A 'NONSMOKING' RANT. SORRY BUT I MUST.

The BBQ Pit
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http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/strsfs.html

I know this has been done, but I’m pissed. I read the ‘Serlin-Sentinel-whoever’ thread and actually agreed with some of what he raved about in his demented way but this happened to me.

I smoke. I put up with the new crap. Click on the link above and see the real facts about ‘second hand smoke.’ I’ve known about that research for years.

I was out with my aged mother – 73 years old and still full of piss and vinegar and she smokes. She is also – luckily – somewhat hard of hearing. I took her to the public library and on our way out, she lights up in the smoking area by the bike rack by the big ashtray they have there, and by the big signs saying ‘smoking in designated areas only’ - which is where we were. We were walking out, going back to the car. We were outside.

This yuppie chick walks out behind us and goes to unlock her expensive yuppie bike as my mother lights up. So this 30 something bimbo, with stylish corporate short hair, body by the local Gym and just the correct degree of suntan (we must use sunscreen #14 boys and girls because the Sun is Not Our Friend Anymore), looks over at my aged mother, who is minding her own business and having to puff on a cheaper brand of smoke these days and cheerily calls out something like ‘thank you for polluting my space’.

I couldn’t say what I wanted to say because of my mother, who, blissfully, had not heard the comment, but I shot the bitch a glare that should have peeled the paint off of her bike and got this smug, self-righteous grin in return.

Come on people! Mind your own business! I’m careful not to smoke around you except in those areas where I am allowed to do so and I respect your desire not to be bothered by my smoke, but when you are in my zone, shut the fuck up! Just because the television antismoking commercials show people being rude to smokers and making asses out of themselves doesn’t mean you have to.

My aged Mom has a bit of a temper when fucked with. Had she heard the woman, she would no doubt have stopped and told her to get fucked most colorfully. (After all, she raised 4 of us kids and buried my Dad – who also smoked but did not die from a smoking related disease – and had been involved in cub and boy scouts.)

I might have understood if the comment had been directed at me, but not a small, gray haired old woman. I consider that very rude.

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You mean you didn’t walk over, take a long drag, blow it right into her hair so it sticks and say, “You’ll have to speak louder, dear - we’re both a little hard of hearing”?

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Some people have no thought as to when it’s apropriate to say things, and don’t care who they say things to. This woman obviously didn’t like smoking and went out of her way to make sure that everyone who smoked knew it. Apparently she does no care if it’s a designated place or that it was an elder who she directed this comment to. It’s rude to tell people that because they’re smoking that they’re a hazard to people’s health. I think most if not all smokers these days knows that smoking isn’t good for you. I dont’ smoke, I have no desire to start, and I don’t tell people that it’s not good for them because it’s not my place to judge people or police them about what I think is a silly thing to do.

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Don’t worry Prism. I’m a relatively new non-smoker (since January 2, 2000, to be precise) and I agree with you. When you’re in a smoking zone or outside, smoke all you want.

I’ll agree on this also because the last thing I want to become is one of those smoke nazis. The previous smokers among them appear to be the most hideous of all.

FWIW, I even agreed with Serlinel on this particular matter. It was the rest of the crap that got HIM in trouble. But don’t apologise, Prism. Your rant is genuine and founded, and I’m sure there are going to be little people that disagree with you.

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Coldfire, you of all people I would expect to be the last to use a hyperbolic nazi metaphor. sigh

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Sorry to disappoint you Matt, but think nothing of it. I was using it in a Seinfeldish “Soup Nazi” sort of way. And why would I be the last to make a Nazi reference?

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I dunno. History?

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I don’t think you’ll get many who disagree here. When someone is in a designated smoking area, there will be…(drum roll)…SMOKING. I don’t like the smell of smoke, but I cannot bitch or be shocked or complain when I go into a smoking area. Because it’s a SMOKING area. The same way I cannot act astonished or outraged if I smell shit near a sewer, or smell garbage near a dump. It comes with the territory. You don’t expect to smell roses when you go by a sewer, do you?

There are plenty of smoking twits to complain about. The ones who feel all put out because they can’t smoke in an enclosed area, (like a plane) for instance. Or the ones who try to play the “victim” card, because supposedly they “didn’t know” smoking was bad when they started, and now they are hooked, the poor dears. With all these other geniuses around to complain about, a smoker who is careful and considerate enough to only smoke in designated areas is the least of our problems.

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Matt: I really don’t think that I should answer to a higher standard of righteousness just because my country was invaded by Germans 60 years ago. I wouldn’t be disapointed in you if you happened to use the word “queer” in one of your posts either.

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I find the ‘smoke nazi’ attitude mainly from younger people, those in their 20s - 30s, who seem to be doing fairly well for themselves. (They used to be called yuppies.) My Mother’s doctor knows she smokes and she has regular checkups because, being elderly, she has some age related problems. He keeps an eye on her and x-rays have shown her to be in quite good shape.

She stopped having a nip or two some years back because she turned diabetic, her hearing dimmed a bit, and because she had a couple of age related ‘black outs’ where she drove a few miles and could not recall doing so, she virtually stopped driving. (I drive her about when she needs to go somewhere.) She has some arthritis, had surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome and has a bum shoulder. One of the few pleasures remaining to her is smoking and she is not inclined to stop.

In my opinion, those no smoking commercials on television encourage public rudeness. It’s almost as bad as the McCarthy era when demented Senator McCarthy went on a rampage against communism and everyone else followed and accused every one of being a ‘commie.’ Those ‘Truth’ commercials burn me up, not only because they are often inaccurate, but they encourage public attacks on smokers.

I’ll be going back to the public library from time to time, but alone. I’m not going there just for books either, now that I know where the smoking area is. I think I know of a store that still sells those nasty little, gnarled, rock hard, shit black twisted little cigars sold in a small, cardboard box. Fire up one of those babies and the aroma is something like standing near a burning garbage dump. Maybe Ms. Yuppie will return.

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I haven’t seen any ads that encourage public attacks, but I don’t watch much TV. Could you describe one of them for me? (Better yet, a link if they’re online . . . maybe I’ll try adcritic.)

I sympathize with the nonsmokers in some cases, though I’m a long-time smoker. A few years ago the State of Utah banned smoking in public buildings. No problem, we went outside. I usually took pains to move as far away from building entrances as possible, but most didn’t and in no time at all the entrances to the school I was attending had become smokers’ gauntlets, forcing students and instructors either to wade through clouds of smoke and halitosis or to wander the building looking for a service entrance.

The solution for nonsmokers, of course, is not to piss off the smokers but to approach the administration and request that the designated smoking areas be moved away from building entrances and public thoroughfares.

-andros-

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Actually, in Utah there is now a minimum distance from the entrance to any public building that a person smoking must be. IIRC, it’s 20 feet, but I could be wrong.

This is a fair bitch for you to make, Prism. I find people saying shit or giving me dirty looks for smoking outside now. “Look kids, look at the filthy smoker”. All I can say about the girl who gave you shit, is “DIE YUPPIE SCUM!” :mad:

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I don’t smoke. I never smoked. I hate smoking. That being said, that twit’s behavior was unexcusable!

I would be willing to bet this type of person would get nasty about any behavior you guys exhibited that didn’t fit her “high” standards. (If she were a vegetarian, she would have disapproved of the hamburger you were eating.) In a case like this, a scowl really doesn’t seem to do the trick. She seemed pleased with herself. But remember children, there’s always that magic middle finger!

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You’re correct, Ozone, but the Utah Indoor Clean (Ha!) Air Act originally was interpreted to mean that only state employees had to be more than 20 feet away (although that was never a valid interpretation), and even that was not enforced. They did end up moving the ash cans away from most entrances, but when I bailed there were still a couple entrances that were pretty dense.

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One of the TRUTH commercials is where they show this guy/gal standing solemnly out somewhere, presumably in a city, holding this long, black message box that flickers with a bunch of numbers for a few long seconds then settles on one. Sometimes it is a long one - which is supposed to be how many people die each year because of smoking and sometimes it is simply an 8, which indicates how many people die each minute of smoking.

According to statistics obtained from other websites dealing with smoking deaths, including the American Cancer Society, those figures are off by quite a bit. TRUTH also has those commercials where kids call up and insult tobacco executives and then snicker at them. TRUTH is a big advertiser of second hand smoke claims, even though there never has been any proven connection between second hand smoke and any form of cancer or smoking related diseases.

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How’s this for an example of Non-smoking silliness? At Wrigley Field, the smoking and non-smoking sections are reversed from what you normally find. The concourse area circles the ballpark under the seating areas. This is where the restrooms, food/beverage vendors, and souvenir stands are located. It’s a crowded, enclosed, mainly indoor place, and yep, you can smoke down there. However, there is NO SMOKING in the seating areas or in the outdoor concourses. WTF? You can smoke inside but NOT outside?

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So we have the kids holdign the electronic signs. and the kids calling up the tobacco companies. And I’ve seen the bungee-jumping one.

Which of those encourages attacks on smokers?
(Millroy–that’s really fucked up.)

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Some people just dont like the smoke. I personally gag on someone elses smoke but i never say anything. Just think if there was a dipping area and a non-dipping area. In the dipping area you can spit all you want and in the non-dipping area you cant spit. Lets just say I was in a dipping area by the bike rack and you had to get your bike. You probably wouldnt fancy that dark brown juice spewing forth from my lips would ya? :smiley:

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I’m a nonsmoker, but I’ve only had one run in with the smoking population.
Cigarette smoke causes me to get severe ear aches, sometimes if I’m exposed to it long enough, I get ear infections.
Anyway, I was working in a restaurant shortly after the Utah Clean Air Act was passed.
Somebody lit up after their meal. I didn’t want to approach them and be annoying, but I had a right to do so. So gathering what courage I had (I’m a shy person) I approached the offender.
Me: Excuse me sir. I’m going to have you to go outside with that. I’m sorry.
Smoker: What the fuck?!
Me: The Clean Air Act was just passed, prohibiting you from smoking in here.
Smoker: That’s fucked up!
Me: I’m sorry.
Smoker: It’s fucking cold out there.
Me: I know, and I’m sorry. Here’s an ash tray if you would like to put it out.
Smoker: (Putting out cigarette) I can’t believe this shit.
Me: Thank you Sir. I hope you enjoyed your meal. Would you like anything else tonight.

I tried to be as unconfrontational as I could, and as respectful as I could.