Is there a reason that a person cannot make it through an hour long meal without needing to smoke?
I promised myself that I would not get sucked back into this, but everyone is being so well behaved and I can't resist a good debate.
As a society we decide on what appropriate behaviors in public are. We cannot go streaking butt naked through the vegetable aisle at the grocery store just because we like to run around naked at home and are perfectly within our rights to do so at home. As a society we have said that this behavior in public is not acceptable . There will be members of society who disagree. We expect that, but most citizens abide by the rules.
So let me attempt an a " what if" scenario.
What if your child ( neice, nephew, etc) came home and told you that he asked the teacher for help today. The teacher starts to walk over to the child's desk, rummages in a pocket, pulls out a cigarette and lights up. The teacher then bends down to answer the question while exhaling smoke into the child's face. Not vindictive , they are just sharing the same space in a public building at the moment.
Smokers or not, the parents of the child would have that teacher's job. Why? The teacher has broken the rules of behavior adopted by society protecting the health and well being of their children. The public has accepted the fact that second hand smoke is unhealthy and parents do not want their children exposed during school hours.
What would your response be if the adminstration told you that rather than reprimanding the teacher, this was a public school, the teacher had a right to smoke in a public place and that you could choose to find another non-smoking school for your child?
To me the "a restaurant is a public space and you have a choice" argument does not hold. Schools are public , churches are public, hospitals are public, buses are public, theaters are public, airplanes are public, subways are public, and restaurants are public. The argument fails on the assumption that some places are more public than others. Public means public. The standard for behavior regarding smoking in public places has been established and restaurants are one of the last places to be in complience.
So, yes it is a choice to go into the restaurant. And yes, smokers say they have a right to their choice to smoke - and I agree. Choice goes both ways. If a smoker truly chooses to smoke ( tongue in cheek since nicotine is one of the most powerfully addictive chemicals used) then he should be able to choose when and where he smokes. Then it should also be possible for him to choose to delay his smoke until he is out of the restaurant. If he can't, then maybe he could choose to use a nicotine patch while in the restaurant. He could have his nicotine and I could have lungs that will not be filled with particulates that don't belong there.
The response of the lungs to inhaling smoke is to immediately expell it. Cough . Smokers learn to smoke. I don't want to learn that trick - it hurts.
8O