Sorry, I thought that was clear, but I guess it wasn’t. I have tried it in the past, and had poor results, so I stopped trying. The ‘sample’ would be from the past when I used to do it.
I guess Australians are more polite about that than Americans.
Well, case in point, then. If you were trying to prove that smokers do not become belligerent when asked politely to stop, you failed.
Amen! Why should we have to feel bad because smoke bothers us? It smells bad, it gives me a splitting headache within a few minutes of exposure, and it makes it difficult to breathe. That’s the entirety of the reason I don’t like smoking.
No, the point is that if I am out in the open air, it is your responsibility to remove yourself from my vicinity if my smoking makes you uncomfortable, and it is rude of you to ask me to stop.
And seeing as you are being rude, I will politely tell you to fuck off. See the difference?
If you expect people to stop smoking outside, then you may want to consider that it doesn’t matter whether you’re being polite, because you’re not being reasonable.
I imagine you’re being sarcastic, but it’s not just the smell, it’s the fact that the smoke is burning your eyes and lungs. A better analogy would be if someone got on the elevator with a bag of extremely finely ground coffee and started blowing it into the air to the point where you were forced to inhale the particles.
This is amazingly witty, except for two things: 1) the OP was in a magazine store, not a tobacconist’s, and 2) something that folks apparently need to be reminded of in every thread like this - secondhand smoke is not detrimental solely because of its smell or that it burns your eyes and gets into your clothes, but as something that causes illness and death in nonsmokers.
Thanks, I didn’t know that so many Euro nations were scheduling public smoking bans.
Pretty soon many of you will have caught up to Ohio. 
Well, sure it does, but not IMMEDIATELY, and certainly not after a minor dose.
That indignant huff you non-smokers make when you leave our presence? That’s cleared you halfway out, and the self-righteous noises you make when you tell the story to your sympathetic pals finishes the job.
If I can smoke a pack a day for 10 years, and return to normal 15 years after quitting, then you ought to be fine in a couple of minutes.
HOWEVER, this does not answer the underlying question- namely, do I have the right to inflict my smoke on you?
Here is the analysis of that. If we’re talking about RIGHTS, then your wishes don’t mean squat. It’s what the government, or whatever regulatory agency controls such things, decides that governs.
-if I’m in an area that does NOT forbid smoking, and you wish me to put my cigarette out, you’re the asshole for infringing on MY rights.
-if I’m in an area where smoking IS forbidden, I’m an asshole for even lighting up in the first place, because your right is paramount there.
So take a look around. There’ll be a sign that tells you who the asshole is. If you’re the asshole, expect to get treated like one. If I’m the asshole, you’re free to treat me like one.
I agree with the majority here. As much as I dislike being around cigarettes, even asking someone politely to stop smoking in a smoking-designated area is rude (barring a very good reason, like an oxygen tank). joazito went way beyond rude, into full douchebaggery.
You forgot to mention the sign on the elevator wall specifically allowing users to blow finely ground coffee into the air.
Many people don’t like the smell of cigarette smoke. It’s nasty, and causes long term health damage. But, as long as it is legal, your main recourse is to remove yourself. If that means going to another store, or waiting for the next elevator, or moving to another seat at the bar, so be it. Sure, you can politely ask the smoker to stop, and many will. Certainly, some won’t. If you are outside, I’m pretty sure nearly all of them will tell you no, but that’s their right.
If you want to work to change the laws, I’m all for it. I love that many towns in and around Boston now ban indoor smoking. It makes going to the Burren an enjoyable experience now. 
But before the ban I wouldn’t expect that I could go in there and ask people to stop smoking on my account. (Well, I could ask, but I wouldn’t expect a positive response.)
No, it doesn’t.
It’s COLD outside. 
Your cite is a bit overoptimistic. “…it may take approximately 10 to 30 years of abstinence for former smokers’ risk of lung cancer to reach that of never smokers…” - if they live that long (I’ve seen numerous cases in which cancer diagnoses were made within months to a few years of a smoker having quit).
Or, as noted, citizens voting repeatedly and decisively to ban public smoking.
It’s hard to tell if it’s part of a general deterioration in manners or an indignant response to curbs on smoking in any form, but the level of hostility and aggression towards those that object to smoking appears to have increased considerably in recent years. It’s been pointed out in other threads on this subject that the dogged stick-in-our-heels-at-all-costs attitude of diehard smokers helps prevent compromise solutions and assures that strict bans on public smoking will continue to be enacted and strengthened.
“I’m not going to put out my cigarette because YOU DIDN’T ASK NICELY ENOUGH!!”
Fine. Whatever.
True, which doesn’t change my point- that a non-smoker who breathes in one or two lungfuls of smoke will recover from the damage quite quickly.
Which would be the regulation of which I spoke, which would result in my rights being curtailed in favor of yours, which curtailment I accept as part of living in a republic.
I’d say more of the latter than the former. But the hostility, or, in my case, the general annoyance, comes from having to deal with people who, having succeeded in making the majority of areas smoke-free by law, assume that their legal protection from smoke in most areas equates to a license to leave “their” big area and impose that mandate on my small one.
I’m a smoker. Unrepentant. Eventually, I’ll quit again, but for now, I will smoke where I’m allowed.
That said, I am fully cognizant of the fact that my habit is harmful and annoying to those who do not share it. I fully support NYC’s ban and Boston’s ban and NJ’s ban (and other bans as well, but these are the three areas in which I have lived as a smoker) because my enjoyment doesn’t trump your health in those places.
THAT said, our regulatory agencies (which are either composed of elected officials or appointed by elected officials, thereby reflecting the will of the people in theory) have decided that there are still places I am permitted to smoke. In those places, you are free to avoid me and my smoke. You are free to avoid those places. So I will, of course, object vehemently to what I see as an intrusion.
I certainly hope you’re not attributing that sentiment to ME.
I’m not going to light up in a place I shouldn’t, because that makes me an asshole and I’m not an asshole (I think).
But anyone who comes into a place where I am permitted to light up and tells me NOT to, well, he’s an asshole. And he’s going to get treated like one.
If you catch me smoking in an indoor place where smoking is not explicitly allowed, and you have no choice but to sit next to me, I will put out my cigarette if you ask me to. Actually, I probably wouldn’t have lit up in the first place.
However, if you ask me to stop smoking in a place WHERE SMOKING IS PERMITTED, then I will politely tell you that I am well within my rights to be doing so, so sorry, but I won’t stop.
The OP says that the shopkeeper was fine with the smoking – there she had an ashtray out for smokers, for fuck’s sake. Obviously, it’s a place where smoking is permitted. In this situation, what justification did the OP have in asking the smoker to put out his cigarette?
Except, again, this place obviously ALLOWED smoking, if not actually encouraging it, with the presence of ashtrays.
In the past, it was impossible to find a store or restaurant or elevator that didn’t reek of smoke, and most likely the store or elevator had someone actively smoking in it. Restaurants ALWAYS had smokers in them. Even signs saying that smoking was prohibited on the elevator, along with ashtrays for putting out the smokables, didn’t deter people from smoking in the elevators. Many smokers paid no attention to the “Non smoking section” signs in restaurants, and became quite indignant when asked to move to the smoking section or put out the offending item. I’ve NEVER had the experience of asking a smoker to douse the cig or move (when I was seated first) and had someone comply with my request, even when I was being as polite as can be.
I’m somewhat surprised that a shop selling magazines and newspapers (among other things) would even allow smoking. Paper products are EXTREMELY flammable. I know that back when smoking in shops was common, the insurance ompanies would not insure a bookstore that allowed smoking, or they’d only insure it at a much higher rate.
I won’t necessarily quickly recover from breathing a few lungfuls of smoke, either. Cigarette smoke (and, unfortunately, incense smoek, which I love) is a migraine trigger for me. I’ll get a migraine from breathing smoke only sometimes, but I’ll get an asthma attack just about every time I breathe smoke. My doctor has assured me that I am not the only person who has these reactions to tobacco smoke.
I’m glad that I can go most places now and breathe. I’m sorry for those who are addicted and polite about it (and I have met a few polite smokers), but my first priority is making sure that I can breathe. To my mind, my breathing is far more important than someone else’s pleasure.
God, Lynn, you’re so selfish.
I kid, I kid!
There’s a difference between inside and outside, sure. But, as I said before, I can’t ever remember a smoker politely complying with a request to stop smoking, inside or outside, and if you read Lynn Bodoni’s post, her experience was similar. It has been my experience that most smokers become hostile when politely asked to stop smoking in any situation, and while most will claim they are making some sort of differentiation based on the situation (it was outside, or the person was rude, or he didn’t phrase the request right), and that they would gladly comply if only it were the right situation, I’m rather skeptical that the majority of smokers would ever react well to such a request. Sorry, but that’s what I’ve observed in real life.
For the most part, smokers seem to feel “entitled” to smoke unless it is expressly forbidden. When they light up, they seem to do so with a chip already on their shoulder. They have already assessed the situation, decided that it’s o.k. for them to smoke, and are ready to do battle if anyone confronts them. I actually can envision some outdoor situations where I don’t think it would be unreasonable to ask the person to stop, but I would never do so now because I know they would most likely cop an attitude about it. For example, if I were standing in line for a movie, and someone is smoking in the line, and the wind is blowing the smoke directly in my face, I have nowhere to move. Or eating at a restaurant that has all outdoor seating, and having someone smoking at the next table, inches away from me. Or sitting at one of those partially enclosed bus stops. If I were a smoker, I rather imagine I would try to distance myself somewhat from the group of people sitting on the bench waiting for the bus, so as not to bother them too much. I don’t imagine I’d think, “I’m outside so you all can kiss my ass”. But that’s just me. In situations like these, I wouldn’t think it unreasonable if the smoker chose not to stop, but I also wouldn’t think it unreasonable to at least ask politely if the smoker wouldn’t mind putting it out. And I don’t think such a request ought to rate a response of “fuck off”.
I think what’s really telling here is that several smokers already chimed in about how angry it would make them if anyone dared to politely ask them to stop smoking outdoors. I can certainly understand if you refused the request, but to react with anger to a polite request shows a certain degree of self-righteousness.
Let me add that the sentiment I’m getting from many is that, so long as you are legally allowed to smoke in a given situation, you consider the very fact that someone asked you to stop smoking to be rude, no matter how polite the request. So for those of you who voiced this sentiment, courtesy doesn’t enter into it at all. You don’t care if your smoking bothers others, so long as you have the “right” to do it.
Speaking as a person who lives in a country with a total ban in all indoor public areas and all work places, yes, if I’m in a area where I’m allowed to smoke, it’s your problem not mine.
I’ll probably reply rudely to requests to stop in areas where I can smoke. What? Is all indoors(apart from my flat) and even some public outdoor areas not enough for you?
Yes, I do. And no, I don’t care if it bothers you. If I’m standing in the one place where smoking is allowed, then I’m going to smoke. If you dislike the smoke, then it’s *your * responsibility to remove yourself to any of the 837 surrounding locations where smoking is *not * allowed. If we’re out of doors, and my smoke is bothering you, then you’re standing too close to me. Move.
You’re clearly using a different definition of “courtesy” than I am. “Courteous” smokers only smoke in areas where smoking is allowed. They refrain from smoking in areas where it is not allowed. This is all that should be expected or required of us in the name of “courtesy”. The act of smoking is not in and of itself discourteous.
Conversely, courteous non-smokers do **not ** enter smoking areas and ask people to put out their cigarettes. They recognize that the vast majority of places are smoke-free, and go there instead.