CingularDuality

I smoke and I feel the same way. I can't stand smoking indoors except on rare occasions when I'm drinking in a bar.

I don't think it's right to tell a bar owner that he can't smoke in his own bar. I wouldn't have a problem with making him post signs on the front door stating that you're about to enter a smoking establishment. I don't think I'd even have a problem with requiring any smoking section to have, say, an airtight barrier with an airlock that separates it from the non-smoking section (Junior Seau's restaurant in San Diego had one of these for his cigar bar.). But telling a business owner that she can't cater to her customers by allowing them to smoke is just going too far.

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UnDeaD77

It was tough working at walmart, they had a smoke room closed off, and when there was 10 people in the small room it was really tough to be in there, huge cloud of smoke, I do prefer to smoke outside myself as well. That way, your breath may smell like it, but your clothes don't catch as much of the stinch.

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DudeMan

i am a recent smoker, i quite about 5 months ago... and no i dont hate smoking or smokers... in fact i enjoyed smoking, the reason i stopped is because i was fed up with getting up in the morning and coughing up what can only be described as yellow goo... and the fact walking to the shops made me feel out of breath..... since i have quit i have noticed a marked increase in my general health.

i hate smoking around people who dont, the only time i smoked inside ironically was at work, because my supervisor and collegues all smoked... curse of the security industry, long hours or something... but i feel it is wrong to smoke around non smokers. not to say i didnt smoke in the pub, but i am not opposed to a ban on that front.

incidentally, next year feb a smoking ban in public places comes into effect in England.

what i dont agree with is the natureof the attitude from anti smoking campaigners. they talk about smoking as contributory factors to cancer etc etc... well actually you probably breath more harmful smoke from car exhausts (if you live in a city) than you do ciggarettes... and their general condecending argument that smokers are stupid... that just annoys me....

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The Queen
"Those who perpetrate these brutal acts against innocent people should know that they will not change our way of life,"
Atrocities such as these simply reinforce our sense of community

TheFeniX
"Guns don't kill people: effeminate men in green tunics do"

DudeMan

see i agree with alot of these arguments, but the reason those were rejected over here also hold some water.

the person who has to serve or clean the smoking room is exposed through work to harmful smoke. and in the UK a large part of the ban is to protect bar workers. to have certain places where you have to be a smoker to work there is a discriminatory law which wont pass here... and if the law came down to only putting signs up about the establishment... all if not most establishments would just put up a sign meaning on smokers would still get screwed. now whilst i really enjoy sitting in a smokey bar, because i still after 5 months crave the ass of a cig, i am in favor of the ban in bars.... and thats because i have been to Ireland, which has had this ban for years, i think it was one of the first. the bars are clean and fresh, and the atmosphere is great... now the atmosphere in Irish pubs is always good but the air is clean..... and thats because people go outside to smoke.

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The Queen
"Those who perpetrate these brutal acts against innocent people should know that they will not change our way of life,"
Atrocities such as these simply reinforce our sense of community

TheFeniX
"Guns don't kill people: effeminate men in green tunics do"

CingularDuality

Ugh, I worked at WalMart for a couple of months, and I smoked in the smoking room, but it disgusted me. The yellow walls (the room was painted white), the nasty dust/ash/dirt mixture that clung to the exhaust vent. Barf... And yet, my addicted ass would still sit in there and inhale a butt or two as fast as I could on my breaks. I wish there had been a back door that we could step out to smoke, but loss prevention wouldn't allow that...

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sculls

smoking is banned in pubs and resturants here in ireland and i like it i do a lot of my work in pubs and clubs and its great to smell some kind of fresh air in the pubs, and the whole country is into it, it has also created a new way to meet girls or guys what ever your into, because you have to go outside to smoke you get to meet new people and bacause its so cold and wet here people need to get up close to keep warm adn dry and therefore givin rise to intamicy which is a problem in this country up until the smokin ban, now there is a increse in the number of births, the highest in europe all thanks to the smokin ban.

UnDeaD77

Yep, sometimes on my lunch breaks I'd just go out the front doors, or even on my 20+ mins breaks, and ALWAYS on my compliminary breaks to.

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JMJ

I live in MA and I can tell you for a fact that bars lost NO business because of the smoking ban. They whined and cried saying it was going to put them out of business, but in fact it has done quite the opposite.

It's nice to be able to go into a restaurant or bar and breath clean air or only smell the food. My parents smoked the whole time I was growing up and it was brutal. They eventually quit when my mom almost died from pneumonia (boy was I glad she got that!).

Being a non-smoker I can't say I feel bad for the smokers. 2nd hand smoke isn't good for us and I like being able to go out freely in the city and not have to breathe that in every building I enter.

FYI, MA also passed a law that cops can't smoke. One cop was even fired for being caught smoking off duty (I believe it was a Boston PD officer). I also supported this move.

UnDeaD77

Thats really messed up being fired when your off duty. I totally disagree with that.

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Bommando

Bars are now phasing smoking out over here, while it has been illegal to smoke in restaurants for at least a year. I must say, this is welcome. I do appreciate comments from considerate smokers out there and it seems there are more and more of you.

Second hand smoke is brutal and cannot come even close to being likened to traffic pollution. We are talking about places where smoke is easily concentrated, not out in the open air. I think it is right not to expose people to the risks of second hand smoke indoors. I used to work as a bartender while I studied and I can tell you that it had a very noticeable effect on my health at the time. I would get home and cough for about 2 hours before being able to sleep. As soon as I started working outside on the door, the coughing stopped. Now, I'm not going to sue anyone, since I had the choice to not work there if I didn't want to. I do think however that it needs to be considered an insalubrious habit that not everyone should be exposed to everywhere they go.

As JMJ says, nobody is going out of business. I still visit the smoking venues I used to work at now that they are non-smoking and they are busier than ever.

SmokingTarpan

True. But the dude sitting next to me knocking back a whiskey could possibly leave and mow me down in the street with his car because he was DUI. Or slug me in a drunken rage. I don't hear talk of prohibition, though.

I'm not a smoker, but I don't care if people smoke. It's their body, not mine. If I don't want a friend of mine smoking around me I politely ask them not to, and I've never been refused. Smokers are some of the most courteous people I've met when it comes to doing their thing around non-smokers. The only part about smoking that I don't like is coming home from a bar or whatnot and reeking of the scent, but that's easily fixed with a shower and the next laundry cycle. I've worked in and currently play in bowling alleys, notorious for the smell of booze, smoke and feet. The only time second hand smoke ever really bothered me was when my allergies were in full swing.

Recently, the twin cities that I live in (Champaign-Urbana, IL) passed a smoking ban that will go into effect in August, banning smoking from restaurants, bowling alleys and bars (this includes all bars on the U of I campus, I'm gonna love to see how it works out). I think the ban is idiotic. What I find funny is that the debate about the ban has been going on for years because neither city would pass it unless the other did for fear of losing the business of the smokers. There's some healthy "moral" high ground, eh?

I say leave it up to individual establishments to decide whether or not to be smoke free. Don't want to breathe second-hand smoke? No one is forcing you at gunpoint to go to or work at Tubby's Tavern. I really wish the Truth organization would roll over and die already, they're rather annoying.

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Mateo

Like JMJ, I'm in Massachusetts. There was much hue and cry when the ban on smoking in public places was announced, and then....nothing happened. You never even notice it now, unless you go somewhere where everyone smokes, like Athens (Greece, not Georgia), or Paris (France, not Texas).

The one thing people in Boston say, when talking about the ban, is how nice it is to go to a club, bar, or restaurant, and not come home smelling like an ashtray.

I don't necessarily agree with the ban from a civil liberties standpoint, but let's face it: if you aren't going to be conscious of my health by forcing me to breathe in your smoking byproducts, then at least the State has the power to prevent you from doing so.

Bommando

Come on. That's a stretch. Also, that guy is not allowed to drive drunk by law for that very reason.

Second hand smoke has a methodical, consistent effect on those around it. It's just one of many risks being alleviated by laws in the modern day. Sure, there are plenty of risky activities still permitted by law. You can't say that just because one activity is risky, but not curtailed, that another should be left alone? If we never made any safeguards just because there were other issues still pending, we'd never get anywhere.

I am by no means a zealot. If someone is smoking next to me in a place where smoking is permitted, I just move. That's their right. I would however like to do some of the things I enjoy without constantly being inundated with smoke, especially indoors.

JMJ

It was one of the requirements of the job, that new hires be non-smokers and current smokers quit. He failed to follow #2.

JMJ

How about going into the worst place of all: a bowling alley. Remember how there used to be a cloud that was 1 to 2 feet thick near the ceiling? Sure is nice to leave a bowling alley and not smell like you were at smokefest 2000.