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Where to get a cup of coffee in Warsaw? [40]
If a smoking ban is introduced in Poland, I'll just smoke anywhere I want to. If any member of the public says anything to me, I'll just ignore them. Any member of staff will be met with a simple Finnish sentence "Sorry, I do not speak Polish". If they persist, I might admit that I speak English and then apologise profusely for not knowing the local law and then saunter outside to finish my cigarette (which will be pretty much finished by then anyway). I'll be reasonable as long as non-smokers are; if they aren't, I won't be either.
your definition of reasonable is amazing. Really, your friend Adolf would be proud.
But non-smokers don't care about that: they don't care about anybody except themselves; as long as they can take the drugs they like in the atmosphere they like, all is well with the world they inhabit.
So first you're assuming that all those places close only because of the smoking law... then you assume that a non-smoker won't care that his/her favorite hang out place will close and/or that everyone who regularly attends bars/cafe is a smoker
oh, and by atmosphere they like I assume you mean one free of fumes known to cause cancer and just generally be toxic to humans as a species. How silly of us... to not want to be poisoned; how DARE we? After all, smokers everywhere have to suffer enough places with our abhorrent (relatively) clean air!
How dare the many inconvenience the few! How dare the workers not want to be exposed to said fumes for the daily duration of their shifts (they should, after all, be thankful for receiving the fumes without having to buy said cigarettes)! How dare YOU be inconvenienced to step outside for the 2min it takes you to puff away your cigarette!
As a "sometimes" smoker, I never smoke near anyone I care about. I have too much respect for their lungs and their health! In an ideal world, where we all cared more about each other than about ourselves, smoking bans would not be needed as the smokers would CHOOSE to smoke outside out of respect and concern for the non-smokers.
very true.
The ban is needed because individual cafe or bars could not afford to become non-smoking as smokers (as happens with human nature whenever one is told he/she is not allowed to do something) would stay away from such an establishment to avoid the slight inconvenience and thus significantly lower its competitiveness with surrounding smoke-friendly equivalents. Non-smokers with smoking friends would follow said friends (because they are most likely used to being the inconvenienced ones when going out) and thus the influx of non-smokers would not be as large as some would argue. Therefore unless the smoking ban is in effect to level the playing field in some areas there might as well have been an unwritten ban on smoke-free public places due to simple logistics.
