Cough Cough, Splutter Choke, Gruuugh Bleah!

by Englishman 16 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Englishman

  How do you feel about people who smoke in public places such as bars and restaurants? If I complain about smokers in my pub, they say: "It's a pub, what do you expect?"

  I can't see the reasoning here. If smoking is banned at the cinema, workplace, wherever, why is it OK for smokers to inflict their nasty pong on people who enjoy a beer sometimes?

  Its not as if it's a case of just moving across the room either, once a smoker has been up close you have that sticky smell impregnated into your clothes until next time they are cleaned.

  Seems bloody inconsiderate to me, why cant smoking be OK for consenting adults in private?

  Englishman

  Nostalgia isn't what it used to be....
• 

  Simon

  Damn drug addicts...

  Seriously, I think smoking in public places is one of THE most inconsiderate things that people do. At the end of the day, it is a health hazard - passive smoking is very damaging. Why should it be tolerated?
• 

  mommy

  It is funny, as a smoker I agree with you. Since I became pregnant I quit smoking, and now I can see what non smokers have to put up with. Smoke smells gross, it stings your eyes and makes you stink! But any smoker will tell you next to coffee a beer is just not a beer without 2 cigarettes
  wendy

  Blind faith can justify anything.~Richard Dawkins
• 

  Englishman

  Hi Wendy,

  Well, I have to take issue with you here. Some folks reckon that smokers actually use smoking to blunt the taste of their beer / food.

  That's right, smokers get on this cycle where they drink strong coffee to blast through to their deadened taste buds, but once they have a coffee without a ciggy, they find that the coffee tastes just awful because it's too strong, like wise a normal strength cup has little taste whilst smoking.

  Beer drinkers who stop smoking find that they get drunk very quickly because they knock 'em back too fast - no ciggy to break the speed of drinking - and also beer starts to taste decidedly strange to the ex-smokers recently cleansed taste buds.

  Englishman.

  Nostalgia isn't what it used to be....
• 

  Xena

  I am very fortunate living here in Austin, aka the clean air capital, because they are very non smoker oriented. But even here the stench of ciggy smoke invades the air at most clubs and bars....sigh...

  I hate the way your clothes smell after clubbing....yuck! Smells like you rolled around in an ashtray! My take on smoking is that if you want to do it..fine...but don't inflict it on me! Take it outside!
• 

  Kent

  Well, E-man. Personally I wouldn't DREAM OF visiting a bar or a pub I couldn't smoke.

  Simple as that.
• 

  battman

  I believe that in California the state
  banned all smoking in bars, clubs
  etc. Within several months even
  the non-smoking workers in those
  places noticed much improved
  heatlth, less colds and sickness.

  seems to stand to reason.

  battman
• 

  Amazing

  Good points ENglishman: However, here are some other thought. First, there has been debate over the dangers of smoking, and especially second hand smoke.

  Science: Dr. Dean Adell, a TV doctor who is rather cautious, and insists on good science noted sometime ago that the World Health Organization supressed a report that showed that second hand smoke has no real affect on non-smokers, and in fact, that smokers who smoke five or fewer cigarettes per day have the same statistical chance of lung cancer as a non-smoker. He noted that the "W.H.O." did publish reports not favorable to smoking, and that they were finally forced to realease the favorable report. The favorable report was based on double-blind studies which is considered better. Dr. Adell does not support smoking, and stand by the known dangers when a person smokes more than five cigarettes a day. He recommends not smoking at all.

  Pubs and Public Places: It is much the same in the USA. Smoking is outlawed in the work place in most cities or states, and generally most public places, such as airports, etc.. There are many non-smoking restaurants and pubs. But, there are also pubs and restaurants that permit smoking. So the logic is that IF a non-smoker goes into a smoking pub, when non-smoking pubs are available, then it is a "choice" for which they are responsible.

  Smoking itself: I think it is best done in private. But, I also think that many non-smokers, especially "reformed smokers" can be a little to militant. I have been a non-smoker, a smoker, a reformed smoker, a smoker, a reformed smoker, and now a very light smoker with an ocassional cigar about once a year. So, I have been militant myself, and was the person who single-handedly forced Bechtel Corporateion in San Francisco to end smoking in the work place. So, I have been there and done that.

  Consideration in my opinion is more on the shoulders of the smoker to avoid offending non-smokers, especially in public. But, I think that some non-smokers could be a little more polite about it, and not turn a wift of smoke into a federal case. - Amazing
• 

  JanH

  Whether to allow smoking in a pub should be up to the establishment themselves (and it is). Then the customers can chose what places they wanna visit. I'd hate to go to a place that didn't permit me to smoke. If others would want to go to such places, be my guest. A pub is a place for drinking, smoking and having a good time with your mates. Everybody knows that, and if you can't stand any of these activites, find some other place. In my pub, the show football and other sports on the TV. I know many detest that. They go elsewhere. Fine.

  In restaurants here having separate sections for smokers and non-smokers, the non-smoking tables are always the last ones taken, even though the majority of customers don't smoke themselves.

  - Jan
  --
  "Doctor how can you diagnose someone with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and then act like I had some choice about barging in here right now?" -- As Good As It Gets
• 

  Abaddon

  "I can't see the reasoning here. If smoking is banned at the cinema, workplace, wherever, why is it OK for smokers to inflict their nasty pong on people who enjoy a beer sometimes?"

  Because smoking ISN'T banned in the pub you frequent.

  Simple answer, but an accurate one.

  Why should someone not smoke if they are somewhere it is allowed to smoke?

  I think it is really unreasonable to expect people not to do things they are allowed to do. If you have a beef, beef to the landlord. If it is anyone's fault, it is his, as he or she hasn't banned smoking.

  AH, but maybe most people in the pub DON'T mind that much. Maybe the number of people who would stop going if they banned smoking is greater than the number of people who they would gain as customers. How terrible... market forces, a two-edged sword...

  Cinema's, workplaces and planes you are sat down, no escape, it is justifiable to go ban smoking.

  But in places you can move round a corner, sit in a non-smoking section, or elect not to go to and to patronise an establishment which bans smoking I think that non-smokers are the ones who are being unreasonable by seeking bans against smoking in public places.

  The point of view 'smokers are inconsiderate' can be turned right around, and only really works if you are prepared to accept smoking is less good than not smoking. Why should smokers suffer the inconvenience of not smoking due to some inconsiderate non-smokers?

  To some non-smokers, public place seems to mean 'somewhere I go and have absolute right to make sure everyone behaves like I do'.

  Nice, very nice... how... free....

  Keep on rocking in the free world...