smoking

[TinaBina]

I really think all cities need to follow San Francisco's lead and ban smoking in all restaurants and bars.

There is nothing I hate more than:

- sitting in a restaurant, in the nonsmoking section, and smelling smoke while I eat

- not being able to enjoy my food since my nasal passages slam shut and I can't taste anything

- smelling like I smoke, when I don't

- walking through a crowd of people jammed outside an entrance, trying to get their drag on and inhaling their smoke

- knowing that I am unwillingly being subjected to toxins.


I equate smoking while eating, like farting on your plate - it has the same level of etiquette!

I wonder, would I be asked to leave a restaurant if I insisted on enjoying the scent of incense while I dined? It gives off smoke, but smells better than cigarettes, and is not toxic, so why couldn't I?

Or, if while I enjoyed a beer, that I would be allowed to sprinkle it all over those who chose not to drink?

Plus I hate smokers who through their butts out their car windows and on the ground. The butts do not disintegrate as easily as you think. Plus, that filter contains toxins that leak into the environment.

[dinzdale]

Easy...have smoking and non-smoking restaurants.
Us who chose to kill ourselves while enjoying the bounty of tobacco may do so without the tut-tutting, pretend wheezing and coughing of those who dont.
Until smokers are provided for, we will clog the entrances, stand in huddles and generally be the eyesore you seem to dislike. Give smokers the proper places as an alternative, not just shoo us away because some people dont like it.
Smoking will only be eliminated by parents teaching children. Addicts rarely give up because they are made to feel uncomfortable by other peoples' standards.

[TinaBina]

I am asthmatic and it does pose a problem to me.

It is a health risk for ALL those exposed.

It makes no sense that toxic behavior is permitted that affects everyone, even those who are unwilling to engage in it.

Alcohol is accepted socially, in a sense, since my drinking does not give you a buzz, or make you smell or offend you. (Unless I get raving drunk, spill my drink on you , become obnoxious to you and spew all over your shoes. Then, of course, the establishment has every right to kick me out. And you have a right to kick my ass.)

And since smokers are allowed in restaurants, if I don't want to smell it or be affected by it, or damaged by it, then I have no choice but to leave. Non smoking sections are a flop - it always makes it way over.

You have a right to damage yourself... but not others... everyone has a right to breathe.

[dinzdale]

So make smoking restaurants, not just a section which I agree is useless for transmitting airborne particles.
I'll keep the subject to smoking though, as individual behaviours and what the law allows for for different recreational choices are entirely seperate.
Smokers are a huge demographic...cater to us and we will visit the places we are welcome (and spend our wads of cash). And those places should be well away from those who dont need it.

But dont push us out of the door, because we wont stop and we will still get in the way of the clean air folks.

Ride in my car, I smoke.
I'll ride in yours and sit quietly.
The car does more damage than I ever could, but I still repect your right.

[TinaBina]

The thing about opening an all-smokers place, is that I wonder just how economically sound it is, and how many there would actually be.

I heard of cigar places opening up - and I can understand that because cigar smokers can share a particular taste/brand of caigar, like a wine or vodka. You can enjoy a certain cigar paired with a certain brandy, etc....

But with cigarettes, i do not see people savoring a marlboro, and then swapping a salem with someone else, to enjoy the nuances and flavors of each cigarette.

Cigar smoking seems to be a matter of taste, while cigarettes are a matter of addiction.

Can cigarette smokers go to these "smoking lounges" too, along with cigar smokers? Or do cigar smokers find the cigarette smoke to intrude upon their enjoyment of their cigars?

But I digress.... yes, I agree, give cigarette smokers their own place.... maybe you have a good concept to run with Din, and Phillip Morris will help subsidize it.

[dinzdale]

Phillip Morris seems to be ploughing cash back to avoid lawsuits.

Interesting point too, if you have an addiction to crack you get a government re-hab. Smokers just get told it's bad.

Actually Tina, in Phoenix I was pleased to see a notice on the front door says either "This place allows smoking" or "This place doesnt allow smoking" and it's by law.
If you dont want to go in, then dont, you can choose from outside. Brilliant concept that makes sense to both sides. Why cant California do that?....but that's another thread....

[zenbabe]

Maybe move to California? All the resturants and bar's here have banned smoking unless it is an outside patio setting..and then even some of those don't allow it... New York is the same too I think.

[dinzdale]

Originally posted by TinaBina
The thing about opening an all-smokers place, is that I wonder just how economically sound it is.

If I fly to England it's a 9 hour flight from here.
I would pay $100 more to fly on a smoking flight if one still existed. PLEASE, somebody reinstitute a smoking flight !!!!

[amanda]

I've always wondered what habitual smokers do on long flights.

[dinzdale]

We suffer terribly.
...and the weird thing is, the airlines want calm passangers that wont bother them or make a fuss, and all you can think of is
"If that fvcking air-waitress tries to give me another fvcking pillow, I'm gonna ram it down her fvckning throat!!!!"
...where just a simple cigarette would make everyone pleasant...

[Hermione]

I am severely allergic to cigarette smoke and a lot of times I can't get away from it (example... I have to be there.. like.. a baseball game or something) I don't really know what to do, because I can't breathe and I can't leave.. so if I ask the person who is smoking to stop politely.. do you think they will? NYC I know you said you would, but the majority of people?

[zenbabe]

Originally posted by surbhi
I am severely allergic to cigarette smoke and a lot of times I can't get away from it (example... I have to be there.. like.. a baseball game or something) I don't really know what to do, because I can't breathe and I can't leave.. so if I ask the person who is smoking to stop politely.. do you think they will? NYC I know you said you would, but the majority of people?

Move to California

[Audreyvgs]

I hate to admit it, but i used to go out to dinner 4x a week, and havent done anything but quick lunches since FL passed the no smoke thing. I hate the thought of sneaking out the back, leaving whomever i am with, so that i can have a smoke. So I don't go. Damn I'm sick of cooking. I wish i had the money to do the all smoke restaurant. Big fans in the ceiling to pull in the air and out the top, A/C blasting. Screen Porches all around a big central kitchen. Might be less money to pay the fine than to pay for the AC, but I know it'd be slammed.
___________________________________
On long flights, I take a dramamine and sleep it off til i get there

[Hermione]

Originally posted by zenbabe
Move to California

I live in so cal.

[TinaBina]

Originally posted by surbhi
I am severely allergic to cigarette smoke and a lot of times I can't get away from it (example... I have to be there.. like.. a baseball game or something) I don't really know what to do, because I can't breathe and I can't leave.. so if I ask the person who is smoking to stop politely.. do you think they will? NYC I know you said you would, but the majority of people?

I dread asking someone to extinguish their cigarette. I guess I am just a scaredy-cat. What I do find is that if they see me take my inhaler, they often will put out their cigarette.

And another thought...

It seems ludicrous that the Lone Star restaurant chain had to do away with the tradition of throwing the peanut shells on the floor, just because some woman slipped and fell and sued.... But restaurants will allow toxic fumes from cigarettes to permeate the air.