You've Got A Friend
My friend, Janice, is a psychologist. Her research interest is addictions. To be more specific: smoking.
Since the time when she was pursuing her doctoral degree, she has been working on the reasons for people to pick up smoking and why they fail to quit. Her research subjects are Asian Americans.
Janice has identified that, among Asian immigrants, a large proportion of the men who work in the food industry are smokers. Why are these male restaurant workers more prone to smoking? She decided to interview them to get the answers from them directly.
"i talked to many, many of them. Almost all of them have tried quitting, but end up picking it back up. What I found out is that, it has little to do with what they used as means of quitting. It also has little to do with addiction to nicotine. It is actually something else . . ." Janice looks sad. She has always been a kind and compassionate soul. I have known her since we were 11 years old. She has not changed a bit.
"Many of these men left their families back home to come to the US to work alone. They work long hours to save up money so that they can remit money back home to give their families a better life. Aside from their work, they have very little going on for themselves. Since they work in the kitchen all day long, they don't have much contact with the outside world. The kitchen could have been anywhere in the planet, and it would make very little difference to them. They don't speak English. They know close to nobody and nothing outside of the restaurant. They are very isolated."
Janice recounts the narrative of one of the men she interviewed: "The only time I have for myself is the break during my shift. I always go outside to the alley behind the restaurant to light up a cigarette. I have coworkers, but I have no friends. I have nobody to talk to. Yet, I always have my cigarette. I light it up, take a puff and then watch the smoke roll in the air like a cloud, dissipate and finally disappear. Whatever mood I am in, my cigarette is always there with me. It listens to me and keeps me company. The cigarette is my best fiend."
Janice looks at me with sad puppy eyes. She lets out a sigh and said, "You know, they don't have an addiction. Their problem is loneliness."
Since the time when she was pursuing her doctoral degree, she has been working on the reasons for people to pick up smoking and why they fail to quit. Her research subjects are Asian Americans.
Janice has identified that, among Asian immigrants, a large proportion of the men who work in the food industry are smokers. Why are these male restaurant workers more prone to smoking? She decided to interview them to get the answers from them directly.
"i talked to many, many of them. Almost all of them have tried quitting, but end up picking it back up. What I found out is that, it has little to do with what they used as means of quitting. It also has little to do with addiction to nicotine. It is actually something else . . ." Janice looks sad. She has always been a kind and compassionate soul. I have known her since we were 11 years old. She has not changed a bit.
"Many of these men left their families back home to come to the US to work alone. They work long hours to save up money so that they can remit money back home to give their families a better life. Aside from their work, they have very little going on for themselves. Since they work in the kitchen all day long, they don't have much contact with the outside world. The kitchen could have been anywhere in the planet, and it would make very little difference to them. They don't speak English. They know close to nobody and nothing outside of the restaurant. They are very isolated."
Janice recounts the narrative of one of the men she interviewed: "The only time I have for myself is the break during my shift. I always go outside to the alley behind the restaurant to light up a cigarette. I have coworkers, but I have no friends. I have nobody to talk to. Yet, I always have my cigarette. I light it up, take a puff and then watch the smoke roll in the air like a cloud, dissipate and finally disappear. Whatever mood I am in, my cigarette is always there with me. It listens to me and keeps me company. The cigarette is my best fiend."
Janice looks at me with sad puppy eyes. She lets out a sigh and said, "You know, they don't have an addiction. Their problem is loneliness."
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