The other day I noticed a guest of the hotel next door smoking in front of our apartment entrance. It upset me.  No one wants to walk out of their home and pass someone smoking. At least no one who is a non-smoker. I watched as the gentleman flicked his ashes or whatever they do in a flower pot out front. When he was done he flicked part of the cigarette on the sidewalk. I went outside to inform him that the plant was not an ashtray or trash can.

At first I thought that maybe he didn’t realize that wasn’t an ashtray. Maybe he was in town from some crazy country where ash trays and trash cans are cleverly disguised as trees and other potted plants. I’m lying, I didn’t really think that. I didn’t care if he was from Dubai, he was on this side of the pond now and he needed to be informed of his faux pas.

(I don’t really think they do that in Dubai, but them Dubai people be crazy)

I politely informed him that the plant wasn’t a trashcan or ashtray. He replied that he knew that while showing me the part of the cigarette still in his hand and that it was “just the tip” that he flicked on the ground. He walked away as I looked at him flabbergasted at the utter ridiculousness of his response. I could only ask myself one question; “Do smokers take a class in being inconsiderate?”

I am pretty much addicted to drinking Diet Pepsi, but I don’t just throw my plastic bottle on the ground. It’s not like cigarettes have some magical quality that makes them anything other than trash when you throw them on the ground. It’s still littering. Every morning I clean up cigarettes off the sidewalk in front of the building and a portion of the street. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me as much as it does. Most smokers are being inconsiderate from the time they take one out of the package.

Start with this guy, who may or may not be from Dubai, smoking in front of the apartment building. Do you think people want to walk through your smoke on their way to work? You think anyone wants your smoke wafting into the lobby when someone opens the door? I really wish I could either a) extinguish the cigarette in their mouth. . .with a fire hose or b) will the cigarette to blow up in their face. Either of those things would teach them. Same goes for any building entrance. No wants to walk through your smoke. No one wants to walk down the street in front of your building and smell you.

Do you think people want to smell you when you come back from smoking? Nope. At my previous job, it was common knowledge not to talk to the boss lady for at least 30 minutes after she came back from one of her 75 smoke breaks. Her breath was funky, her clothes smelled funky. Your breath probably smells. Your clothes probably smell. Are you in a position where you have to talk face to face with customers? Let’s hope you get a smoker right after you come back from your break or you’re starting off with two strikes.

If I ever run a restaurant I will NEVER allow employees to smoke anywhere even semi-close to the restaurant where potential customers can see them. It’s disgusting. I don’t want to see the people handling my food out there lighting up. Have you ever been sitting down eating dinner and the server comes back smelling like an ashtray?  There goes my appetite for dessert and part of their tip.

I greatly enjoy that a lot of restaurants are now smoke-free. I don’t know that I necessarily agree with a law saying a business has to be, but I enjoy the lack of smoking. Still in St. Louis it seems like anyone who asked for an exception got one. Being with a group of people at a table and someone lights up is the worst. Do smokers honestly think anyone appreciates their smoke?

On a slightly lighter note, attractive women who smoke are being excessively inconsiderate. In college I lived in a fraternity house surrounded by sorority houses. You would see sorority girls in between the houses all the time smoking. This is being completely inconsiderate of the male population because it completely ruins your appeal and drops your overall net-worth several notches.

There are some smokers who are the exception to the rule. I am lucky enough to work in an office now where the two smokers are pretty considerate and aren’t complete slackers. They aren’t taking 35 minute breaks every 15 minutes and then coming back smelling like a smokestack. They keep their breaks to a minimum and keep them brief. They chew gum or spray some smelly-good stuff on them when they get back. For that I thank them. It’s like they either didn’t take or weren’t paying attention in the class where they were supposed to learn to be inconsiderate.

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