You are standing at a bar and you want to ask someone who is standing near you to stop smoking, how would you ask the smoker to stop?
2007-10-02 22:36:45 · 23 answers · asked by On a need to know basis 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Etiquette
Well I don't smoke, and I don't like being around smoke, but I think it's unrealistic to expect smokers to cater to us in a bar setting.
After all, smokers are required to cater to us in almost every other facet of life.
I can choose whether or not to go to a bar. I can choose to move if a smoker starts smoking near me.
I would not ask someone to stop smoking in a bar. If the bar were really smokey, I would probably get my friends together and go somewhere else. The bar owner can decided based on business whether or not it's better to allow smoking or not.
2007-10-02 22:40:13 · answer #1 · answered by whiskeyman510 7 · 13⤊ 0⤋
You could debate this all day!!
Whose rights are more important? The smoker has the right to smoke if smoking is allowed in the pub..... but surely a non smoker has the right to breath clean air since they have made the choice to be a non smoker? By having a smoker near them that right is being taken away from them surely?
You cant force some one not to smoke but its alright to force someone to passive smoke? Why should a non smoker have to leave the pub because it has people smoking in it? But then why should the smoker leave or stop smoking if smoking is allowed in the pub? Round and round you could go!
One point tho...... we are all born NON smokers.
2007-10-03 05:50:49 · answer #2 · answered by juicy_satsuma 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm a smoker myself, but I can understand the situation. If it were among friends, then I wouldn't mind one of my friends letting me know they enjoy my company, but prefer that I not smoke around them. As long as it's done in a polite fashion, then it's perfectly fine.
However, I think it's rather disrespectful if you are in a smoking area to ask someone you don't know to stop smoking, rather than attempting to move, yourself.
If the area were crowded, I would understand, however. For example, I never feel comfortable smoking and can't bring myself to smoke, even in the smoking section, when there are children seated at a table nearby. If I find this to be the case as I am being seated, then I will ask to be moved to another location further away (even though in many cases, the children are there because parents or others with them are smoking, and I would never say anything to them about their choices). Otherwise, I simply don't smoke for the remainder.
It's entirely a case-by-case situation. There are times and places where I wouldn't find it impolite to be asked to stop, but at other times, I'd find it to be quite offensive.
2007-10-03 18:11:07 · answer #3 · answered by JenV 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
That's a tough one, especially since you're at a bar. Maybe your state needs to enforce anti-smoking laws like we do here in California. If it were a restaurant, I could see politely asking someone, "excuse me, would you mind putting out your cigarette?" Second hand smoke is harmful, so you have the right to ask someone to not aid in decreasing your life expectancy. Confronting someone at a bar though? I don't know...it all depends on how drunk he/she is. It might be better to just find another place to stand than to confront an easily offended drunk smoker.
2007-10-03 05:46:42 · answer #4 · answered by L.A. Angel 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm a smoker.
If I am in a place where smoking is not allowed, I don't smoke.
If I am in a place where smoking IS allowed, it's my decision on whether I smoke or not. Just because I'm in a place where smoking is allowed doesn't mean I'm going to light up.
As for people asking me not to smoke, that depends too. If I am outside, I feel I have a right to smoke undisturbed. If a non-smoker decides to stand near me and I light up, I feel they have no right to complain. THEY are the one who decided to stand or sit near me. I didn't move closer to them.
If I am asked politely not to smoke, I will often put my cigarette out. If someone is nasty to me, I will tell them to mind their own business and I may or may not be rude about it.
I'm an alcoholic and I don't like people drinking around me. However, I don't ask people NOT to drink around me. It's their choice to drink and mine not to. Just like it is my choice to smoke and theirs not to.
As an alcoholic, no one will EVER convince me that smoking is worse than drinking. I know first hand that they are equally destructive.
Also, being a smoker doesn't make me a criminal. I don't want to treated like one.
Freedom of choice...it's one of the principles this country was founded upon.
EMT
2007-10-03 09:06:56 · answer #5 · answered by emt_me911 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
well no matter how you ask you might offend or even embarrass some one by asking them to stop smoking near you....(im a smoker) but you can ask them to move the cig so the smoke isnt going in your face or maybe to move down a bit because it bothers you.... but honestly if the smoke bothers you that much dont go to a bar that allows smoking... i have to agree with someone above me who said we have to cater to non smokers ever other part of our daily life out in public like smoking and non smoking sections like we have the black plague or something...lol....here were i live you cant even smoke in the bars anymore and quite honestly if im drinking thats when i want a smoke the most cause thats when the habit really kicks in...anyways have fun with that...oh and cause im such a nice smoker i wont even smoke around my friends and family who dont smoke if they are offended by it even in my own house so see not all of us are the devil....
2007-10-03 08:30:10 · answer #6 · answered by smurf 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
If I were standing in an area where smoking is allowed, I would remove myself it bothered me. You really can't ask someone not to smoke if they are in a place where smoking is allowed. Smokers have fewer and fewer places today that they can smoke and that is a good thing for anyone that doesn't smoke.
2007-10-03 10:31:30 · answer #7 · answered by Classy Granny 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
where are you living? because in California people don't smoke any where with out asking at least six times and offer to put out a cigarette at the drop of the smoking word so perhaps this requires some true practice how about do you mind moving over I really want to breathe thank you or I am so sorry to ask but do you mind smoking over there I had my heart set on breathing today thank you so much it takes self awareness to request that someone give you back your air but it is so worth it. remember when you ask feel lucky enough that you can ask and loving enough to ask without making them feel bad
2007-10-07 04:26:59 · answer #8 · answered by swymanpsychic 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Complaining about people smoking "while standing at a bar" is rather like about complaining people pissing, pooping, and farting in a public restroom. To smoke is probably the REASON that person is standing at the bar! Unless the person is deliberately and maliciously blowing the smoke directly into your face, then probably the most you should do is ask them to move the ash tray a bit further from you, or to reposition it so that you aren't directly downwind.
2007-10-03 09:07:52 · answer #9 · answered by kill_yr_television 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Well ..... here our pubs and bars are smoke free....
BUT ... if you are in a bar where smoking is allowed .. DO YOU actually have any right to ask the person NOT to smoke .. I don't really think you would have ....
YOU however could move away. You mightn;t think that that is very fair ... but if smoking is permitted the smoker has a right to smoke.
2007-10-03 05:44:44 · answer #10 · answered by ll_jenny_ll here AND I'M BAC 7 · 5⤊ 0⤋