Restaurant Smoking…Part Deux and Finale

I know I have already put together a post ranting about the liberties offered to dining smoker, and that was all of two weeks ago.  Any of the few non-smoking followers have been curiously silent on the issue, and as for you smoking followers…my last comment to just take your smoking outside is one you are all familiar with.  I assume I have only offended…oh pretty much everyone by now.

Sometimes just one sticker, sometimes both...I do like the yellow warning triangle though

Obviously I am not done with this topic though.  I know, let it go…but that user biased Wikipedia is a great source of information.  Upon further investigation into smoking regulations in Austria, restaurants bigger than 800 sq.ft. are required to have a non-smoking section.  We did see some of these in both Salzburg and Vienna, with the glass wall separators making me wonder if the odd fish should also be swimming around in there…next to the treasure chest that opens with an accumulation of bubbles.  With smaller establishments, they have the option to be all smoking if the staff all agree inhaling second-hand smoke for 8-10 hours a day won’t compromise their typical lifestyle.  I guess WCB hasn’t had a say in this just yet.

I did do a little looking into regulations for the Czech Republic, just to be fully prepared for whatever dining experience might be in place here and was not shocked to find the lack of any smoking specific rules.   The only enforceable rule for restaurants is that they have a sticker in the window indicating if they are a smoking permitted establishment…and if they might have a non-smoking section.  The equivalent may be to put a hazard sticker in the window to say ‘This building may contain asbestos…”.  Of course not all establishments prominently display these stickers in the most visible of locations, making the hunt for these symbols all the more exciting.

Add smoking to the rest of these. Since when did we ever heed a yellow triangle warning?

So in choosing a dining establishment, I am now looking for a menu that I can read, an atmosphere that looks like the food hasn’t been recently scraped off the floor, menu prices that aren’t exorbitant, and add to that smoking or non-smoking.  Really, if the smoking option wasn’t there…then wouldn’t every restaurant be an option for every individual looking to dine?  Sure it curtails the freedoms of those that choose to pollute the air with their smouldering butts, but I have to ask as a business owner… why put the added investment in to separate confines and ducting to accommodate such habits?  Is it an actual ‘investment’?  Even the non-smoking section still has that stale smoke smell… one that has marinated the walls and fabric making it smell like…well i guess it’s my clothes after walking down the sidewalk through a hoard of Italian touristas.  Not only that, but why would I want to alienate a large portion of my potential customer base?  And has anyone polled smokers to know how many of them appreciate a strong whiff of Colt hanging in the air to mask the aromatics of an expensive wine.

There are plenty of studies out there to suggest an increase and decrease in business seen by specific establishments…but no one can justify staying home for a drink instead of going out only because they can’t have a smoke in the place.  Those few individuals were already considering the option.  Those with enough incentive to get out of the house will do so anyways.  There has always been a general fear to go with a general smoking ban, with studies going a number of different directions (depending on who is paying for the work).  As Melanie says…’Just rip the band-aid off and do it already!’.

Alright, I think I have made my point.  As a final note…then I will drop the subject, I seem to recall washrooms in each establishment for draining the contents of your bladder in a sanitary fashion.  I want to equate the drifting of cigarette smoke to my table, to a puddle of urine running across the floor.  I don’t take a piss at my table like a feral dog, to then have it run through the grout lines between tiles to where your coat is haphazardly draped over your chair and onto the floor.  Take it outside folks!  Everywhere!