Last night I met some friends out for dinner and wine for Dining Out for Life, the annual event that sees participating restaurants all over the country donating a portion of their proceeds from the evening to the fight against AIDS. It's a popular and worthy cause.
Dining al fresco at a Virginia-Highland restaurant, in Atlanta, however, I couldn't help but be struck by the irony as we were seated next to two chain smokers. So I died a little as I was Dining Out for Life. They smoked even as they were eating. The cigarettes were long and seemed to burn forever, indelibly. One of my friends had an allergy attack. I got a headache. None of us could taste our food. Well, either that or I was eating Crab a la Ashes.
Think I sound like a prudish pain in the ass? Well I don't give a damn. Smokers who light up in public places, particularly eating establishments, are one of two things: clueless or rude.
I don't want your lung cancer. Keep it for yourself please. And I don't want to smell like a stale cigarette butt--that's your perfume not mine. You can blow your smoke on me without my complaining when I can play Russian Roulette with a pistol to your head without your protesting.
For those of you who share my concern about this, I have recommendations:
1. Take one of those tiny hand-held fans with you when you dine out. When people light up near you and you can't taste your food, or breathe, blow the smoke right back at them. They should thank you. They're getting twice the toxins for their money. And the fans are so small you can put one in your lap or beside a table tent beer list and barely be noticed. Here is a link where you can order such gadgets:
Better yet--buy one of those water pistols with a fan attached so you can mist the smoker:
2. Or you can take a less-renegade route and appeal to your local government to ban smoking in public places. In Atlanta, where I live, Dekalb County has done just that. The powers that be in Fulton County, my county, have not yet been convinced.
3. You also have the option of talking to the restaurateur or the manager and asking that the establishment itself do a better job of segregating smokers and non-smokers. Oddly, some of them haven't seemed to notice that smoke does not stop at the sign that reads "No Smoking Section." It can't read.
