A deflection of responsibility in 3 parts.

During two of the commercial breaks on the new Mornings with Ryan Roberts and Matthew James show, Ryan and I be sneaking out the back door (to the designated smoking area) and rip heaters.  It's an official "Butt Stop"; you've seen them outside of bars and on restraint patios,  a polyurethane tube, with a giant metal cauldron inside. 

It's not our fault. Reason 1)  This thing was completely full 

We've only been here about 3 weeks. Though we are disgusting nicotine addicts, during the first 2 weeks at WRRV, we didn't even know this outside area existed or if we were even allowed out there. So we went out to our cars that are parked in the farthest away spots because we're cool..  However, we ripped it up once we found this little oasis off of the kitchen area.

 There's a patio table and three chairs out there. One was ruined by snow, one I sat down in and broke like the fat kid I am, and Ryan gets to sit in the third chair because he's older. 

I'm new at smoking, so I'm just chucking these death sticks down the hole of the Butt Stop and move on with my life. IDK.  I guess you're supposed to flick them out or something short of throwing a lit cig down the chute?

It's not our fault. Reason 2)  A tinderbox full of 2 drag cigs

So this thing is smoking, Pulsating with smolder. I've seen it before.  (Oh yeah, we did this once at our other job, but I'm trying to convince you this wasn't our fault, so disregard that part)

I expertly flip open the safety clip on the bottom and take the top off while Ryan gets a vase of water or something from the kitchen inside. ( we were both Boy Scouts. We got this)  

Where there's smoke, there's fire. Even though we don't see flames, we extinguish the problem. This pile of burning darts smells terrible.  As the smoke is clearing, we immediately spy something that we both recognize.  This cauldron is FILLED TO THE BRIM with cigarettes that have 2 hits taken out of them and then were discarded. It's the most radio thing I've seen in my life. Leave the studio, take 2 hits, and convince yourself that you've got dead air, snuff the cig out, and huff it back down the hall.

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I know all these butts were correctly discarded because they were all snuffed out at the end. But a plethora of basically kindling at this point.  Especially when you've got me discarding  lit ciggy butts into it ( oh, this is starting to sound like it's my fault)

  It's not our fault. Reason 3)  NY STATE LAW: Article 13-E. The Clean Indoor Air Act of 1989 (Taylor's Version)

This never would have happened if they just LET ME SMOKE IN THE STUDIO LIKE THE GOOD OLD DAYS.

It was glorious. Ask an old-school radio talent. The giant orange glass ashtray was on the console, a Beer fridge in the corner, and THE COUCH. The Mustachioed men and large-haired ladies were just spinning tunes while puffing down. First, Second, and Third-degree smoke with Traffic and Weather at the top of the hour. 

 Maybe this is our fault actually

 Honestly,  it does seem like this WAS in fact our fault, so I'm going to do what I usually do in these situations, and that's BLAME RYAN. He got me into smoking at 37 years old.  I barely smoked except for blackout, post-bar "Hey man, let me bum one"

He smoked on breaks, so I smoked on breaks. I get antsy, and I like walking around, and smoking keeps the ADHD at bay. 

Anyway, It's Ryan's fault, and it'll probably happen again.