"I still can't see why some non-smokers still feel they have to victimize and try to insult people over this when they have, in fact, got what they wanted. It's rather like being back in the playground."
Normally my reaction to an addict would be one of sympathy for somebody with a major problem.
In this case, I have spent a lifetime having the effects of smoking inflicted on me, with the inevitable consequences to my health and comfort; now, when I can see a light at the end of the tunnel - I am invited to piss off to another pub.
Smokeless pubs - the bar staff working in these places don't get the choice to go somewhere else, and they spend a good slice of their lives in a fouled-up atmosphere - are you going to invite them to get another job? I worked as a maintenance electrician in London pubs for seven years and saw close up the nicotine slime deposited on the walls and ceilings from this pastime. I can still remember thinking "I was in the pub last night - my clothes must smell like that, and my lungs must be full of this shit". I was present on a job when a painter washing down a ceiling got some of the water in his eye and was blinded.
"The assumption that all smokers are selfish and wish to force their habit on other people etc., is a downright infantile attitude and does not merit any further attention."
Yeah; right - read through this thread!
Personally, I get a degree of satisfaction hearing smokers whinge about "freedom" and "individual rights"; they should think themselves lucky at not being presented with a bill for the damage and injury they've caused.
Rights and freedoms come with responsibility - get used to it and get another hobby.
Jim Carroll