Twod days ago, my father was driving in town with his new truck. He is a lifetime smoker, but usually does’nt smoke in his “new truck”, but was in traffic, so he lit up. When he was about finished, he did’nt want to use his nice clean ashtry and was about to throw it out the window when he saw a police car right behind him. He held on to it but he could not shake the 5-O. Suddenly, he felt a warm sensation between his legs and noticed, to his suprise, the burning end fell off and landed on his seat.He quickly put it out but now has a big hole in the seat of his “new truck”.
I laughed my butt off when he told me this! (No pun entended)
I haven’t made an OP in a while that’s had this many reponses. I probably should’ve posted it in the Pit, or even IMHO, based on the responses.
I made the OP because I see butts all the time in DC, and they ruin what is actually a rather lovely city. And, they’re everywhere, on the sidewalks, in the gutters. And people don’t even think twice about dropping them, much less snuffing them out by stomping on them with their shoe.
Ugh.
And, I agree with most of the above: Alphagene’s “defense” was tenable, at best. When I’m done reading my newspaper, I recycle it. When I’m done chewing my gum, I dispose of it properly. In the day when I used to smoke (back in high school) I would dispose of my butts after snuffing them properly.
Why can’t they?
Well Alphagene, got the ostiones to come back in and support your stand on this issue? We’re waiting.
Some people say it’s only a cigarrette butt… then, well, it’s only a gum wrapper… it’s only an empty cigarrette pack, it’s only an empty soda can… Morons! Littering is unacceptable. period.
I am sick of cleaning the sidewalk and even the front yard. These are the same people that complain about bad city services. Do your part first and then you can complain. These people are pigs.
Based on the responses? Did you really expect any other kind of response based on the thread title?
Well here goes. 1) Yes, it is littering.
- It is not enforced because fire departments could not keep up with the demand if smokers threw smoldering butts in trash cans and municipalities have opted not to expend public monies on ashtrays the way they have on trash cans.
Happy?
This one’s off to the Pit.
What’s the big deal about adding an ash tray at the top of a trash can, (with a little bit of that nice sand in there maybe…) and have the thing enforced a little better?
Why stop this with CigButts? I just can’t stand the amount of trash in the streets of our city (S.F.) and no one seems to care. I go out of my way to find a trash can if I have anything to throw out. I do remember putting the cigs out with my foot when I used to smoke, then pusing them in the gutter if there was no where else to throw 'em. But look at the place today, there are bags of trash on the side walk, food thrown in the street, empty bottles of everything (from beer to milk), etc. Some areas are worse than others of course, but the whole place can use some clean up. SigButts are the least of the problem.
Hi, Jack! Or should I say, hi tradesilicon?
Yeah, what’s up with your burg? I visited there for the first time 2 years ago. Everyone said, “Hey you’re gonna love it – it’s like NYC only better.”
As much as I wanted to like the place, I came away thinking …YICKKK! (Forgetting the wacky unlabelled 4-way stop signs that I griped about on another thread…) What’s with all those homeless guys and all that litter?!?
You guys need a little Giulianizing. Now that Rudy’s decided to sit out the Senate race (vs. Hellary), and term limits prohibit him from taking another stab at the Big Apple mayoralty, he might be open to a recuitment drive.
Now, as for your sand-filled ashtray idea: I suspect that such an arrangement would make emptying the trash can rather difficult, presuming, of course, they do so by upending the thing into the maw of the garbage truck, like they do it here.
Why can’t smokers just quit? I did, 20 years ago, it can be done. Expecting the rest of society to put ashtrays at every corner to support a smokers habit is absolutely asinine!
Yeah, we could quit. But then we wouldn’t get the joy of being told how bad it is for us. I’m glad you quit 20 years ago. But I didn’t. I wasn’t even smoking 20 years ago, since I was all of 7 years old. Yes, I will quit. But sometimes I think about keeping on, just so I can annoy ex-smokers.
(For the record, I am a polite smoker-if I eat out with non-smokers, I sit in the non-smoking section with them. I never light up in anyone else’s car, house, etc, unless they are a smoker, and light up first. I don’t smoke around my non smoking friends. Generally, I only smoke in my car(when alone), my apartment balcony(I’m on the top floor, so it doesn’t float up at anyone else) or the smoking area at work(out back, by the dumpster).)
Back to the topic at hand, I am another ‘field stripper’ of cigarettes. Lose the cherry off the top, and that butt can be deposited in any trash can. I never throw one out the car window-if I have neglected to empty my ash tray, then I usually have a half full soda can next to the seat(I drive a LOT for work).
And yes, I get strange looks from other people, other smokers for not just tossing it down. But why should I be responsible for more trash on the roads, or, even worse, for a fire.
Some moron once threw a still flaming butt into the trash in the lobby at Kmart. A customer told me the trash was on fire.
AAAGGHHH…thank god someone else had thrown away an Icey so that I could poor orange goo on the flaming trash…
Why not try a “personal ash tray” for when you light up outside? You butt our your smoke, tuck it away, then throw it away later. My husband smokes but when he’s away from a receptical he stubs the cig out and puts it in his pocket to toss later. It’s called common courtesy.
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=463036289
Zette
Oh you are? How darling. Consider needlepoint.
Uh huh. You got a crush on me or something?
There’s something I need to support? I’m not going to put a potentially hot paper product in my pocket or in the trashcan. I generally aim for the sewer or the gutter where I know the Department of Sanitation will take the foul garbage far away from your offended eyes, but if I miss, no big whoop. And any garbage that I have that isn’t on fire have ends up in the trash can. I’m not a pathological litterbug. But I’ll admit, with ciggie butts I occasionally litter. Mother Gaia hates me for it I’m sure. And I’m sorry a dirty sidewalk ruins your day.
My original post was not intended to be a celebration of littering. It was a rationalization of why an overloaded judicial system doesn’t prosecute everyone who commits this crime. And a threw in an opinion about the people obsessing about this. I think I’ve shown enough ostiones as it is, thank you.
I think if we made a massive list of the various no-nos, faux pas, crimes, misdemeanors and sins humanity in general has commited, occasional ciggie flicking would be very low on the “asshole” scale.
Why people get so wound up about shit like this evades me.
Archer sez:
Oh Fuck Off, dickhead! Why is it everyone assumes that if you are a smoker you are trying to quit? Personally, I love smoking. I like the taste, the smell, etc… (What I do not like is the stale cig smell on your clothes after you have smoked for a while, but then again, I do not smoke that much so it is not a problem for me) What I do not like are assholes who assume I want to quit and keep telling me to do so. It is none of you business if I want to smoke or not.
And as far as me expecting “society” to put ashtrays on every corner, well I don’t. And placing an ashtray on every corner does not “support” a smokers habit, it is simply a measure that a municipality (sp?) can take in order to prevent cig butts from littering the ground. If I can find an ash tray anywhere in my vacinity then I will glady place my butt in there. If I can not, then tough shit, it is going in the gutter. And if you don’t like it, well again, tough shit. And no, I will not carry it in my pocket, nor will I carry a personal ashtray. I have enough shit in my pockets already.
And finally, regarding ciggs on roads. You are right that it is wrong to throw a cig out the window on the road. When I want to get rid of mine I will place it in a soda can, or water bottle, or what have you that is in my car. I will not place it in my ashtray. I have friends who place their butts in their ash tray and guess what, their car smells like ass. While I love the smell and taste of a fresh cig, I hate the smell of stale smoke. And if the situation arises where I do not have anything to place my butt in, then yes, I will throw it out my car window. But there are rules.
-First, I will only throw it out the windows if I am in an area where there is no fire danger. (If I am in an area where there is a danger of starting a fire, I make sure I have something to place the butt in)
-Second, I place my arm out the window and throw the butt towards the ground. This way it will not fly at the car behind me, and it minimizes movement of said butt. It also ensures that the butt will not fly back into my car.
-Third, if you are driving behind me and you are riding my ass, then the cig butt goes out the sun-roof, no exceptions. (Well ok, if Mr. CHP is riding my ass, I will not throw it out the sunroof, duh)
Oh, by the way, at least in the Bay Area, cig butts thrown out of the window of a car is considered littering, and you WILL get a ticket. When I went to court to fight a moving violation ticket one time, a man was there fighting a littering ticket on this subject. To make a long story short, the man smoked monogrammed cigs (cigs whith his initials printed on them) so the judge ordered him to pick up trash on the side of the highway for 20 hours, or until he found HIS cig butt, whichever came first. He also got a ~$200 fine. I also know several people who have gotten littering tickets for throwing their butts out the windows. So the law is at least enforced by the CHP.
-N
PS. Forgive me of any grammer or spelling errors. I tried to check as much as I could but I did not have much time.
You know, it strikes me that something as simple as an empty Altoids tin would be easily portable, non-flammable, and capable of holding a good bit. So this “we’ll set the garbage or my pants on fire” defence is pure BS.
Oh yeah, Archer: eat a dick.
I’ve got a bunch of Chinese neighbors who toss lit cigarets off the balcony while people are walking below.
They throw other things off, too, like old junk mail and pans of mopwater. It’s just nuts. They think everything at ground level is fair game for trash.
After a while I got fed up with the butts landing on my doorstep and would toss them back up on their doorstep. They would shout at me “Why you do this? We no want cigarets by door!” And I would say “I don’t want cigarets on my door! And they are your cigaretes. I don’t smoke.”
Eventually the landlord translated enough to get through to them, so they stopped, but they still don’t really get it. They still toss newspapers and water.
How about this. You stop suggesting Martha Stewart-esque ways for smokers to dispose of their butts when there are no ashtrays and I’ll stop suggesting that you find other things to concern yourself with (like, say man’s inhumanity towards man) than a few ciggie butts on a sidewalk.
You all should probably stop staring at the sidewalk anyway. It’s poor posture and you might accidentally walk into a pole.
Yeah, but think of where it will lead if society were to deem it acceptable to toss cigarette butts on the ground. Sure it’s no big deal at first, but then what? Next they’ll think it’s OK to just toss anything on the street, and so on, until society has lost all sense of decency. I’ve heard that Hitler got his start throwing cigarettes on the sidewalk.
ROFL… too funny… ty Alphagene for the mental picture of all these non-smoking, ex-litterbugs bumping into light poles on the sidewalk…
I am a smoker, for past 28 yrs. Had a lung test couple weeks ago, my lungs are as clear as someone who has never smoked… just lucky I reckon.
Am guilty of throwing butts out the window, on the sidewalk, and in the river. Am also guilty of field-stripping them and putting the filter’s in my pocket… what a mess in the washer when I forget to take them out… yikes. I put my smokes out everytime I find a ‘butt-can’ in front of a store, rather than the sidewalk… no butt-can… on the ground it goes, then i pick up the butt and put it in the trashcan–which is always available somewhere close. Worked several years in convenience stores… would much rather sweep the butts up outside, rather than trying to get them out of the lineoleum inside… and yep… had several sand-filled cans right by the door, but the parking lot is still the most popular place for cig’butts.
I used to ride a motorcycle, and can’t count the times a live butt hit me full in the face… without my full-face helmet and face shield on, I would have some really ugly burn marks on me… however, am guilty of throwing my butts at a moron who is tailgating me, regardless of what he’s riding/driving. Hitting the brakes really quick is not nearly as effective as a live cigarette aimed at you.
Will I quit smoking?.. maybe… someday… when I get tired of paying 3 bucks a pack or stop receiving the pleasure lighting up with a cold beer chaser gives me. Until then, I’ll continue to respect your right not to smell my smoke, if you’ll respect my right to do what pleases me.
My 2cents. (and that’s about what it’s worth)… :rolleyes:
LOL! I just may add that to my sig line!
BTW, I have to agree with Alphagene that this is a truly mundane thing to get your panties all bunched up over. Companies are dumping chemicals and waste into our water supply, but let’s get all pissy over butts on the sidewalk. Throw them in the trash can so they can be taken to the landfills where they belong, as long as I don’t have to look at them!
It bothers you so much? You cry over how bad it makes the city look? Then pick it up. You shouldn’t have to clean up after other people, but if you see litter and leave it, aren’t you then as bad as the litterer?
“Oh Martha, look at that litter. What a shame. People should know better.”
“Are you going to pick it up then?”
“Oh God no, I’ll just walk past it and bitch about for a while.”
And for you smokers rationalizing tossing them on the ground. It is not that difficult to strip your cigarette. Simply squeeze the end of the filter and roll it between your fingers until the burning embers fall out. It is easy and painless. You now have a butt that poses no danger of burning anything. Throw it away or keep it until you can.