Smoking outside in populated public places.

[Readytoevolve]

It was a beautiful day as I sat outside my local coffee shop with my 2 children, drinking smoothies and soaking up the sunshine.
Then BOOM, the table next to us lights up a cigarette and it blows our way.

The day before we were lining the streets for a tractor run…. We had a front view and the kids are at the front. Then BOOM, a man behind us lights up just as it’s beginning and is breathing the smoke down on us.

Why oh why is smoking allowed outside, and not just in designated smoking areas, where they can all sit and smoke together. It happens us all the time.

Yes they’re entitled to do it, but is it right? Hell no.

AIBU?

You can't actually tell that you stink when you're a smoker because it destroys part of your ability to smell and taste. It's actually surprising that so many cafes allow it ourside as smelling it surely reduces the appetite of everyone around and makes people less likely to buy from there.
Walking though any town or city centre stinks as they all line the streets, I try to hold my breath when I can. I think it's the height of rudeness to light up after sitting next to someone though. When it happens to me I simply get up and move away but I appreciate you might not have been able to easily with kids that day.

Move if it bothers you so much. They’re not (currently) doing anything wrong.

Why on earth would you find this funny when you posted in AIBU? You are literally asking a question for different posters responses, did you only want responses that agreed with you?
Oh and by the way I hate smoking but I'd never post in AIBU and then be shocked that others have different views

Or the smokers that gather outside stations where you have no option to walk out without going through them.

It's gross. I notice some people moving away /going downwind when I was visibly pregnant/when I'm with the baby. But I've always hated cigarette smoke and don't want to risk being exposed to it just because I'm outside.

@Klippityklopp people who post in AIBU also can have a sense of humour and find other peoples opinions funny.
it’s funny to me because it validates the difficulty people like me experience and the poor attitudes ( no fucks given) towards those impacted by such offenders.
Better to laugh than cry I say!

Smoking is gross.

Smokers are the reason I don't feel able to sit on the outside tables of cafes with my children. So I always go inside. But it's happened to me a stupid amount of times now that I've been sat inside and then some idiot smoker decides to start smoking right by the doorway, or an open window in the summer, and fills the place with their vile fumes. So unbelievably selfish.

I know it seems to be an increasingly rare point of view, but I'd say it's a free country, and you should stop trying to control what everyone else around you is doing. Even if (the horror) you don't like it! You're not the main character in everyone's life story!

I agree. I think smoking and vaping near other people is anti social.

Exactly. I once asked a vaper (even worse imo) if they could stand down wind ay the bus stop and not blow it in everyone's faces.

Yanbu OP. It's a filthy habit and it should be banned in public..

You could have gone inside the shop - the smoker couldn't.

i appreciate this view point, but if there is passive smoking happening in the vicinity of my children, it’s just not ok, nor will it ever will be. The offenders are selfish twats.

if the same people started having sex beside kids in an outdoor public space where food is served, considering it’s a free country, it doesn’t make ok either. Technically it’s not illegal to have sex in public.

YANBU. Smoking is disgusting and anti-social, the smell is vile, plus it clings to people around the person smoking so you end up stinky through no fault of your own, and no smoker I know bothers to actually dispose of their butts in a bin, they just flick it onto the floor and leave it for someone else to pick up. If someone lit up next to me and I had small kids with me, I'd have zero issues in loudly calling them out on it. It costs nothing to be considerate of others around you and go somewhere else to smoke.

I am old enough to remember when it was ok to smoke on planes - back two rows only.

I have never smoked and always hated the smell. I still feel thrilled that it's banned indoors and you don't walk into a wall of smoke when you enter a bar or restaurant.

I suppose the next step is confining it to designated outdoor areas only and more places are doing this now so it is inevitable.

In the meantime, I don't mind too much if it is somewhere that allows me to move away but outdoor seating and queues are annoying yes.

If you are that concerned about your children passive smoking then it is your responsibility to move them out of the way. It's not the responsibility of a law-abiding third party.

Lol at 'BOOM!"

Were they exploding joke cigarettes? 😁

Right then - so the doctors have examined every other possibility and have concluded that vaping is to blame? I don't believe this.

So you lined your kids up to breath in diesel fumes from a load of tractors, but the cigarette smoke concerned you?

Technically it’s not illegal to have sex in public.

I think you’ll find it is.

Yes, especially in front of kids.

Not sure why the OP thinks it isn't? 👀

Well let me break it down for you this way….

We made a decision to attend a tractor run, therefore accepted the diesel fume risk. It was our decision. (This is a really poor argument by the way but I’ll play along nonetheless)

The Ahole who stood behind us breathing down on us what not our decision, it was forced upon us and took away from a what should have been very fun experience.

When smokers let their smoke impact other people, it’s not the persons decision to allow it to happen. Given there is no legal protection we can’t say anything. Therefore we feel forced to cut our visit to a place short.

Passive smoking is a public health risk.

I'm not a smoker but the irony of your kids standing right by the road to watch tractors go by whilst you are concerned about them inhaling toxic fumes is a little bit too obvious not to point out.

I don't mind getting a whiff of smoke every now and then. I live in a city and inhale traffic pollution daily. If I desperately wanted clean air I would not be around so many people.

I think you're bu, smoking is already restricted more in this country than almost anywhere in the world.

At a cafe, it's up to the owners what they allow - you should take it up with them if you want it banned at their outside tables.

In a big public space you have to put up with all kinds of behaviour from other people that you don't like, you just have to suck it up. Smoking is one of them.

I've never smoked btw, but it's also not something that bothers me much.