to think just because it's not illegal to smoke outdoors doesn't mean it's always ok

[Fieldsgrowingdark]

Three of us were queueing at the bus stop this morning when along came a man who stood right beside us and lit up a cigarette.

Myself and my mum were sitting on a park bench chatting yesterday when a young woman plonked herself on the other end (about 18 inches from us) and enjoyed a cigarette.

I've also just been reading the thread about people standing around hospital doorways and underneath patients' windows puffing away on cigarettes.

You will often be told by smokers that it's legal because it's outside, as if that makes it okay.

AIBU to think even when you're outside, smokers should show some consideration for the people around them?

That was to Bracknellite.

I have no problem with people smoking outdoors by the way. I just hate people blowing smoke all over me. Just have a little consideration of which way the wind is blowing!

I’m so sick of walking out of the station after my commute and a whole load of smokers lighting up as soon as they come out. My office is a short walk from the station and by the time I get there I might as well have smoked a cigarette myself 🙄
I think there should be greenhouse type shelters which people are allowed to stand in and smoke so that other people don’t have to inhale it.

It's fine if you want to smoke outside but what people are asking is that you do so with consideration

The thing is, most of us do. I am a smoker and have some smoking friends. We never purposefully go near someone not smoking and smoke. If we're in a pub beer garden and people are near us eating, we wait or we move away. We never light up near children or women we can see are pregnant. Obviously asthma isn't something you can see by just looking at someone, but if someone asked us nicely to move away from them we would.

I think there is an element of some non smokers only noticing inconsiderate smokers and not noticing the considerate ones. Which I suppose does make sense because the considerate ones aren't bothering you enough to register. But yes, if I'm having an evening out with food and wine, then smoking after my meal or with a glass of wine is enjoyable to me. I will always try not to bother anyone else while I do it. But obviously yes sometimes I might do so inadvertently. I'm sorry if that happens but I'm not going to not smoke at all just in case.

I have to say I’m not bothered by people smoking outside pubs/clubs etc. It’s more first thing in the morning when I’m just trying to get to work without having plumes of smoke blown all over me 🙄

Yeah, fuck those fucking inconsiderate smokers who control the wind and which direction it blows in.

"Well if you can't smoke indoors you've got to smoke outdoors."

Yes, but you don't have to smoke around other people. Move away if you want a cigarette.

I think there should be greenhouse type shelters which people are allowed to stand in and smoke so that other people don’t have to inhale it

In a lot of cities in Japan smoking is banned on the streets other than at designated smoking areas (and it's strictly enforced), which are similar to what you describe. However....they don't have an indoor smoking ban! What they do, is they allow establishments to make the choice. So there are restaurants and cafes where smoking isn't allowed (and plenty of them), but some where it is. Or places will have a sealed off smoking room separate to the non smoking part of the restaurant, or on a different floor. I think it works quite well. I'm happy to find a designated spot or go to a smoking cafe if I want to light up and non smokers are not bothered by the smokers.

"But yes, if I'm having an evening out with food and wine, then smoking after my meal or with a glass of wine is enjoyable to me. I will always try not to bother anyone else while I do it. But obviously yes sometimes I might do so inadvertently. I'm sorry if that happens but I'm not going to not smoke at all just in case."

But it's not 'inadvertantly'. You know, when you light up, that your smoke is going to go over those on nearby tables who are eating or drinking.

Yes and it will kill them on the spot. Have you no shame?

Fran it won't 'kill you' if someone at a table beside you allows their toddler to scream their head off, or starts to bellow into their phone but it's bloody annoying and ruins your meal.

Same with smokers. They cause a horrible smell, the smoke stings your eyes and goes down your throat.

And when it was legal to smoke in bars and restaurants it was, actually a serious health hazard particularly for staff who worked there.

I said in my pp, I don't smoke near people eating. If they are drinking only, then how do I know if they are even non smokers themselves? And if they are whether they are bothered by it? (Not everyone is despite what MN says!). As I said, I'm not going to not smoke "just in case". I was taking a class once. 10 people, 2 of us smokers. One night we went out for a drink. Suddenly 4 of the remaining 8 decided to have a cigarette! Clearly those 4 wouldn't care if I smoked near them despite being "on paper" non smokers. I live in London, when I go out there is nowhere to move to that wouldn't put me within 5 feet of another person!

Apologies, I haven't had time to read the whole thread, but...

If I started spraying harmful chemicals in the air for others to breathe in, I'd be arrested.

Ummmm, do you drive a car? Have you ever had a bonfire, a BBQ or sat in front of a cosy open fire? Then this is exactly what you're doing - spraying harmful chemicals into the air (and not getting arrested for it).

Any risks from 2nd hand cigarette smoke are similar to the risks from open fires and exhaust fumes. The risk comes from the burning process, not anything in the cigarettes in particular. In actual fact, think how little smoke is released from one burning cigarette compared to a bonfire!

I don't smoke in public myself, but I can't get worked up about people who do. There are far, far bigger polluters of our air to worry about!

Yeah, fuck those fucking inconsiderate smokers who control the wind and which direction it blows in.

What? You can’t control the wind direction, but if it’s causing your cigarette smoke to be blown into someone else’s face, then you can do the considerate thing and move.

Likewise I can’t control how many people will be sat on my train carriage. If it’s empty I might watch a video on my tablet without headphones. But if someone gets on the train, I’ll do the considerate thing and turn it off. I don’t just think ‘fuck it, not my fault someone’s sat near me’.

People have died of annoyance, thelightof. There are plenty on this thread who are in imminent danger of doing so. Nobody thinks of them as they go about their daily business, do they?

Please someone make a petition about this not me I'm too lazy and don't know enough people I would sign it. It's foul when people are smoking outside puffing in the kids parks etc. It's shouldn't be allowed in public or at home, partially not in my neighbours garden, but I can't see how they could stop that, but it would so much nicer

Considerate smokers would move away from the dining area realising that nobody but themselves would enjoy the cigarette. It's not a smoking area, it just so happens to be an area where its not illegal to smoke

You may not thinking it's the smoking area but then by the same argument it's not the dining area either! People are smoking out there 365 days a year but people are only eating out there for maybe a tenth of that time in a normal summer.

Lostinjapan, I take your point. Every smoker everywhere should change direction with the wind. Some of them may never get to work or indeed may never see their homes and family again but that is a small price to pay.

Honestly, the constant excuses smokers come up with to try and convince themselves that they're not being selfish arses.

Christmas if you're at an outdoor restaurant with people at all the adjacent tables, you can safely assume that lighting up a cigarette will annoy at least some of those people.

So just get up and walk away from the tables and have your cigarette. The same way that a considerate person will move away to have a phone conversation, or to calm their baby down.

My local hospital now has loudspeaker announcements when they see someone smoking on the grounds. I'm a smoker but still find it funny when I have seen it, it certainly shames people into putting the cig out.

I do realise how bad I smell after I have come back inside after a fag break, cos I've smelled it off other people. Still not enough to make me want to give up though.

There is always someone smoking outside the maternity ward at my local hospital (a large one). It's banned and there are signs saying so, a warden giving out fines for that and parking fines for the idiots who park wherever would cover their own wage in a day!

It's not the 'smoking area' Charlotte. It's just not illegal to smoke there. If food is served out there, then obviously it's an eating area.

When I still smoked we went to a wedding in a hotel that had a lovely smoking area - it was labelled that - with an open fire and big squashy sofas. When I commented on how nice it was on Trip Advisor, the owner responded to say that he'd done it because he was utterly sick of smokers being treated like lepers. He added that he gave short shrift to the non smokers who complained about not being able to use that lovely space.

When you complain about smokers in pub gardens during the summer, just bear in mind they're out there in the cold and rain when you're all snuggled up inside. It seems to me tobacco fascists want it all ways.

Gingerkittykat that's hilarious. They haven't got enough cash to post operative patients home but they'll employ someone to make announcements about smoking. Brilliant.

The Scots have the right approach to this. I went back to my (depressed, industry closed down thirty years ago, no jobs) hometown last year and waiting for a train home, every bugger on the platform was smoking. There were constant doom laden messages about no smoking and fines coming over the tannoy and no one batted an eyelid.

But that's their choice Bluelady. Why should their addiction put outdoor space out of bounds for non smokers during the few sunny weeks we get in the year.

All this guff about smokers 'being treated like lepers'. They're not. They're just being asked to smoke in a way that doesn't inconvenience and annoy other people.