Tuesday, August 11, 2009

I Hate Smokers

As the title says, I hate smokers. Now, if you took up smoking say, when we didn't know that cigarettes were bad for you, then you're forgiven (somewhat). For the rest of you, you're a bunch of morons. Like seriously, were you not paying attention in health class? Do you have such low self-esteem that you have this urgent need to fit in, even if you're slowly killing yourself (and those around you)? Besides the fact that I cannot STAND cigarette smoke, one thing that totally pisses me off about it is the fact that smokers do not think that they litter when they throw their cigarette butts on the ground. What's so difficult about putting your butts into the garbage?

My husband is ADAMANT on this point. A couple of weeks ago, for example, he was filling up at a gas station, when he noticed a woman throw her cigarette butt on the ground. So he walked up to her and said, "Excuse me." The woman was on the phone and excused herself from the conversation, thinking that he was asking her for directions. And then he continued with, "I think you dropped this," as he picked up her newly-discarded cigarette butt from the ground and handed it over to her. Needless to say, the woman was NOT pleased. I think it was brilliant. These guys need to know that they can't just go around littering. Just because they smoke doesn't mean that their cigarette buts are exempted from being considered trash.

On Sunday, I was out for a walk with my husband and our one-year-old daughter. I needed to go to the bank so that I could get some cash. When we exited the building, we came face-to-face with a couple sitting outside the steps. The woman was smoking. As soon as she saw us, she moved her cigarette away, for the sake of the baby, I guess. I continued walking with the stroller. My husband, however, did not follow us. I then heard him saying, "Excuse me, you shouldn't be smoking here. The sign says that you're supposed to be 9 meters away from any entrance if you're going to smoke." The couple did NOT look impressed, but had no rebuttal, and just shrugged.

As my husband proceeded to walk away, I heard the guy (who wasn't smoking) say in a barely audible voice, "Asshole". Well, that's when my husband started lecturing him. And I also decided to chime in. The guy was really pissed, but he knew that his companion was totally wrong in smoking where she was smoking (she, by the way, said nothing). So he did the oh-so-mature thing of plugging his ears and going, "La-la-la-la-la". Very mature. This guy must have been in his late 50s or early 60s too. So that definitely made him look extra-mature. By this point, we had attracted a few on-lookers, but there was no point in sticking around. This was going nowhere. My husband had made his point. As we left, however, I managed to slip in, "Thanks for trying to kill my baby." I hope that strikes a nerve.

I know that the City of Toronto meant well with this whole initiative to make buildings smoke-free, but I really hate it how you can't be outside now without some dumb-ass smoker polluting my air and filling my lungs with second-degree smoke. I also hate it how we have these by-laws saying that you can't smoke within 9 meters of any building entrance, yet EVERYONE does it, and nobody is there to reprimand these bastards for breaking the bylaw. I also hate it how you can't even eat in a restaurant patio in Toronto anymore if you're a non-smoker, unless you want your lungs violated by cigarette smoke. What gives?

I wish that the City of Toronto would get this right for a change, and either ban outside smoking once and for all and/or fine people who are smoking outside in non-designated areas. Mayor Miller, is that so hard to do???

1 comment:

Mr. Shiny and New said...

AMEN.

One time at King and Spadina, it was raining and these two young people were in the shelter with me and the girl started smoking. When I told her she couldn't smoke there, her boyfriend said "But it's raining! What if she wants to smoke?" Uh, yeah, WHAT IF I DON'T? Dumb-ass.

Smokers. The world is their ashtray.