Saturday, March 7, 2009

Smoke Signals

I was once the only non-smoker at a friend's party. They were nice enough to give me a fan to help me breathe. It was a great night. I came home smelling of smoke. It took a long hot shower and a good hair washing before I couldn't smell it anymore. I didn't mind as I was among friends.


I personally am an avid non-smoker. I am not one of those preachy non-smokers. The warnings have been printed on the labels. The information is available in the doctor's office. It's your body. If you smoke that's all on you. I do have issues with you when it comes to second hand smoke and littering. Some of you are just plain rude.

You have basically been banished from buildings but must you stand in doorways? Do you honestly believe that the rest of us want to walk through a cancer cloud as we enter or exit? We know what you are doing when you are outside a towering office building, looking like a loiterer clinging to the corners of doorways. We try to hold our breaths as we pass through but even that doesn't completely work. The faint smell of cigarettes clings to our clothes. A designated area should be provided for you but until this occurs can you please find a more sensible location for your smoke break?

I have been told by smokers that a good cigarette enhances the dining experience. That may be true for you but the rest of us are eating. If I am outside on a patio I know I am going to be subjected to smokers. I am in what is now pretty much your territory but even still if I have sat far enough away from you that I can inhale freely and you can see that no smoking implements are anywhere near me, please don't get offended if I politely ask you if you could please blow your smoke away from my table. I only do this when it's coming directly at me. I usually try to move first so as not to even have this conversation. Unfortunately, every now and again, it has to be said. I'm not asking you to stop. I'm just asking you to have some consideration.

Then there are those of you who somehow feel that the cigarette butt is not garbage. You fling it out of car windows onto oily streets. You casually drop it on sidewalks, down storm drains in planters and on the beach. Those of you who attempt to throw it in the garbage don't seem to care if it misses as I often see them lying just beside the bin. They are disgusting remnants of your habit. It may be small but it is still trash. Small children and animals pick up everything. Smoldering cigarette butts have caught random items on fire. If you don't want it in your car, then why do you think the rest of us want it either?

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