Yesterday I attended a meeting at Phillip Morris’ factory in seremban (yeah, I know.. far right?). Man, was I surprised when I reached there. I mean know that they are like one of the richest companies in the world but I didn’t expect their FACTORY to be sooooooo nice. And omg was it huge!! I mean there was just so much extra (and not to mention empty) land everywhere! Even the parking lot (which was huge) was situated pretty far away from the factory and office building (again, 2 different HUGE buildings). Their office was equally as amazing because not only its very nice, its also very very very quiet and peaceful. I mean from the reception/lobby area, its so quiet – no one talking, no phones ringing.. nothing. U’d think u were in a museum in the middle of the night. Amazing.. it’d be the best place in the world to work in if it weren’t for just one problem: u can smoke anywhere in the compound – a very unique feature/priviledge which I don’t believe u can find anywhere else in the world save other ciggie companies. When I say anywhere I really mean ANYWHERE – from the moment u park u car, all the way to the reception area, to the meeting rooms, toilets anywhere .. heck, I saw many employees walking around the office smoking. Kewl eh? Not if u’re a non-smoker I tell you that. its gonna be a prob for smokers oso actually cos i think u're probably gonna go thru like at least 2 packs a day in that kinda environment. at least the air's fresh and the place clean - owing to the building's top notch ventilation (somehow the smoke disappears the moment u puff it out - owing to the million vents on the ceiling, and the billion ashtrays all over the place).

So anyway, during the meeting, I noticed the chairperson from the Philip Morris Malaysia (PMM) camp had this one very funny habit: from the moment he stepped into the room, he took out a pack of Marlboros (duh), lit a ciggie and placed the pack on the table (prominently, but within still reach) – took a few drags from the fag and just left it burning in the ashtray. He repeated this throughout the entire meeting, always only taking a few drags, then leaves the ciggie to burn in the ashtray – its almost as if he just wants to make the room smoky (hmmm..). well, actually I’ve already heard of this “habit” from a friend – that its apparently something which tobacco companies make their representatives do during meetings. My theory is that they just want u to inhale their nicotine (esp if u’re a non-smoker or a customer of a competing brand).

All I can say is that just sitting through that 2.5 hr meeting, I think I inhaled enough nicotine to last me a few weeks. months even – the worst part was that later on that evening I actually found myself craving for a puff (something which has not happened to me for quite some time..). sigh, yes I guess it is THAT easy to “fall off the bandwagon”.