Interested in thoughts about cigarette smoking rights and a slight rant.

So I'm a smoker. I know it's not good for me, but I smoke. My community doesn't allow smoking indoors in public places and I comply. I also don't smoke in my care because it pisses off the wife.

So yesterday, I pulled into the grocery store parking lot and decided to light one up at the rear of my car before going in. Legal distance from door. A 20ish guy and gal come out with a cart of groceries and go to the back of the car next to mine. He asks me if I'd mind going elsewhere to smoke so they could load their groceries. Mildly perturbed me, but I silently moved to my passenger door area; then he asked me to move further. I did.

They loaded groceries, he took the cart back, and when returning told me that he appreciated me moving. Somehow, that ranked me and I replied that I didn't appreciate it. He asked why and I explained that I was perfectly legal smoking there and thought it rude and "entitled" for him to expect me to move. No guns, no violence, but left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut and just let it go.

I think you handled it well. I'd have told him no the first time.

It's easier to concede ground than it is to take it, which is why you should never compromise your position. If you capitulate once, you'll never get that ground back.

Thanks Gaston, but I felt kinda like I had compromised my position by moving in the first place. Something like letting his "preference" or something override my "right", if can call it that.

Thanks Gaston, but I felt kinda like I had compromised my position by moving in the first place. Something like letting his "preference" or something override my "right", if can call it that. Originally Posted by reddog1951

I agree. I'd argue the "right" portion though:

You've got a right to do whatever you want to your body, but smoking goes outside your body. It's the old "a smoking section in a restaurant is like a peeing section in a pool" argument.

On the flip side, the the couple don't have a right to breathe clean air wherever they go. The irony is that they probably [redacted] recreationally.

It's up to the property owner to decide if they want smoking on their premises, and you were not in a non-smoking designated area, so you were within your rights to smoke there.

This is my same argument I have about COVID.

They shouldn't have said anything. You handled it well.

I thought smoking was an illegal topic on this board.

Even in states where it's legal.

I thought smoking was an illegal topic on this board.

Even in states where it's legal. Originally Posted by Yssup Rider

thanks for reminding

Mea culpa if illegal topic. Title clearly says cigarette though.

Not judging, mind you. Just pointing out the inherent inequity of certain policies.

Ok, so I was chewing gum and blowing bubbles....so here come the clown jokes I guess.

So I'm a smoker. I know it's not good for me, but I smoke. My community doesn't allow smoking indoors in public places and I comply. I also don't smoke in my care because it pisses off the wife.

So yesterday, I pulled into the grocery store parking lot and decided to light one up at the rear of my car before going in. Legal distance from door. A 20ish guy and gal come out with a cart of groceries and go to the back of the car next to mine. He asks me if I'd mind going elsewhere to smoke so they could load their groceries. Mildly perturbed me, but I silently moved to my passenger door area; then he asked me to move further. I did.

They loaded groceries, he took the cart back, and when returning told me that he appreciated me moving. Somehow, that ranked me and I replied that I didn't appreciate it. He asked why and I explained that I was perfectly legal smoking there and thought it rude and "entitled" for him to expect me to move. No guns, no violence, but left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut and just let it go. Originally Posted by reddog1951

I know how you feel. I've battled the habit on and off and even vaped and still do. I don't smoke in my house or around non smokers if it bothers them. But in your case being outside and far enough away from a business entrance shouldn't been that big of a deal to anyone. I think this kid was trying to blow shit because he thought he should. I think you did the right thing, you made your point and kept it civil.

a smoker here too. could tell many stories about people being "woke" and getting snitty about people smoking even in designated areas.here's just a couple.


in 2008 i was working in downtown Ft. Worth and the building did not have a inside smoking area so you had to go outside to a area off to the side of the building to smoke. was standing there having a smoke with several others including an energy trader who worked for another company in the office bldg. i'd gotten to know the guy pretty well as we often would be outside having a smoke. the guy was a poster for Texas. tall dude about 6'3", wore $500 crocodile skin cowboy boots. a bolo tie. turquoise for course. so there we are smoking and yakking about college football when this lady comes walking along the sidewalk just as a bus goes by belching diesel exhaust which of course she breathed as she walked. so she turns to come up the steps to the entrance and for no known reason i can determine goes out of her way to walk 30 ft to the smoking area and proceeds to chastise us for smoking. we all just stood there wondering "wtf is this bitch's problem"? when that trader dude looks her in the eye and said ..


"Lady, i didn't survive two tours in Nam in the Marines just to have you walk up and tell me not to smoke".

we all just cracked up laughing and she slunk off into the building.


years earlier i used to work at Perot Systems, now NTT data. when i worked there Ross Perot had an office in the building but wasn't CEO anymore but still quite involved of course. they had an inside courtyard as a designated smoking area and an area right at the entrance to the main parking lot about 4 stories tall where people could smoke. marked signs and an ash tray for butts. so my buddy John who also smoked lit one up after we had come back from lunch. as we stood there about 15 ft away from the walk path yet another woke woman type goes out of her way to come over and complain about "poisoning her air" or some other nonsense. we just kinda stood there yet again wondering "wtf is this bitch's problem" when my buddy John very calmly tells her this is a designated smoking area. well she goes off on a rant over it and the more agitated she got the calmer John was. so after a minute or so she just stomps off into the lot.


well a few weeks later Perot decided to ban smoking on the campus. we naturally blamed John on this and would tease him over it. and that "incident" might have been a factor. we had no idea who she was but she might have been high up enough in the food chain to have some direct pull with Perot. so all the people who smoked said "well i'll just go out to my car and smoke sitting in the parking lot". that got shot down. even without rolling down the windows, the edict came down no smoking in personal vehicles on campus property. people bitched saying "it's my car!". Perot countered with "it's my concrete your car is sitting on". guess who won that argument? Perot.


so the only place you "could" smoke now was the bus stop right in front which was technically City of Plano property. so there would be small groups standing there "acting like we were waiting for the bus" and smoke. we got away with that for about a month then one day me and a few of my IT buddies walked out and saw a City of Plano sign saying "NO SMOKING". okay .. now the only two things you could do is cross Plano Parkway to the other side and stand in the office parking lot there and smoke. kind of a pain in the ass especially when it was raining. or you could drive off the campus and smoke and lose your killer parking space and get stuck on the 4th floor roof when you get back.

well some enterprising guy realized he had an opportunity to make some money. Perot had about two thousand people working there and a good percent smoked. so this guy went out and bought an old school bus and created the "Smoke Bus". yep. the Smoke Bus. had a big air exhaust unit mounted in the roof. and of course in good weather the windows were down for air. the campus was huge, at the corner of Plano Parkway and Custer and going all the way around to GW Bushie Parkway and two blocks to the next street.


so this dude would charge ya 1 dollar a ride and he'd stop at the bus stop and pick up people and just drive around the entire two block area and stop again if anyone was at the bus stop, otherwise he'd just keep driving around in a circle till someone wanted to get off or there was someone to pick up.

Mea culpa if illegal topic. Title clearly says cigarette though. Originally Posted by reddog1951

Jokers will be jokers.

They shouldn't have said anything. You handled it well. Originally Posted by Tiny

I agree with Chiquito. As long as they were civil, and you were considerate. I think they think it never hurts to ask. And it doesn't help to be an asshole. I know you weren't, but it depends on my mood to be one or not.

I think a good point to make is that they had no children with them. If you have any with you, it's up to you as the guardian. Since they were adults, they should not mind if you respectfully refuse.


For you Chiquito:

What were you smoking?

The only times it bothers me is while I'm eating. I'll occasionally smoke by the pool at night. Maybe once a month.

As I said, just a cigarette, Marlboro Light 100, six to eight ft away, but don't remember how wind was blowing. Similar incidents have happened to me before, so maybe I'm overly sensitive.