I smoke, get over it.

[Cleetus]

I'm sick of all this bullshit.

4:45 AM, I'm in the casino having a smoke. Nobody around me. 1000 machines to chose from, some lady sits nect to me. Now understand something-

1) I was there first
2) I was smoking when she sat next to me
3) The place was empty, over 1000 machines just waiting to be played

So she sits next to me and starts that *cough* *cough* shit. Are you fucking kidding me, or what?

[greenbriar]

1. I'm with ya

Me too


deal

[tyedyeto]

2. How dare you smoke in a smoking area when no one's around.

[Adsos Letter]

3. I'm over it...

[Danger Mouse]

4. You, sir, are worse than Hitler.

I kid, I kid.

[Yael]

5. I quit, but I support your right to smoke

Next time it happens, tell her to find somewhere else to play.

[still_one]

9. assuming he is in a smoking section. Also, no where was it mentioned that the person who coughed

asked him to stop. So what is the issue? So a person coughs. Maybe the person has a cold. Is there a law against a person coughing?

[Yael]

18. I was coming from a once-ex-smoker position with that post

They didn't make 'em more obnoxious than me when I tried to quit in years past. I would seek out smokers in bars/etc just to be obnoxious to them with the forced coughing and all.

You are correct -- I wasn't giving HER the benefit of the doubt -- I was projecting my own former rude actions into the situation.

Good call.

[still_one]

21. That is a different issue, someone intentially trying to stir up trouble /nt

[emilyg]

6. I quit every night.

[againes654]

73. lol

and start again every morning.

[still_one]

7. Several points, assuming you are in a smoking section, which most casinos are

Did she ask you to stop smoking? Since you did not mention that, I assume she didn't. However, if she did ask you to refrain from smoking, you could simply say you are in a smoking area and that would be that.

Of course it is an entirely different matter if you are in a non-smoking section

Either way I don't see what the problem is, unless you want to control people's bodily function or habits

[Cetacea]

8. An interesting experiment:

Take out a cigarette and pretend to smoke it and see how many people start coughing.

[TahitiNut]

10. Tobacco smoke rarely bothers me. I have, however, seen that behavior often.

I've been with people who never noticed the smoker until they turn (for reasons other than smelling smoke) and SEE the person smoking ... and, all of a sudden, behave as though they're being fumigated. The smoke didn't change. Hell, I noticed long before they did. I've been with non-smokers who've deliberately walked closer to a smoker ... just to complain. There seems to be a HUGE psychosomatic component. That's not to say that the psychosomatic aspects aren't as real and worth regard ... but I've never seen one of these people, some of whom have been friends, act in some way to mitigate their own discomfort. I've never known a single person (other than a paramedic) who would wear a mask ... even if they suffer from allergies (none of which are to tobacco smoke which contains no allergens) or suffer from asthma. Rarely have I known an asthma sufferer who took biofeedback/relaxation training to mitigate an asthma attack. (I guess the pharma industry doesn't get a cut on such training.) Yet we know that such training can significantly ameliorate the severity of an asthma attack.

I've rarely known a smoker who'd deliberately discomfort a non-smoker. Most smokers seem to feel like apologetic lepers - buying into the 'culture.' And a few don't.

As far as I can see, smokers are a handy target for folks to give vent to repressed hostility. Lord knows there's enough to get hostile about in today's "America." That's sad.

[Cetacea]

13. Mind if I quote you?

"As far as I can see, smokers are a handy target for folks to give vent to repressed hostility. Lord knows there's enough to get hostile about in today's "America." That's sad."

That is perfect.

[TahitiNut]

17. No problem ... do it at your own risk, though. I can never tell how folks react.

[pnwmom]

49. Come on now. You expect asthmatics to have to wear masks when

they're around cigarette smokers? That won't stop them from absorbing tar and nicotine in their hair, clothes, and skin. Why shouldn't cigarette smokers take their smoke outside?

It hardly matters that cigarettes contain no allergens. The fact is that they DO contain substances that doctors call "irritants." In other words, they contain substances -- irritants -- which cause the linings of the respiratory tract of many people to become inflamed, fill with mucus, and swell -- to the point where breathing may become entirely blocked. Worst case scenario -- an asthma attack can lead to death.

Despite what you think, most people with asthma do act to "mitigate their own discomfort" by taking drugs, including inhaled steroids, to help prevent attacks. But these drugs can't prevent all attacks, which is why asthmatics also carry inhalers to fight an attack that does occur.

Any smoker who smokes indoors, in a room whose ventilation is connected to other rooms, is affecting every other person in the building. To persist under those circumstances, with all we know now about the risks of second-hand smoke, is surely an ignorant if not hostile act.

[TahitiNut]

54. Read much? That's YOUR strawman. Play with him yourself.

[pnwmom]

60. Think much? Apparently not. n/t

[Capn Sunshine]

86. cigarette smoke provokes an athsma attack in me

but that's my problem. I know you need it more than I need to remain attack free. Besides, I kind of like the smell. It reminds me of my chain smoking grandpa. I loved that guy. One day he started coughing, just like The Godfather, and died wheezing for air in the dirt while some black stuff rolled out of his mouth. Please don't be insulted if I get up and leave if you light up. I'm not worried about you, just me.

[DesertFlower]

11. didn't they have a "non smoking" section.?

cigarette smoke bothers me so i make sure that i go to no smoking sections. if they don't have one, i don't go there.

[still_one]

14. I am with you, however the OP seems to have left out if it was a smoking or non-smoking section

an important point to the whole issue if you ask me

[Cleetus]

66. This is Nevada, smoking OK where I was..

Here in Nevada smoking is still OK in a few public places. The casino I was in was an old time place. Smoking is permited everywhere in the place.

In reply to the comment questioning the coughing of the woman who I clearly offended, it was that shitty cough thing non smokers do to let you know that they're being affected by my smoke. I am very sensitive to the feelings of non-smokers. I will not smoke anywhere where people may be innocently subjected to my second hand smoke. This includes when I'm at work and I step out for a smoke and there are people nearby. I'll move to a private place where my nasty habit doesn't affect anyone. Inside the casino is another story. If I sit next to someone who was there first I always ask if my smoking would bother them. If I'm there first and already smoking then that's a different story. Especially when it's the middle of the night and the place is empty and they go out of their way to sit next to me, just so they can make some kind of statement.

PS, I was once in the same situation, some guy did the cough thing. I asked him if my smoke was bothering him. He said yes. I asked why he chose to sit right next to me. He said I was playing next to his "lucky machine". I respected that (really) and put out my smoke.

[xchrom]

12. i smoke too -- but i'm guessing she wanted your machine.

you'd been playing -- and she probably figured you had it warmed up.

[Mike03]

15. Bewildered by the smoking threads

Of all the issues we face at this moment in history, I'm mystified that smoking has incited this much debate on a political website.

I experimented with cigarettes in college for about a month, but quit because they interfered with my running. However, I come from a long line of smokers, and my sisters smoke. My beloved grandparents smoked.

I have bad habits like occasionally eating animal protein, which is no less connected to cancer, obesity, diabetes and chronic disease than tobacco.

And my very best female friend in the world smokes. I'm not HAPPY my sisters and best friend smoke, and I say, "I love you and wish you'd try to quit because I would be devastated if anything happened to you." But that is as far as I go, because I'm imperfect, and I have no right to impose smug judgementality on anyone.

Show me someone who is absolutely perfect, has no flaws, no vices, is always kind and compassionate. When I meet that person, and when I'm able to become just like that person, then I'll start judging everybody else.

[Yael]

19. I guess this is what happens when the debates begin 3 years before the actual

elections. People are all just looking for things to talk about in the down time.

[pnwmom]

51. Ah, but your bad habits don't get in anyone else's lungs or bloodstream. n/t

[Mike03]

56. Good point

At least it is worth consideration.

[ixion]

16. right there with you, bud

[mark414]

20. hey that happened to me once, almost identically 'cept for a change in locale

i was in a park, OUTDOORS in San Francisco, sitting in the grass in a wide open field. nobody around for a couple hundred feet at least.

i had been there for an hour when a couple came and sat no more than 20 feet away, and i was already smoking when they sat down. then the dude has the audacity to ask me to put my cigarette out so he "can enjoy the park too."

i am normally very nice to strangers but i had to look at the guy and say to him, "are you fucking kidding me?"

"i pray for the day when sanity prevails and SF bans smoking in public," he says.

"i pray for the day when self-righteous assholes get a fist down their throat to knock the bug out their ass," says i.


they left.

[ixion]

22. ROFL... good for you

don't take that crap from those self-righteous bastards.

[mark414]

25. and i don't even smoke anymore!

but i'd rather come home smelling like an ashtray than deal with smug, self-righteous holier than thou pricks who are trying to use the power of law to act like my grandmother

they don't realize that a lot of things on this planet, that people choose to do, hurt and kill other people. it's called life, and it ain't perfect. deal with it. and take the bugs out yer asses...

[still_one]

24. In all honesty, why couldn't you just be polite and say you were there first

it is a big park. One rude response usually triggers an equal an opposite reaction:

"are you fucking kidding me?"
"i pray for the day when sanity prevails and SF bans smoking in public,"

blah, blah, blah

[mark414]

30. because he did it on purpose

i don't smoke any more but i was always very mindful of it when i did. waiting for the bus or something i would stand away from other people...if i was walking down the street and someone came past me i'd hold my smoke in so i wouldn't have to blow it in their face. same with if i'm standing on the street and someone walks past, i'd point my head to the sky and blow the smoke up. hell i'd even hide my cigarettes or put them out when little kids were around. i'd ask nonsmokers i was with if they minded my smoking, even if i was driving my car and they were the passenger.

but this guy saw me smoking when he came up, in a big open grassy field with nobody else around, i was with some friends, we were having fun. he sat down knowing exactly what i was doing and he still had to be a jerk about it. almost any other situation i would've been polite, this particular one, not so much.

[still_one]

35. I am just saying all you had to do is tell him you were here first. The profanity

didn't help the situation.

I am not arguing the point that you had the right to smoke

[mark414]

38. i don't think that there is any inherent "right to smoke"

and any claims of such are a bit ridiculous. my beef with the anti-smoking revolution comes from my belief in the "right to allow whatever you want in your own private establishment."

public buildings, etc., that's fine and i have no problem with the bans.

like i said, i almost never react that way to strangers. but you almost have to give this one to me...or can you not see how much of an asshole move it was on the part of offended anti-smoking man? sometimes you need to tell it like it is without being diplomatic, just being truthful.


either way this is a mostly pointless argument that generally just boils down into semantics

[still_one]

40. you are right, but it is a nice diversion from war and illegal spying on it citizens /nt

[JVS]

23. you should have put it out on her face

[still_one]

28. That is mighty nice of you. She didn't ask him not to smoke, and for all you know

perhaps she had a scratchy throat, a cold, or something congenital, like lung cancer

[Oeditpus Rex]

48. Then why did she sit next to him

when there were many other choices?

That's the point of this thread. If you choose to be near someone who's smoking, don't complain about the smoke.

[Shakespeare]

70. If she's anything like my mom, she'd probably sought out a particular kind of machine.

And just because she coughed, big deal--she didn't ask him not to smoke, probably because she was quite aware she was in a smoking section. If she coughs, she coughs. I don't see what the big deal is--she didn't ask him not to smoke.

(adding for unneeded detail: my mom has a very few kind of slot machines she really loves to play, and will walk around the entire casino until she finds one--I'm guessing that's what this woman had done, too)

[Frosty1]

71. Maybe she was coughing because she was a smoker too?

[CT_Progressive]

26. That was pretty inconsiderate of you.

You saw an old lady coughing on your smoke, and you didn't put it out?

For shame.

[TahitiNut]

31. "What a jerkwad."?

Yeah ... that's a good signature for you. (I can guess what the "a" stands for.)

[still_one]

33. The reality is that smokers don't respect what they do to their own bodies

why would they respect what they do to others?

From a technical point of view, if they were in a smoking area, he was within his rights to smoke, courtesy has nothing to do with it, that is why there are wars in this world because of lack of mutual respect for each other

[mondo joe]

50. It would appear she chose to be in the smoking section. He was within his rights

to continue to smoke there.

And the people are within their rights to push for no-smoking in public accommodation.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

27. Nobody cares.

Get over THAT.

[still_one]

29. LOL, not a very major issue to get so bent out of shape over, is it /nt

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

34. Not something I'm gonna have a hissy over.

[still_one]

36. Funny though, I wouldn't be surprised if an issue like this was brought up before the Supreme Court

hmmmmmm, 2008

[budibudinski]

32. Happens to me at the casino too..I just smoke away..I have always been

a very polite smoker. Don't smoke around elderly, in others cars, homes, around children or anywhere near unknown public, and always dispose of cig-butts.
However in a casino setting, like you, I always smoke near other smokers, and remain aware who I sit next to. BUT when I am alone at a machine, happily engrossed in the game, I will also object to someone who dramatizes their disdain for the smoke drifting their way. Its up to them, in that case, to be responsible for their own personal health choices, and simply NOT SIT Next To ME.
Its true that they will choose the machine next to me when there's an entire row availible.
This happens at least once every time I go there.

They could demand from the casino, a non-smoking section be designated. OR they could avoid me.

Nice to know it isn't just happing to me. tks

[in_cog_ni_to]

44. No. Casinos will be the next target. It's about the only place left where smokers can smoke, so

expect the whiners to start their next movement on casinos. BET ON IT. Pun intended.

[fizzgig]

63. colorado casinos will be smoke-free jan. 1

i never gamble here, so it's no big thing for me

[Warren DeMontague]

37. It's presumably a place where you're allowed to smoke, so I don't see what her problem is.

If I go into a Casino- shit, if I go into Nevada, I expect that I'm going to be gakking on cigarette smoke. Last time my wife and I were there, we were in Reno doing swing state canvassing for Kerry in 2004. It was like going into a time machine. Nothing like Breakfast with the fine stench of old peoples' cigarettes wafting over one's pancakes.

That's the way it goes. That's the way things are, there.

So, yeah, in the context of the OP, you were in the right. You're allowed to smoke in the casino, so too bad for the lady who plopped down next to you.

But- and this is a big but- that same logic works the other way. Want to come to California? Well, if you do, you have to go outside to smoke. Outside the restaurant. Outside the bar. You're not even allowed to smoke at most playgrounds around all the 3 year olds. I know- fascism, maaaaaaaaaaaan!

Those are our laws. That's the way things are HERE. Just like it was too bad for the lady in the casino who didn't like your smoke, if you want to visit California and are morally outraged at the idea of having to go out to the sidewalk before lighting up, that's too bad too.

[still_one]

39. California is a bell whether state. Of course I am bias since that's where I live

However, I think in some bars they allow smoking

and I suspect the card clubs do also

[Warren DeMontague]

43. I can't speak for, say, the Indian Casinos or card clubs, but all bars are now non-smoking in CA.

And hooray for that. I remember when the law passed, I had a lot of smoker friends who pitched massive fits at the prospect. Oh, they were going to boycott the bars and stage sit-ins (cough-ins?) you know, grind the California economy to a halt.

Oh, there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Then, a week or two after the thing went into effect, they were back at their favorite bars, going outside to smoke. Big fuggin' deal.

[still_one]

45. Cool /nt

[hlthe2b]

41. I am extremely pro-smoking restrictions, BUT

if you were smoking in a smoking zone within the casino, I BACK YOU 100%. Society is moving rapidly towards stringent smoking restrictions-- that's a fact and public health issues justify it. However, that does NOT mean that smokers lose ALL RIGHTS. Plenty of pro-regulation nonsmokers will support your rights within the law. Please don't assume otherwise.

Perhaps next time you might point out to whomever sits near you that this is a smoking area. She might well not have known. It is then incumbent on HER to move.

[RPM]

42. Was there a non-smoking section in this casino?

Just askin'

[Tafiti]

46. I'm an ex-smoker, so I'll defer to Bill Hicks on this one:

"I do smoke...if this bothers anybody I suggest you take a look at the world around you and... shut your fuckin' mouth."

[anarch]

76. that's what I thought of as well,

and also this bit:

Tell you, the worst kind of non-smokers' the kind where you're smoking and they just walk up to you … I always say, "Shit, you're lucky you don't smoke. That's some cough you got there, dude. I'm smoking, you're coughing. Wow." That's kind of cruel, man, going up to a smoker and coughing. Shit! Do you go up to crippled people dancing too, you fucks? "Hey, Mr. Wheelchair. What's your problem? Come on ironside, race ya!"

[ghostsofgiants]

77. "I saw this old man smoking a cigarette one day so I went up to him...

"...and said 'a man your age and still smoking, you're my hero.' and he said 'What? I'm 28!'"

(Slightly paraphrased, but whatever, haha.)

[durrrty libby]

47. "I smoke, get over it."

I support you 100%

In fact I want you to be a two-fisted smoker.

Suck it down long, deep and several packs per day

[Blue-Jay]

53. Fucking disgusting.

[durrrty libby]

58. Of course you are correct. I forgot.Go for the gusto. Do it unfiltered

[IndianaJones]

52. lol. Those controlling the agenda don't have to get over it. Tax hike please.

cough cough.

[dflprincess]

55. In Minnesota, casinos are the last place where you can smoke inside

and that fact has been well advertised (though most have nonsmoking areas but some have better venilaltion than others) so anyone walking into one has to know smoking is permitted.

I'm totally with you Cleetus. I quit a few weeks ago but nothing annoyed me more than the long suffering nonsmoker who'd do the "cough, cough" routine. One time, I asked someone if they would mind if I smoked (in a bar where every seat was smoking) and she responded with "Do you mind if I burn rubber?" So I said, "No, go right ahead." and lit up. If she had simply said "Yes". I would have refrained.

[budibudinski]

59. .It is about where this woman chose to sit. If my choice was to sit beside a person who

was clearly drinking too much, or smelled like body odor, or non-stop talking... Or to sit a few machines away for the sake of enjoying my time at the casino...I would take care of my own needs towards my pleasure and sit elswhere rather than sit next to this person and carry on a bitch session about their annoying habits.

That is the whole point of this issue.

[emdee]

57. She should have sat elsewhere....

I have no problem with smokers. I smoked for a long time and quit but I don't badger others about the habit. There are worse habits to have.

The casinos I've been in (just a few) did have non-smoking areas - that lady should have gone there. It was like opposite-world, though - the smoking area was huge and that was were all of the action was while the non-smoking section was a very small empty place without entertainment! These days, it was just the opposite of what we have everywhere else. Everywhere else, the smoking area is in the back in the corner and is tiny - but in the casino: opposite world! That's just an observation - I had no problem with it, personally.

I was an all-or-nothing smoker but I know lots of people that can be weekend smokers. I can understand the casino policy. TN just enacted a no-smoking almost anywhere law and I'm wondering where the local coffee-drinkers/smokers are going. It actually bothers me that they enacted this state-wide law even though I'm an ex-smoker. Strange, huh? I just don't see it as something government should control - especially when they continually raise taxes on cigs to pay for their pork.

emdee

[pnwmom]

62. You're assuming it wasn't a no-smoking section. n/t

[emdee]

80. Yes, I am. nt

nt

[in_cog_ni_to]

65. Wow. A NORMAL ex-smoker.

How unusual. Thanks for the sane post.

[emdee]

81. Sure thing. nt

nt

[pnwmom]

61. So were you in a smoking section or not? Cause that IS relevant. n/t

[Arugula Latte]

64. When smokers smoke anywhere in a building, the whole building stinks of smoke.

That crap really travels and hangs onto everything it touches.

I have my father's old car. He hasn't smoked in it for about 12 years. Yet, every time I open the door, I get whacked in the face with a smoke smell.

[Lautremont]

67. .

[abq e streeter]

68. I was nominally involved in the campaign to ban indoor smoking in NM

but it doesn't include casinos. I wish it did, but ... anyway, as long as it's legal where you were smoking, and she chose to sit next to you in a mostly empty room, then you were perfectly within your rights. Until we got the law changed here, I just stayed out of bars, even though I missed seeing live bands; I certainly never would have tried to guilt trip people into putting out their cigarettes when they had every legal right to smoke them there.

[kwassa]

69. One reason I hate casinos: the smoke

In the beautiful ultramodern Rio in Las Vegas. Everytime I walk through the lobby filled with thousands of slot machines, I gagged from the smoky smell. A nice bar there that I can't have a drink in because of the overpowering stench.

We ended up inviting our guests up to our suite with our own wine, because it was so gross downstairs.

[triguy46]

75. The last bastion of indoor smoking in Oklahoma. The smokers' Masada.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

72. if we made it illegal. most people who now condemn you would have sympathy for you.

[SoxFan]

74. Nice post, Smokey

[lost-in-nj]

78. This happened to me all the time

in the casino when I smoked. If I was sitting alone I would smoke, if I sat down next to someone, I would not smoke until they lit up or left....
Smoking doesn't bother me since I quit, I can say I do smell it more though....
I know most casinos have non smoking areas and in NJ that area is actually a huge part of the casinos now.....
Any way when you go to a casino, or a bar whether you are a smoker or not
you know there will be people smoking, it goes hand in hand, drinking & smoking and gambling, drinking and smoking ....
and you know there won't be any kids because they don't belong or are not allowed in these venues. You are going there on your own free will and no one is twisting your arm. Its your choice.... if your a non-smoker you know this going in. As for restaurants, I can see where you really don't need to smoke in them especially because there will be kids..... and when I smoked I would go outside or to the bar.
BUT, I think the owner should have the right to make the choice whether or not you can smoke in their establishment....
then you as an individual can choose to eat there or not....
wow, free will, what a concept

this is just MHO of course ....
but I have been on both sides of the fence....
and to be honest I think smokers are getting royally screwed


lost

[LanternWaste]

79. I smoke too. Yet as I believe the responsibility...

I smoke too. Yet as I believe the responsibility is on myself to make the world a better place for everyone around me (be really cool if everyone thought that same way), I usually end up snuffing out a cigarette before I'm done with it-- unless I'm at home.

I guess I've just gotten to that place in my life where the little fixes I need are less important than the comfort of those around me.

But that's just me-- and I'm not really sick of all this bullshit.

[Dukkha]

82. ah, the Rob Riener method

as an ex-smoker I hate that passive aggressive shit some of these self-righteous anti's do.

[RetroLounge]

83. I would have lit a 2nd one and offered it to her...

RL

[TK421]

84. So, if there were that many machines around that weren't being used

then why exactly did she decide to sit next to you? I think she was looking for trouble..

SO many people out there just begging for confrontation

I would have held her mouth open and exhaled down her throat, the fucking idiot

[SPKrazy]

85. Yeah Sure Pol Pot!

Torturing that poor woman with your smoke


She had the whole casino and chose to come by you and you just lit up anyway



in case you didn't get that