AIBU to think that smoking should not be promoted

[helloclitty]

in outside areas of cafes and bars by ash trays being placed on each table.

I am getting a bit tired of the best areas (for hot weather) in bars and cafes being totally taken up by smokers. In some cafes it's like a sea of smoke due to smokers being forced onto these tables.

Aibu to think it would be nice to sit outside and not be surrounded by smoke? It inevitably forces the non smokers inside and perpetuates the problem.

Could cafes have an allocation of tables for non smokers outside to stop this problem?

Oh bugger off, the rest of the year the smokers are out there in the cold, if it is a place you are allowed to smoke then of course they will provide ashtrays. The 50 weeks of the year it is not nice enough to sit outside, you don't mind, I bet!

If they have lots of tables then that would be a nice idea but most cafes only have a handful of outside tables so to allocated them as smoking/non smoking would be impossible and pointless.

Of course I don't mind theoriginalsteaming and I understand the frustration for smokers. However, it's really unpleasant to be sat in this beautiful weather totally surrounded by smoke!

I think the problem is by putting ashtrays on every table outside, as many cafes and bars do, it inevitably becomes a no go area for families and non smokers.

Do you really think not having an ashtray would stop someone smoking where it is perfectly legal to do so?

Our local hospital has a smoking ban on the whole site and no ashtrays but that doesn't stop selfish idiots people standing right at the doorways smoking.

Sirzy
I agree with you to a point but by placing ash trays on every table outside it is more or less saying 'this is a smoking section'. I do sit outside but I am inevitably bothered by the sheer amount of smoke.

I must stress that I am not bothered by the odd person smoking, it's the concentration of it that I find intolerable.

No more than putting salt and pepper on tables is saying 'this is a condiments section'.

But salt and pepper pots don't leave ash flying around in the breezy outside air when you go to sit down and the staff haven't changed the ashtray.

Salt and pepper pots don't leave you trying to eat your croissant with the site and smell of an ash tray of fag butts!

You don't want us inside, so we go outside. Why don't you just go inside?

If there is no ashtray is it alright for smokers to leave their tab-end on the table? the floor?
Ashtrays do not 'encourage' smokers to smoke there. They will smoke there anyway. They smoke there all year round it's just that you don't notice because you will be inside in the warm the rest of the year.
Maybe the ashtrays should be an indication for families to stay away - and leave the smokers in peace.

Maybe the ashtrays should be an indication for families to stay away - and leave the smokers in peace.

Exactly my point sixlostmonkeys

Not a problem for me but then I'm one of those weird people who prefers eating and drinking indoors rather than by the side of the road in blazing sunshine.

Putting ashtrays on tabkes is not promoting smoking FFS. All it is doing is letting people know that they can smoke there if they wish to, and stops them littering with fag buts. It also allows you the choice of not sitting there in case there are smokers.

Some people will chose places that have nice tables where they can smoke, and that is fine. I expect doing that helps the businesses profits throughout the other 50 weeks often year when no one else wants to sit outside, and a smokers money is as good as yours.

I don't smoke myself but I don't mind if people are smoking near me outside. If that is the price for no smoking indoors then it is a price I am willing to pay.

I think you should ask for the ashtray, I don't think they should be put on every table outside as though it is an exclusive smoking area. Apart from the fact the ash does not stay in the things outside anyhow, they smell and even when emptied have remnants of stinky ash in. Why do they have to be on every table.

YABU-ish.

Why don't we make all smokers go and live together in a ghetto?

Look, I get that it smells horrible, I have been both a smoker and a non smoker. It smells, it's not nice, people shouldn't do it etc.

However, the opportunity to smoke has been shaved down to the bare minimum. People rarely smoke indoors now, pubs are smoke free, there are no smoking signs in doorways, people with cars for work can't even smoke while driving.

Horrible as it may be, you will just have to put up with it occasionally.

I am not bothered by the odd person smoking, it's the concentration of it that I find intolerable.
Smokers often have friends who smoke too and they are not going to do rotas where only is smoking at a a time. I hate cigar smoke but as long as it's not in my house next to me, I can't really stop people smoking them.

outraged
You are right actually, smokers money is definitely as good as mine.

youoldslag
I do understand it's not the fault of the smokers, they have been pushed into going outside. It's just the consequence of them all going outside means that the smoke is generally fairly heavy in those outside areas. And I really don't like having to sit with a full ashtray on a table when I am eating.

I think you miss my point helloclitty.
Smokers get to smoke in peace (in the cold and rain) the rest of the year and so why not when it's nice and sunny. Why should they have to put up with non-smokers and their 'wafting'?
I say, when you see the ashtrays go somewhere else. Don't decide that suddenly the outside is good enough for you all of a sudden.

Just ask the waiters to take the ashtray away or put it on the floor. It is much better to have to put up with a bit of outdoor smoke occasionally than have to have it 52 weeks of the year inside.

The ashtrays aren't put there as if it is an 'exclusive smoking area'. They are put there incase anyone wants to use them. You are still allowed to sit at tabkes with ashtrays even if you don't smoke. And you won't get arrested if you remove the ashtray and put it on another table.

And I really don't like having to sit with a full ashtray on a table when I am eating.

That's fair enough, it is a bit horrible.

"It's just the consequence of them all going outside means that the smoke is generally fairly heavy in those outside areas."

And, when they proposed bring in the smoking ban, did you jump up and down and scream and shout and say it wasn't fair and should not be brought in? Didn't think so !!

Move the ashtray

oldgreywiffle
I was actually on the fence, mainly due to the fact I was a publican at the time!

Iamnotacowbag
Waiters in a coffee shop are not always around, in fact often they are not around especially outside.
I normally do move the ash tray but quite often and today included all the tables were full so there's not always that option and no need for the sarcasm.

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos

There were no other tables to put the ashtray on