myrna minx

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Mon Jun-22-09 10:37 PM
Response to Reply #7

10. LOL. Oh, you ask. Disregard my comment then.

:rofl: I imagined you receiving strange, baffled looks after handing them to an unsuspecting customer.

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applegrove

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Mon Jun-22-09 10:43 PM
Response to Reply #10

12. Some people are surprised. But I always ask first. Yup I've been quit for a year. I'm so proud.

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Tangerine LaBamba

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Mon Jun-22-09 10:47 PM
Response to Reply #7

15. Why does the cellophane bother you?

It keeps the cigarettes fresher longer.............

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applegrove

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Mon Jun-22-09 10:58 PM
Response to Reply #15

17. I guess it is a foible of mine. I always wanted the cellophane off right away. And am

Edited on Mon Jun-22-09 10:59 PM by applegrove

projecting that on my customers. I always ask. Some people say no. Some people are like Yes! Great! I'm thinking now that I'm pretty weird for doing that. I think I am really just very bored at my job and get a little Obessessive Compulsive like a bored zoo animal in an enclosure. Thing is I like the people I am working for and need the stability of these jobs for now. They let me read while I am at work. It could be worse. But I think that I really need a job or two that involve constant work. That is just the type of person I am. Perhaps more so these days. But I've always worked hard at jobs. I was just born that way. I wasn't slightly OC until quite recently though.

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Tangerine LaBamba

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Mon Jun-22-09 11:01 PM
Response to Reply #17

18. I doubt you're OC -

since you can control whether or not you remove the cellophane.

Sounds like you're just bored.

Don't sweat it .................

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applegrove

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Mon Jun-22-09 11:06 PM
Response to Reply #18

20. I also pace back and forth behind the cash counter. That has stopped

now that I can mostly read. But I still catch myself doing it. Strange these OC like symptoms have just started in the last year. Before that I just worked hard and felt compelled to clean a shelf of something. I think it may have to do with the drugs I am on. They make me lazy. So I don't do stuff like dusting as much. And then I get bored so the mini OC behaviour starts. Don't know if I'll keep taking the plastic off of people's cigarettes now that I know it is not just to be nice but out of sheer boredom that I do it.

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Tangerine LaBamba

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Mon Jun-22-09 11:10 PM
Response to Reply #20

23. They're not OC symptoms,

since you can function, you can control them, and you're taking normal behavior 'way too seriously.

You're just bored, looking to tire yourself out, burn off some energy, and make the time go by.

If you were really obsessive-compulsive, you'd probably not be able to leave the house, so relax.........

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applegrove

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Mon Jun-22-09 11:13 PM
Response to Reply #23

25. I'm relaxed. Really I am. See I'm not OC LOL! Okay so I'll call them boredom

actions from here on out. And I'll dust more shelves.

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myrna minx

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Mon Jun-22-09 10:34 PM
Response to Original message

8. I don't think smokers would appreciate someone taking off the plastic for them.

:shrug: That seems like unwrapping gum or a straw for someone. It seems a little personal. Also, smokers like to stash matches in the plastic.

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applegrove

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Mon Jun-22-09 10:44 PM
Response to Reply #8

13. I do ask. Maybe I shouldn't do it.

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REP

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Tue Jun-23-09 01:17 AM
Response to Original message

29. To rephrase a Lounge thing: Don't tutch my butts

I don't like getting tobacco in my purse (I use a cigarette case).

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suninvited

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Tue Jun-23-09 08:58 AM
Response to Original message

32. Cigarette packages are supposed to be sold

with the cellophane wrap on, because of the tax stamps on them.

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