Amen. My company’s “ask management” intranet site has a question from an irate non-smoker, who wonder why we can’t banish the smokers 100 yards from the entrance so she doesn’t have to walk through cigarette smoke, ever. :rolleyes: Some people seem to confuse cigarette smoke with nerve gas.
I’m in favor of banning smoking in enclosed places. Banning outdoor smoking is way too nanny-state-ish.
I’m also bemused by the trend of states jacking up cigarette taxes as a source of revenue. It seems self-defeating; you stop people from smoking, and the revenue stream will dry up.
For the record: I’m a non-smoker. My wife smokes. I’m healthy as a horse.
And of course, that was meant to be “You wouldn’t believe how many people give me the stinkeye…” :smack:
aurelian, if you’re near a group of smokers, and mention you have asthma, most of us are more than willing to put them out. We don’t smoke to piss other people off, or to make them sick.
I agree. It used to be that a smoker would ask the people around him if they minded if he smoked, and only if there was no objections he would lite up. Now somewhere along the way smokers got it in their head that smoking was a right and would just lite up any-ol’ place they felt like it, which really p’d off many people who had to smell that stank.
I love living in California, where no one can smoke indoors. It’s such a shock to go to say, New York and have to eat in a stinky restaurant; I’m glad I don’t have to live with that all the time.
I think smoking is a vile filthy habit, and am glad it’s on the wane.
However, I really think it’s wrong to have all these ‘vice’ taxes. Smoking is perfectly legal, and I see no reason to pile punitive taxes on smokers for completely unrelated causes (such as child care and so on). It’s ridiculous.
I also grudgingly concede that it’s not very fair to make huge swathes of open space around buildings smoke-free areas. Although I really hate having to walk through a gauntlet of smoke haze to enter a building, it’s also not very fair to force people into little ghetto areas far from everyone else.
I don’t know if smokers realize just how far their smoke goes. Or maybe they just don’t care, or maybe they’re so tired of being hounded that they don’t care any more! But I can smell cigarettes from a long way away; I can tell when someone a block ahead of me is smoking, or the guy a few cars ahead, and so on. And it’s really offensive to my nose. However, such is lifein a community, I guess.
Um, I know that when I was allowed to smoke indoors, I asked the people around me if they minded. Now that I’m only allowed to smoke outdoors, I don’t. I’m outdoors. No one is obliged to stand near me.
I’ve been around long enough to remember when smokers approximated a majority and there were very few limits on smoking other than for reasons of fire hazard or maybe in a hospital room (I can recall going into a Veterans Administration hospital patient’s lounge to interview a patient and practically gagging on the dense clouds of tobacco smoke. That’s gone the way of the dodo).
Later we slowly started to get non-smoking areas in restaurants and other facilities, where the rules were loosely enforced and the smoke didn’t realize it was supposed to strictly stay in the smoking areas.
Now the great majority of the population does not smoke, many residual smokers are trying hard to quit, and the laws in many locales reflect the known hazards and discomforts related to secondhand smoke by restricting smoking in public.
Smokers never seemed to care much about the health and comfort of non-smokers. “If you don’t like it, don’t come here” was the prevailing sentiment.
Now the pendulum has swung hard in the opposite direction, and the smokers are getting a taste of minority life (and not liking it a bit).
I’m enjoying it.
Smoke in your car, smoke in your house, or find a public spot where you’re not breaking the law. Keep it to yourselves, and we’ll get along fine.
My closest friend in high school was extremely allergic to cigarette smoke. If we were in a restaurant with a well-ventilated smoking section, she could handle sitting at a table as far away from it as we could get but if we were much closer she would have reactions. I still remember when a bunch of us were in a Denny’s one night. The non-smoking section was empty but the smokig section was full. As more smokers came in they were seated in the non-smoking section and started smoking. When we complained to the waitress she did nothing. When we complained to the manager her response was to distribute ashtrays. My friend was deathly ill for days afterward as a result. So while I’m sure there are some drama queens out there who abuse the allergy thing, some of those who say they’re allergic really are.
There are definitely people who are actually allergic to smoke. And certainly the waitress and/or manager should have prevented anyone from smoking in the non-smoking section. However, I do feel the need to point out that your friend was deathly ill for several days afterward because she didn’t *get up and leave the area * when it became apparent that it was a problem. Should she *have * to leave? Of course not. However, sometimes we must be pragmatic. If she were on fire, would she stop drop and roll, or sit around waiting for someone to spray her down?
It is proposed to ban smoking in enclosed Public places in the UK in the near future (2007)
This would include Restaurants and Bars, but not in the Houses of Parliament as they are classed as Royal Palaces. Maybe a case of do as I say and not as I do. Has already come into Law in Scotland, and guess what, I’ve stopped smoking so it has done some good.
Haven’t been here in a while? New York City banned smoking in all indoor public places three years and one day ago. This was a few months before the statewide ban.
As a smoker, I am of course unhappy with this. However, I do have other reasons other than not being able to smoke. First off, on any given night, you get huge crowds of people smoking outside of every single bar, blocking the sidewalk. That’s not fun. Also, having lived under a bar shortly after the ban took effect, these crowds are none too quiet.
While many bars do have outdoor ashtrays that I’ll happily use, my office building does not, which severely limits my options: Toss it in the trash and risk a smoldering fire, bring it upstairs and listen to the complaints that the office stinks, or toss it on the street.
Tomorrow I’m off to Atlantic City, where you can still legally smoke in the casinos (for now - this is in the senate). There’s just something about drinking, smoking and gambling. I do, however, feel bad for the dealers and pit bosses who cannot chose to work a no-smoking room or table.
You know, I wouldn’t have a single problem with smoking if I didn’t have to smell it. Some sort of smokeless cigarette? Hey, puff away, buddy.
That’s why I don’t mind these non-smoking statutes. Your right to billow clouds of smoke end where my nose begins.
Yes, I DO find it that offensive. Don’t compare it to B.O., or (insert perfectly normal yet potentially offensive activity which, for pro-smoking arguments sake, should be illegal if smoking is illegal). It’s not the same- there is no other legal activity which bothers me as much as smoking does. I don’t think that smokers are aware of just how pervasive smoke can be.
I don’t miss the days of having to ask for the “non-smoking” section of restaurants, where you still have to deal with the clouds wafting over from the rest of the dining area (assuming they even had a non-smoking section). I kinda like going out to bars and not having to air out my clothes. It’s annoying having to weave my way through the smokers outside the office I work in, but at least I no longer have to deal with it inside.
My son’s stepfather smokes- a lot, and apparently inside the house. Whenever my son comes over to visit, his clothes reek of smoke- it’s difficult to even give him a hug. It pisses me off that, even though I’m his father, I have no say in his being exposed to that much second-hand smoke.
Back when I used to smoke cigarettes, I was standing on a street corner having a smoke. A lady drove by, gave me an evil look, and started waving her hand around her face as if she was trying to get all the smoke away. Only thing is, not only was I outside, but her windows were up. I guess it’s just a habit at that point.
My opinion on smoking is that it stinks, it endangers the health of others and it is practice by stupid people.
I totally support bans and restrictions on smoking. It is so nice to go into a restaraunt and not have to breathe second hand smoke. There was no such thing as a smoke-free section, any more than a swimming pool could be divided into peeing and no-peeing areas.
My opinion on smoking is that it stinks, it endangers the health of others and it is practiced by stupid people.
I totally support bans and restrictions on smoking. It is so nice to go into a restaraunt and not have to breathe second hand smoke. There was no such thing as a smoke-free section, any more than a swimming pool could be divided into peeing and no-peeing areas.
To all those who support smoking bans in restaurants, bars, and other private places: fuck you. I blow the thickest, most noxious, jet-black, fire-roasted, 100% Syrian latakia smoke in your general direction. If you don’t want to smell smoke, the solution is to not patronize an establishment that allows smoking, rather than get the government to enforce your personal preferences on everybody else. Unless you own the property you’re standing on, you have no moral right to a smoke-free environment.
Me, if I’m outdoors, or in a building that opens to the outdoors (mainly thinking of Agnes Arnold Hall on the U of H campus – imagine a multi-story building without exterior walls) I cheerfully ignore non-smoking ordinances. Tobacco always tastes better when consumed while standing directly beneath a “no smoking” sign. I haven’t been ticketed yet.
I swear, smokers are too polite for their own good. If we keep it up, we’ll allow ourselves to be legislated out of existence. The solution is to ignore the mewling whines of nanny-state non-smokers, and to puff boldly, openly, and without remorse.
This is an attitude that causes, I think, some (relatively little, from what I see) gloating from non-smokers over the new non-smoking trend. For way too long the (US) society norm was on the side of the smoker, who could do- and often did do - whatever s/he liked. I’ve had smoke blown in my face when I just asked the smoker to move his cigarette away from my face.
Back when smoking was allowed on aircraft, smokers would often book no-smoking seats, because they didn’t want to sit in the reek that surrounded the rear of the aircraft - so they’d go back and smoke, then bring that reek back to the no-smoking seat for the rest of the flight (rinse and repeat, depending on the length of the flight).
So, yeah, I think the non-smoking trend will continue.
Do I like the laws? NO. I wish people would be more considerate of others without recourse to legislation, but I’m glad we have legislation to fall back on when simple courtesy is laughed out of court.