Warning, anti-smoking rant.

[Rainbowreflect]

For background, I am very allergic to cigarette smoke. I have been involved in many debates on smoking bans with DUes and others. I can see logical points on both side of the issue.
Now my rant. We have a couple of non-smoking clubs/bars in my town but until recently none had any good music. My hubby and I found out that the Dark Star Orchestra (a Dead cover band) was playing at one of the non-smoking clubs, we were thrilled and got our tickets. Last night was the concert. We got there early, had a few drinks and when the band started playing we started dancing. The first set was great. Then 2 songs into the 2nd set it happened. My eyes started burning and my throat started to close up. I look over and a couple of guys are smoking on the dance floor. It is not enough for them that over 95% of the bars in our town allow smoking and therefore I cannot go to them to hear a band. These selfish a$$hole$ have to ruin the non-smoking club for me. So we have to leave because I can't breath.
This is not the first and probably not even the hundredth time this has happened to me.
Can someone please explain to me why so many (I know it's not all) smokers feel their right to smoke is sooooo much more important than my right to breath.
Rant over.

[TXlib]

1. Why didn't you tell the bouncer and get them ejected?

Those guys were clearly self-centered selfish pricks. My instinct would be to throw my drink on them, and then say, "Oh, I'm sorry... This is a non-smoking club, so I thought you were on fire!"

Several years back, I was on a transatlantic flight from Helsinki to NYC. FinnAir screwed up my ticket, so i ended up on Standby, and had to take a seat in smoking.

The guy next to me was a chain smoker. Cigarette smoke makes me ill. When I politely asked him to stop, he blew it in my face and lit up another right in front of me. I warned him that it made me nauseated, and if I threw up, I couldn't guarantee I'd hit the airsickness bag. He decided to stop smoking at that point, and went a few rows back to have his cigs when the urge hit him, which was damn near all the time. Fucker's prolly got lung cancer by now; this was in 1990.

[Rainbowreflect]

3. I wanted to go tell them off,

but first it was too loud and second I had to leave right away because I could not breath. The last time I nicely asked someone not to smoke because I was allergic he blew smoke in my face & said too f**king bad. What class.

[ET Awful]

2. You won't hear me argue . . . .

I'm not allergic to smoke, but as an ex-smoker, I'm perhaps overly sensitive to the smell.

I can smell it a mile away, and it bugs the hell out of me. . . ESPECIALLY in places where it is prohibited.

If you want to smoke outside, fine. If you want to smoke in a bar or restaurant that allows smoking, fine. But if you smoke in a place where smoking is prohibited and where people go out of their way to avoid smoke then you are nothing more than a completely inconsiderate asshole :).

So how was the show other than that Rainbow? I have yet to check out DSO live . . . I hear they put on a great show, but I was always a bit hesitant because they used to (don't know if they still do or not) perform exact duplicates of old Dead shows. Part of the "magic" for me was always the spontaneity (and randomness) of a live show. . . seems like that would be lacking a bit with the DSO method of replaying a show.

[Rainbowreflect]

4. Otherwise the show was really good.

Of course they are not the Dead, but they have some great voices and they were very dance-able.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

5. My mom is a rude smoker...

And it's gotten so bad that I don't even want to go home. She bitches when I just ask her to turn on the fan so I can breathe. She thinks I'm just being melodramatic, and while this is partly true, I watched my dad die from smoking related illness, and would prefer not to be around it.

You should have went outside and had your husband inform a bouncer. If it's a non smoking club, then the rules need to be inforced. It's a sick habit, and I don't care if people kill themselves, but please don't subject me to it. Here at school, the rules are 25 feet from the entrance to buildings, but one of the buildings allows people to smoke in the entrance ways. They are like little cubby holes, and the smoke lingers and STINKS...People are rude. Next time someone blows smoke in your face haul off and punch the crap out of them. To someone who is allergic, it's the same difference.
Duckie

[Bridget Burke]

6. You should have complained to the management.

It's not worth getting into a fight with a drunken idiot. (The drunken idiot smoker--not the drunken idiot manager!) But it was late & I can see why you just decided to escape.

However, please do write and/or phone the management of the club NOW! Explain that you'd like to give them your business, but can't.

[Lindacooks]

7. Definitely complain

That's what I did when Minnesota's Clean Indoor Air Act went into effect in the 1980s (I think). Now I can't remember the last time I saw somebody light up in public.

And to join the debate, here's my point:

"Your right to smoke ends at my nose."

[northzax]

8. these guys are assholes

and, as a smoker, I resent you painting all of us with the same brush. Sure, my habit is deadly, noxious and annoying but I only practice it in places where it is a tolerated activity. Ask me not to smoke and I'll consider it, depening on the location (if we're in a smoky bar, deal with it, sorry) and how politely you ask. I would never blow smoke in someone's face, and I would never smoke in a plce that it is not allowed (such as a non-smoking club) I actually had somerthing like this happen to me this morning. I was calmly sitting in the smoking section of my local coffee shop (outside, as well) and smoking at the time. I had two people come sit down at the table next to me and then ask me to stop. Now, there were plenty of other tables avaliable, I was smoking when they sat down, and it is the smoking section. If you don't like that, sit in one of the other ten tables upwind. it's not that difficult. There are assholes on both sides of this debate.

[Rainbowreflect]

10. You did not read my post very well if you believe I painted

all smokers with the same brush.
Can someone please explain to me why so many (I know it's not all) smokers feel their right to smoke is sooooo much more important than my right to breath.

[northzax]

23. I'd like to switch a couple of words and see if you still think

that those few words excuse you from the broad brush:

Can someone please explain to me why so many (I know it's not all) african-americans are thugs and criminals?

[Rainbowreflect]

26. That is an incredibly stupid argument.

You are comparing a something that a person has no control over with something that is an act that a person has a choice of doing or not.

[northzax]

27. huh? so it is offensive

well there you go. so it's ok to criticise people if it's a voluntary action that binds the group together (all military people are uneducated whackos, all democrats are laxy, shiftless freeloaders, all republicans are racists.) interesting. It is just as unreasonable to lump an entire group of anyone together. Just because I share a habit with someone, doesn't mean you can berate me for their behaviour.

[Rainbowreflect]

31. If you act the way I described so many smokers I have seen

act I am talking about you, if you don't act that way I'm not. It is that simple.

[bratcatinok]

11. I'm a smoker too and

I've been rude exactly once to a non-smoker. The only reason I was rude then was because I was in a smoking area and I wasn't the only one smoking yet I was the one the non-smoker chose to pick on. Even then I didn't blow my smoke in their face, I told them to please sit in the non-smoking area.

All of the smokers I know don't smoke in non-smoking areas. Matter of fact, most of the smokers I know bend over backwards to not offend non-smokers.

I agree with you that there are assholes on both sides of this debate. I get tired of being treated like a pariah by non-smokers simply because I indulge in a legal activity.

[Don_G]

21. I Think The Same Thing Has Happened To Most Smokers

The majority of us try to accomodate the people that don't want to share our habit; I know I certainly do.

And I'm also as rude or more to those decide what I can and can't do in the smoking areas when they intrude on me engaging in a legal activity in an area set aside for my benefit.

[LadeJarl]

9. As a smoker

I must say I would have been pissed if I saw someone smoke in a non-smoking club. Of course, as a smoker, I would never visit such a venue to begin with.

What pisses me off is when non-smokers go ape in a place which allows smoking. If you are allergic to smoke, you don't go to places where people smoke and then start complaining about it.

In a smoke free club, those morons should have been thrown out in a second!

[RebelOne]

13. As another smoker, I respect the rules when there are No Smoking

signs. These guys were idiots and shouldn't have been in the club in the first place if they were going to ignore the no smoking stipulation.

[Bake]

25. Count me as another polite smoker

who is tired of being painted with the "rude smoker" brush.

Bake

[rbnyc]

17. But what about the people who have to work in places that allow smoking?

What choice do they have?

[northzax]

28. I assume you mean the people who have to be bartenders or waitresses?

they could bartend or wait tables in a non-smoking restaurant. They could insist that their employer install a decent ventilation system to purge the air. they could wear a respirator. all reasonable options.

[rbnyc]

29. I only bring it up...

...because while I think you have a very respectful attitude about where you smoke, I think the worker health and safety issue is neglected. And I do think it's unreasonable to expect people to quit their jobs or not take jobs so they can find a non-smoking establishment, especially in this job market and when service workers are generally thought of as a dime a dozen.

[histohoney]

12. I am allergic to just one

thing, Cannabis (OK, yes I found this out in college). I don't really care what most people do in their homes, but keep it out of my life.

I lived in Santa Fe for a while (To help keep an eye on my grandmother) were small amounts of pot is legal. OK, just keep it inside. I've been to outdoor concerts at the Indian school were they post and tell you verbally it is a non-smoking venue.

Every ding-dong time someone will light up and started toking. My husband would remained them it was non-smoking event and they would answer that it was OK because it was only marijuana, mean time I'll pulling on an inhaler for dear life.

Smoke WHAT EVER at YOUR home or a club that allows it, just let the rest of us breath.

[Devils Advocate NZ]

14. Did you or your husband ask them to put them out?

Maybe they didn't know it was a non-smoking club? Or did you just assume that because they are smokers that they must be arseholes?

[Rainbowreflect]

15. Considering there were "NO SMOKING" signs every 5 feet,

the tickets said no smoking, there were no ashtrays and they were attempting to hide the fact that they were smoking I assumed they were "arseholes".

[rbnyc]

16. When I was a smoker...

...I was resentful that so much attention was paid to smokers' contribution to air quality while so little attention is generally paid to big corporate polluters. I was resentful that people found it so easy to turn against other people and so difficult to criticize the massive and powerful forces who truly don't have people's interests at heart. And I, on occasion, blew smoke directly into the faces of my critics.

However, I did so only outdoors or in areas where smoking was allowed.

I quit smoking 5 years ago, with about a month long relapse from 9/11/01-10/2/01. I was a bartender when I quit smoking, and I was unable to continue to work because of the sensitivity I developed upon quitting.

I do support a full smoking ban in public places, especially where people have to work. I think it is a workers' health and safety issue.

However, I still believe that people in general find it easier to turn against other individuals than to stand up against corporate polluters, and I think that's too bad.

EDIT: Just wanted to add, I think the folks you describe were way out of line and you have every right to be angry about it.

[ScreamingMeemie]

18. People can be rude...smokers or not. But I will say that until people

stop driving cars I am not going to buy into air pollution/second hand smoke issues. Although it is wrong for them to be smoking in a non smoking establishment.


And to clarify...no, I don't smoke. :hi:

[rbnyc]

19. That's close to how I feel.

I remember in the 80's I was standing outside waiting for a train. At that time you were allowed to smoke on the outdoor platform. A woman kept directing these little coughs at me. Then she said to her friend how rude I was to be poisoning her with my cigarette. Then a big truck drove by and engulfed us all in a black cloud. I laughed and blew my smoke in her face. I'll never forget her.

But, as I said in my post above, I do support a full smoking ban in all places where people have to work.

[Rainbowreflect]

20. I don't usually dance in the middle of the street and

I would be pissed if they drove a truck into the bar and left it running.

[ScreamingMeemie]

30. Look up the facts on air pollution outside caused by cars and the harm

it can do above and beyond "secondhand" smoke. :hi: I will reiterate that I think it was extremely rude of the people.

[LynneSin]

22. Next time - let the bouncer/manager know

It seems like that's the advice everyone else has given. You were in the right and they were in the wrong. They violated the rule of the non-smoking club and they should have been tossed out on their asses so you could enjoy the rest of the show.

Delaware is ALL non-smoking in public places (Like California, NYC, Boston and a few other places). I complained once about a rude smoker and the bouncer promptly asked the person to leave. Delaware clubs have gone out of their way to accomadate smokers by opening up year round outside decks that have heat in them. 99% of the smokers just go outside and smoke.

I watched my father die of lung cancer - he smoked since he was a kid. I try not to get too preachy about smoking to my smoker friends, but I have to admit that I love the no-smoking rules that are popping up over the country. I respect the fact that there are people who choose to pollute their lungs with tobacco and other carcigens they need to respect the fact that I have chosen not to pollute my lungs in that manner.

[fudge stripe cookays]

24. Same here Lynne.

It's hard for me to remember my dad dying at 47 and then not be sensitive or angry when I see people poisoning their bodies that way.

Usually, I'm cool and relaxed and will just move, but I do resent the fact that because smokers take over clubs, I haven't been able to see a band I like in ages.