Oh, dear - I fear I'm entering the lion's den here, but I said I'd leave a comment, so...
Some of you have mentioned the possibility of segregated areas: I am old enough to remember when we still had smoking and non-smoking compartments on trains; engraved glass in old pubs show that they used to have separate smoking rooms, away from the non-smokers; we used to have smoking rooms at my first permanent job etc. It probably wasn't perfect, but it seemed to work and everyone had the same protection from the weather - now I have to freeze and get rained on, as all those special provisions have been removed. I'd settle for something like a little hut in a mutually agreed "safe" area, not too long a walk away from work. Is that too much to ask?
I always used to ask if I was allowed to smoke and/or went to the appropriate place to do so - now I am so ticked off that I sometimes deliberately blow smoke at people! I used to be able to consider this subject rationally and would apologise for being a smoker; now I find myself spouting off about "both my parents and their parents and so on back to Sir Walter Raleigh all smoked and lived into their 80s and died of things not related to smoking" and "I've known dozens of bar staff who smoke as much as me and hate the ban and only two who didn't and only one of them disliked the smoke from her colleagues" and "if you want to get rid of noxious fumes, ban internal combustion engines" and... I think you get the drift.
Calming down a bit, both strong perfume (which makes me cough to the point of choking, though I am not asthmatic) and smelly food (which makes me nauseous) within the office are officially against our company's rules, but nobody takes a blind bit of notice, so I go outside for a smoke whenever either turns up! Oh, and I only pollute people's walk from the station to the office because the powers that be have so limited where I can smoke that it is very difficult to get out of the way of non-smokers in that area.
One other mischievous thought: if smoking were banned entirely, would a situation develop like Prohibition with booze - consumption would actually increase and all the profits would go to organised crime!
Seriously, though: I'd like to be as accommodating as possible to non-smokers, but in some ways things like this ban are making it more difficult, not less. I'll be more flexible if you will too.
no subject
Some of you have mentioned the possibility of segregated areas: I am old enough to remember when we still had smoking and non-smoking compartments on trains; engraved glass in old pubs show that they used to have separate smoking rooms, away from the non-smokers; we used to have smoking rooms at my first permanent job etc. It probably wasn't perfect, but it seemed to work and everyone had the same protection from the weather - now I have to freeze and get rained on, as all those special provisions have been removed. I'd settle for something like a little hut in a mutually agreed "safe" area, not too long a walk away from work. Is that too much to ask?
I always used to ask if I was allowed to smoke and/or went to the appropriate place to do so - now I am so ticked off that I sometimes deliberately blow smoke at people! I used to be able to consider this subject rationally and would apologise for being a smoker; now I find myself spouting off about "both my parents and their parents and so on back to Sir Walter Raleigh all smoked and lived into their 80s and died of things not related to smoking" and "I've known dozens of bar staff who smoke as much as me and hate the ban and only two who didn't and only one of them disliked the smoke from her colleagues" and "if you want to get rid of noxious fumes, ban internal combustion engines" and... I think you get the drift.
Calming down a bit, both strong perfume (which makes me cough to the point of choking, though I am not asthmatic) and smelly food (which makes me nauseous) within the office are officially against our company's rules, but nobody takes a blind bit of notice, so I go outside for a smoke whenever either turns up! Oh, and I only pollute people's walk from the station to the office because the powers that be have so limited where I can smoke that it is very difficult to get out of the way of non-smokers in that area.
One other mischievous thought: if smoking were banned entirely, would a situation develop like Prohibition with booze - consumption would actually increase and all the profits would go to organised crime!
Seriously, though: I'd like to be as accommodating as possible to non-smokers, but in some ways things like this ban are making it more difficult, not less. I'll be more flexible if you will too.