Wednesday, May 07, 2008
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The epic summary of 2W, part 4: On smokers
Working and going to school in a densely-populated region like downtown Toronto inevitably means seeing people from all walks of life from lots of different places. All walks of life including smokers. Now don't get me wrong, people who smoke could be really nice people (I don't know a lot of smokers). But it's the things some do that really annoy me. Especially at Union Station.
The first of these is smoking just outside the door. It's now socially unacceptable and illegal to smoke inside a public building, places of work, and most private buildings in the downtown core. Pretty soon, it might become illegal to smoke inside cars carrying kids under 16 years of age. Where does that leave people to have a smoke? Outside buildings. But where outside? Just outside the door. Maybe it's cold, maybe it's windy, maybe the people I've seen are just lazy - I don't know. But people who smoke just outside buildings annoy me because the smoke lingers because of the covered enclosure just outside most doors, and people decide to exhale just as I'm passing by. At Union Station, people smoke in the area between the subway station and the concourse area - after all, it is outside. But again, they are just outside the doors that say "no smoking within 9 feet of door". This sign is visible on both doors leading to the subway and to the concourse. This leads me to the next point, which is...
Smoking under a "no smoking sign". Smoking on GO Transit property is prohibited, but people seem to forget at the bus terminal downtown. There are bright yellow signs saying "no smoking on platforms" with a really big cigarette that's crossed out. But on more than one occasion, I've seen people smoking in lines waiting to board buses. Once I even saw a person smoking right under the sign! It's not like there aren't designated areas for smoking at the terminal, but the total disregard of those signs is unacceptable to me.
The last point that really annoys me is smokers' apparent right to litter. On countless occasions I've witnessed people just chucking their cigarette butts on the ground when they've finished. Sometimes just outside buildings, or waiting in line at the bus terminal, or out the window of their cars. This makes the entrances to buildings, sidewalks and roads really dirty - so dirty that it's become commonplace. I fail to see how these people think they can do this, while littering is an offence under provincial by-laws.
So what can be done to reduce these occurrences? Without appearing like your grade 1 teacher telling you to clean up, not much I suppose. There could be more enforcement by police officers, but there, admittedly, are more serious crimes to address in this city. Perhaps these individuals simply need to be educated about the consequences of their actions.
What do you think should be done?
Part 5 of this 7-part series is about animals.
//edit - Wow, never expected to be featured. This is pretty cool.
For those of you unfamiliar with the bus terminal at Union Station (which is pretty much most of you, I would imagine), it's a strip of land one block long with 6 bus boarding platforms. There are two designated smoking areas on each side of the terminal building (which isn't very big), complete with a sign (that allows smoking), benches, and a specialized disposal bin for cigarettes.
If this wasn't clear before, the sight of multiple cigarette butts on the ground doesn't make the surrounding environment very attractive. I would think that people who live, work, play, and go to school in a city would take pride in its appearance, seeing as they go through that area on a consistent basis.
And lastly, I'm not on a mad rant here. I just thought this merits a little bit of discussion, seeing as no one talks about it here. To quote someone,
"I think judging someone on the Internet when you haven't met face-to-face is unfair, especially since when I write, it's just text. So people just make up in their head the tone in which I speak. Or my body language. So these people probably imagine me typing stuff with furrowed brows, angrily pounding my fists on the keyboard, and then going outside and beating people up and stealing cars because they picture me as being such a jerk, but I'm actually quite pleasant in person."
--Jon Graham, "It's a Wonderful Live: Episode 1"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyto3AubZFwOh, and one more thing: this isn't meant to be a blanket statement on all individuals who make a choice to smoke. I just wanted to highlight some things that people in general may not give a second thought.
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Comments (144)
smokers are for jokers.
i wanna watch batman.
give them fines >:]
like they do for speeding
thats wt they do in singapore & HK :D
I can't stand smokers. Yes, even those in my family, or my friends. I won't hate them, but I will sure not like the fact that they smoke.
I agree with the suggestion of fining smokers. But that's just me.
Here in Texas smokers have to stand something like 25 feet away from the building's entrance, but like you said, many don't. You're right, what do you do? Do you go up to them and ask them to move?
Smoking is something I am passionately against. As a college student, it really bothers me to see so many young people lighting up. It also greatly annoys me and my sinuses when smokers walk in front of me and blow smoke in my face. How rude is that?!
:shrug: what can you do. it's a slow and painful process. old habits die hard i guess, no matter how big signs are.
i don't mind so much about the smoking near doors thing - if you were a smoker, wouldn't you do the same on a cold/windy/rainy day? but the littering really gets to me. come on, they even designed garbage collectors specifically for cigarette butts. NOT THAT DIFFICULT A CONCEPT TO GRASP.
not only is it an eyesore, illegal, rude to anyone else who uses the space, but it is also a hassle for janitors/whoever cleans it up and detrimental to the environment!
word, from where i'm from, there's madd smokers too. i hate when they exhale in my face. def very rude...
I smoked until October 2007.
Hey you!!!!
FINALLY another fellow Torontonian.
Go leafs go!
btw I don't like smoking either.
Just lock them all up and put them into reeducation camps.
Well you've made a point. If there is no where to smoke then where do we go???
Perhaps it must just be a Toronto thing. I know at my university we have a special smoking area.
Most of use hover at least 15 feet away from the door. But hell I do it too.
I see the no smoking sign on the train tracks and do it anyway. Why?? Because I have no where else to smoke!!!
Their even going to shut down the hookah bars soon.
And if there's no garbage can or cigarette disposer where are we going to put them?
Frankly, I'm a chainsmoker, but it's really because I hate people, and making them suffer is one of my vast misanthropic pleasures.
Though I chainsmoke in California, so I'm already persecuted.
who cares? what a silly thing to go off on a rant about.
I recently quit smoking, but even when I did I wouldn't smoke near kids, and if I was with friends who did not smoke I normally wouldn't smoke around them. I would throw cigarette butts out the window though. I think every smoker is guilty of that if they own a car. But if I was outside a building smoking I used one of those little things they have for butts if they had them.
I tried to be a polite smoker when I did smoke.
You said, "But on more than one occasion, I've seen people smoking in lines waiting to board buses." I find many people doing just the same here in Hong Kong. This annoy me very much. In other places I can just go away. But I can't go away when I am waiting for the bus.
I'm a smoker. I understand that not everyone appreciates this fact.
However, I do my best to throw my butts in receptacles where they are available, however, they are no always available. There are times where my only choices are to throw my cigarette in a trash can (fire hazard), throw it on the ground (litter) or put it out and carry around butts in my pocket until I find somewhere to properly dispose of it. That's pretty gross too.
Sometimes I've sat under the No Smoking sign to be rebellious - when I was 16. I don't feel the need to do that, but sometimes I honestly forget. I can't smoke in this bus shack, even though it's -40 in January and there's no one around - I can't. I've gotten frostbite on my hands from this!
You would think that all these signs, and laws and bi-laws would deter smokers. Granted, I smoke less when drinking at a bar because now I have to go outside to smoke. I hate smoking. I hate running out of cigarettes.
But I'm too scared to stop.
-J
sometimes i wonder where the love went.
there's nothing that can be done without infringing on the liberties of free people. make smoking illegal and it will only be fair to ban alcohol and never legalize pot. there are impolite smokers, yes, but there are also polite ones. there are responsible and irresponsible ones; the stigmata here is that smoking sets them apart from the rest of the population, alienating them from social equality. to state it in the simplest terms, someone who hates another for the fact they smoke is prejudiced, and is no better than a racist or sexist person. and besides, tobacco is a natural substance.
but it is the population of smokers who choose to litter and irritate others that cause the problem. just as the drunk drivers and abusive alcoholics create the problem with alcohol, irresponsible smokers generate the litter and second-hand smoke.
it's a proven fact that towns become cleaner and smokers become more polite when given the means. more ashtrays, separate rooms or wings of a building, etc, will reduce ground litter and create fresh breathing room.
it's not right to blame all smokers or all tobacco companies. there is equal blame on both sides. if we non-smokers want something done about it, we need to mobilize and somehow get more ashtrays and smoking-specific sections placed in our communities. if we have yet to do anything to solve the problem except hate people we don't even know, then we are just as much to blame. and i'm guilty for that too.
let's learn to love and fix the problem, not agitate it.
Well, if you think about it, cigarettes -- which are essentially cancer sticks -- aren't very polite to begin with. In fact, I'm pretty sure giving away cancer is probably annoying to most people.
Not to be rude in the slightest when I say this, butI think you should just get over it.
People smoke.
Hell, I smoke.
Before I was a smoker I used to hate on smokers too.
For me, smoking is the only time I can sit and focus on nothing at all. The mentholated smoke fills my lungs, calms me down, and I continue my life. Yes, I know it's terrible for my health. Yes, I know that my friends all want me to quit. Yes, I know that people around me purposely cough to show disdain for my addiction.
When a person is waiting for a train or on a lunch break outside a building, smoking, consider that this may be the only time they have to relax. I understand that signs may say NO SMOKING, but perhaps the person smoking is trying to wear a sign that says THIS IS "ME" TIME. They might be single mothers supporting 3 kids on low wage jobs. They might be CEOS with complicated CEO things to do. They could even be like me, a college student who just wants a bit of peace from studying like crazy and complicated relationships. Who knows?
I smoke in my car, and yes, I throw the butt out. I do this because I don't want to set my car on fire, and also I have this strange belief that cement covering the natural earth is litter in itself. I do get annoyed when a bin is right there and a person throws the butt on the ground, but maybe they enjoy the satisfaction of stomping on the embers as part of a ritual? They might just be lazy, like you say.
You prove valid points, and don't think of this a counter-argument, but you show smokers as inconsiderate.
Do you think that you might be a bit inconsiderate yourself?
wow i didnt even think someone would actually get so mad about this....
well i'm a smoker...but i do try to be polite...i admit if theres no where else to go..i'll just smoke wherever i see a trash can...if people walk by...i hold the cigarette in the air and wit til the walk pass...i also admit that i just kill my cigarette anywhere...if thers a trash can..i'll throw it in there....if not where in the world are we going to put it? in the plants? idk...if someones so bothered by it..maybe they should put ashtrays at every corner...so all that complaints and rants can stopSeattle passed new laws a few years ago making it illegal to smoke within 25 feet of a building entrance, window, or air intake. i know other cities/states have similar laws, but they have REALLY been enforcing this. especially around office buildings and bars. most of the hospitals in the area have long banned smoking ANYWHERE on the grounds. i think banning smoking in a car with kids is a great idea, as many people don't consider their children when taking a drag of their cigarette. i'm a smoker, i'm also a mom. i don't smoke inside my home, inside my car, or when i'm at work. i think there are respectful smokers who realize they are choosing to shorten their OWN life and don't need to shorten others'. there are also assholes who don't care who is around them or where they smoke. it comes down to personal responsibility and unfortunately there is not enough of that in this world.
That is just kind of the mentality that a lot of smokers have, especially young smokers.I am a smoker, and committing petty crimes is kind of a hobby of mine. I'm certainly guilty of smoking right next to a no smoking sign, or in the immediate vicinity of a door, but mainly I just do it to be a bastard. As far as cigarette butts go, I always make it a point put them in the garbage, and I pretty much force my friends to do the same. Even if there isn't a trashcan around, I'll roll out the tobacco and put the but in my pocket. That is, unless I'm feeling especially facetious. I hate to cigarette butts strewn all over the place just as much as anyone else. All in all, it's just kind of my way of saying "@#!$ the man!"
Our city became smoke-free in all public places a few years ago and I LOVE it! As an ex smoker, I absolutely detest the smell of smoke. Now, I don't have to go home and shower and wash all my clothes and my coat and purse after going to eat some breakfast... it's fabulous:)