There’s a bit of a discussion happening on one of the forums I frequent about smokers and the changes in laws relating to smoking in public places.
A smoker made the following statement …
Well I almost abandoned this thread a couple of pages ago –the shrill voice of the high moral ground was deafening! but hey as a smoker I had to say something– all the stuff about how much the smokers cost the community-
Been very quiet about how much boozers cost the community havnt we!
Smokers dont drive up the wrong side of the freeway and wipe out innocent people because they have had a few too many fags–they dont get involved in brawls and general destructive behaviour because they’ve been smoking
all day -and how about the health effects of years of grog? and as for
smell…well there is nothing-nothing -to beat the stench of a bar, the stink of someone reeking of booze, the smell of last nights boozeup in a room,not to mention the cute way party animals tend to trash their accomodation
and dump the patio funiture in the pool while they’re off their faces,
So while we are into lack of tolerance how about a vote for the Health
We Will Save You From Yourselves people to ban public drinking as well!!!
Why single out the smokers to be the objects of hatred and portrayed as
spawn of Satan or whatever, if we ban smokers lets be fair and ban drinkers..
This argument really annoys me. My response…
While I agree that drinking it much more accepted than it probably should be, there’s a simple problem that smokers using your argument always skip over.
I have never had someone drinking outdoors at a cafe cause me discomfort or pain.
I have often had someone smoking outdoors at a cafe cause me discomfort and pain.
Yes, people drink and drive – and yes, it is a bad thing – but it does not affect me every day like smokers do.
I can’t catch a train, I can’t sit outside at the local food court and eat lunch, I can’t enjoy a cafe, I can’t sit in a pub, I can’t go to a sporting match, I can’t even walk down the street without someone causing me to cough and splutter by their putrid cigarette smoke invading my personal space. You almost never get the same problem with alcohol (I know it can happen, but it usually doesn’t).
So don’t try and cry foul … smoking is a disgusting habit that causes grief to everyone around the smoker, and does so far more frequently and broadly than people abusing alcohol do.
Feel free to enjoy your cigarettes alone, well away from me, but don’t you dare bring them anywhere near where I’ll have to endure them, and that includes quite a distance downwind.
Either quit, or don’t smoke in public.
… some comments about hotels were made, and I followed up with the following post:
This last week I was staying at the Hilton in Adelaide (not my choice – it’s currently the only hotel we’re allowed to stay in while there for work) … I got back to the room after dinner on Tuesday night to find that the people across the hall (foreign tourists I think) were not only smoking very heavily, but they had opened their door to air the room out a bit.
The whole hallway was filled with smoke – quite hazy, and of course, my room stank too. This was a non-smoking floor, so it really annoyed me.
I called the duty manager, who was quite quick to come up and insist they stop smoking, he offered to move them to a smoking floor (they declined, but promised to stop). They did offer to move me to another room too, but it was late, I was tired, and I really wasn’t up to moving, so I just had to put up with it.
The number of times I’ve had to put up with smokers at hotels – the stench stays long after they’ve gone.
Funnily enough, I don’t tend to ever notice a stench of alcohol anywhere, even though many people drink heavily in their hotel rooms. It’s really not the same.
I have no problems with smokers who truely are thoughtful of those around them – who go to the trouble of ensuring they don’t smoke near others – I respect that. However, in general I find a lot of smokers to be arrogant and quite thoughtless about who their habits affect – and then they have the gall to complain about vilification.
In summary – I don’t care if people smoke … but don’t you dare smoke anywhere where I have to deal with your exhaust or your stench !!. I’m really sick of having to put up with this invasion on my privacy and the indignation of smokers who perpetrate such acts.