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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think smokers should be made to smoke away from people?

461 replies

scaryfairy28 · 22/08/2011 15:55

I've always been quite anti smoking had a gran who dies of lung cancer, but since I was pregnant with DD and now that I'm out and about with her it really angers me when people are smoking in public areas, if it were up to me I'd ban smoking in all public places ie high streets, door ways to, restaurants, childrens play areas etc and don't even get me started on the bit outside the hospital and make people smoke in smoking rooms or back streets. I got abuse from a woman the other day who came over to speak to DD and puffed her smoke all over her when I asked her not to.

OP posts:
ghostofstalbans · 23/08/2011 10:04

have to say i felt really guilt lighting up and it was one of the things that made me stop

saying that though, i never really notice other's cigarette smoke or smell so was probably being paranoid in hindsight!

still worth the money saved from quitting, fags are ridiculously expensive now and not worth it

LadyBeagleEyes · 23/08/2011 10:06

I'm enjoying this thread while I sit and have my first (and the best) fag of the day while sitting in my ill fitting clothes on my lardy arse.
I do smoke in my own home as it's just me and my teenage son who's very rarely around me. Funnily enough one of my smoking friends always stands outside when she comes as she doesn't smoke in her own home.
I find most smokers are considerate like this.

MoominsAreScary · 23/08/2011 10:09

If you don't like it keep away, you can't expect people to move just because you don't like it

pictish · 23/08/2011 10:09

Scholes - WHAT "impact"?
Please elaborate?

MoominsAreScary · 23/08/2011 10:12

Oh pictish you know that just one wiff of your fag will give all non smokers some serious illness

Salmotrutta · 23/08/2011 10:16

I remember the days when smokers just used to light up in other people's houses (even non-smokers houses) without asking.
And it was accepted, no-one bothered and I even remember that people considered it inhospitable to ask smokers not to smoke and would just politely offer an ashtray.
Which every household had.

You know, there was even a thread on here where someone complained about their neighbour smoking in their own garden!

kitya · 23/08/2011 10:17

I have to say, I do smoke indoors when I get in from work. That, and a glass of wine. I do feel guilty that my DN's know I smoke and are constantly telling me I am probably going to be the first funeral they go to Sad

I do enjoy the odd fag though.

alphabettyspagghetti · 23/08/2011 10:17

Scholes either go and have a fag and calm down or take up weed. Either way chill out a little.

No one said we were the boss of outdoors, but dont complain about us smoking out there when its people like you with your heads stuck up your arses that put us outside in the first place.

"As soon as your smoke comes near me" LOL...that's right, it's deliberate and it's out to get you. If you dont like it, them move somewhere else. It's not called the BIG great outdoors for no reason.

Scholes34 · 23/08/2011 10:17

pictish - cigarette smoke is now so dominant in its localised environment. Your sense of smell is obviously compromised and you're obdurate in your attitude in this matter. You'll no doubt say I am too, but I'm just after a neutral situation, ie fresh air and preferably no fag ends on the floor.

Scholes34 · 23/08/2011 10:19

Perfectly calm thank you. Don't need a cigarette to achieve that. I'm only "self-righteous" and "got my head up my arse" because you don't like what I'm saying.

pictish · 23/08/2011 10:20

So the "impact" you are referring to, is that you don't like the smell.
And??

alphabettyspagghetti · 23/08/2011 10:22

No, it's because you are Self-righteous. Nothing to do wih the fact that I may or may not agree with what you are saying. Just the way you are coming across.

alphabettyspagghetti · 23/08/2011 10:23

*with (sorry kids are in the kitchen and bumping/hassling me)

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 23/08/2011 10:26

Do most of the smokers here actually buy their tobacco/cigarettes in the UK? I thought the duty free was still doing a roaring trade and with people buying their cigarettes abroad does it really benefit the UK treasury?

I don't have a problem with smokers that have regard for non-smokers (I think most do); it's the selfish ones that allow their sparks to fly off or their smoke to drift in peoples' faces.

I don't understand the animosity though really; many smokers don't like the smell of the smoke (I didn't) so it stands to reason that a non-smoker wouldn't. It's a bit 'club-like' on this thread with smoker posters 'ganging up' aggressively on non smoker posters. It's not personal, or shouldn't be.

Salmotrutta · 23/08/2011 10:30

I really get hacked off when people say "floor" when they mean ground.

Floor refers to indoors and since people don't smoke indoors nowadays I assume you mean fag ends on the ground as in outdoors Scholes.

Sorry to be a pedant but, hey, there you go.

Salmotrutta · 23/08/2011 10:33

And as to the ganging up - no, it's smoker getting tired of being bashed on thread after thread that pops up on here with monotonous regularity.

Scholes34 · 23/08/2011 10:36

Soz Salmo

MoominsAreScary · 23/08/2011 10:36

I don't see the problem, if I don't like something I avoid it, I don't try to stop everyone else doing it.

I don't think most smokers light up in close proximity to non smokers anyway so if someone is outside having a fag don't walk past them and if they are walking along smoking surely your not getting more than a quick wiff seems abit sad to be getting all worked up about it

pictish · 23/08/2011 10:44

I am biting back at those who exaggerate greatly about the "impact" that walking past a smoker has on their day! What rubbish!! It has no impact whatsoever. Scholes doesn't like smoking/smoke/smokers...and that's grand - she doesn't have to....but to pretend that it has any actual sustained effect on her personage is nonsense, and I don't have to pander to it. I am not about to feel guilty for doing something that is of no consequence to anyone else, bar me.

I think most of us puffers are happy to take our smokey habits outside and away from those that dislike it, but I will not give the likes of Scholes control over the open air as well. My choice, my habit, my funeral - but HER problem.

OTheHugeRaveningWolef · 23/08/2011 10:47

Non-smoker here. Well, ex-smoker. So I ought to be one of the most militant about the smell and traces of smoking, right? But I don't think smokers should be 'made to smoke away from people' by some kind of stupid law.

Why? Because creating laws to dictate the conduct of everyday, teeny-tiny interactions between people - such as how smokers and non-smokers share public space - is intrusive, illiberal and ultimately corrosive to the ability of everyone in society to negotiate their way courteously around one another, tolerate one another's activities and generally behave like civilised people.

As an ex-smoker I don't like the smell. As someone who still believes in civic society over legislative micromanaging, I'll take the smell of smoke over the deodorised 'for your own good' control-freakery of the nanny-statists any day.

LadyThumb · 23/08/2011 10:51

Next time a thread is started on 'smokers', why don't we just cut-and-paste this thread? It will save us all a lot of hassle and re-typing the same old thing.

I am a smoker and I will smoke outdoors if I want - it's a BIG place afterall.

LadyBeagleEyes · 23/08/2011 11:00

I don't think the smokers are ganging up at all.
We're just giving our point of view to the original poster. The number of anti smoking threads where anyone who tries to defend their habit gets shouted with with monotonous regularity, it's good to see, that for a change, smokers are having their say.
Nobody is stopping non smokers coming on to this thread and ganging up on us.
It doesn't bother me, I'm used to it, but this thread is a nice change.

OTheHugeRaveningWolef · 23/08/2011 11:02

LadyBeagleEyes If you're a smoker, shouldn't your NN be LadyLabBeagleEyes? Grin

LadyBeagleEyes · 23/08/2011 11:05

Grin at wolf.
It's something I can't bear to read about or even think about when I look at his beautiful little face Sad

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 23/08/2011 11:15

Smokers have always had their say LadyBeagleEyes, as have non-smokers and ex-smokers. It's not a change at all, it's always like that. The thread is repetitive but it always will be. Why do smokers need to feel validated? Non-smokers don't 'gang up' in the same way.

I agree with OTheHugeRaveningWolef, most smokers/non-smokers rubbed along quite well before the ban. Only very selfish smokers would have blown smoke directly on somebody and they're probably the same selfish smokers who do that now. When I smoked, I was conscious that it was near impossible to keep my smoke to myself and I felt very guilty. Now that it's outdoors only, I'd say that the considerations by both should still apply. My only bugbear is entrances; there's no need to smoke around entrances when there is a 'big open space all around'.

I think the 'smokers pay for their treatment' argument is a bit of a misnomer. The NHS doesn't get the amount of taxes that it needs to treat smokers (or any other group of patients). Also, when smokers say this, it sounds as if they are benevolently funding the NHS and government through their smoking and paying taxes... come on, how many people are actually smoking just to fund the government/NHS? It's inaccurate and sounds silly. Why not just own it, we smoke or we don't, end of story?

I'm absolutely in agreement on the 'nanny state' issue, I think that smokers should be left alone to smoke if they choose to and both non-smokers and smokers should have some tolerance and consideration for the other.