Lazy or just can't read, or ????

[FuzzyKitten99]

The people doing this may or may not even be the bank customers, because the location is kind of on a main sidewalk in my city's downtown, right across from the county courthouse.

So I go to the bank to deposit some cash in the atm. Normally I just go to the drive-up atm, but it was out of order, so I had to go to the walk-up one. Because of security, you have to slide your atm card in the little thingy outside to get to the atm lobby. I couldn't immediately find my card so I walk to the other side of the sidewalk to the large stone planter thing. Bolted to this thing, is one of those cigarette butt tubes. As I set my purse on the ledge to look for my card, I notice an abundance of cigarette butts scattered within bushes, right on the other side of this tube thingy to which the butts are supposed to go. How disgusting. Are these smokers that lazy to not move their hand an extra 6 inches to the right (or left depending on your approach) to dispose of the butt in the designated canister?

Or how about on Sunday, we took our kids with some friends and their kids to the local zoo. Part of the zoo's property houses the St. Paul Conservatory. The whole property of the conservatory is non-smoking, so you pretty much need to wear the patch if you're gonna be there more than a couple hours (which is easy to do given the size and the new mock-Amazon rainforest exhibit). One of our friends is a smoker, and she had no issue with this, respecting the conservatory's wishes. There was another guy walking near us as we are entering, smoking a cigarette. He saw the sign that said it is non-smoking property. You know what he does? He stops, takes a last drag, and tosses the still-lit-butt into the middle of the conservatory lawn! Right in the open. WTF??!! There was a cig-butt can 10 feet away. Since we haven't had as much rain lately as we should, that could have started a fire if it had hit dry enough grass.

I am not one of those rabid non-smokers that harp on the ones that do. I choose not to smoke and I only ask that smokers not do so in my home. I don't care other than that, it is your choice. Do what you want. I don't mind it much out in public or in other peoples' homes. Smoke all you want wherever it is ok, but please put the butts somewhere other than the ground or the landscaping. The places that are really bad are stoplight curbs, especially on the drivers' side.

2 years ago, some melon-head decided to flick a still-lit butt out the window while on the freeway here, and it started a fire so big (big open area and we hadn't had more than an inch of rain in 3 weeks) that the crew building the new Lowe's building had to be evacuated due to smoke and the fire came within 30 feet of the site.

[April]

Our zoo gets extremely crowded. A few years ago, due to the extreme dryness, and the crowds it went to non-smoking. Then this year, it is non smoking except for designated areas, which are equipped with a fire extinguisher, a bench, and an ashtray thingy.

DH and I are glad they put these in, but it's shocking how many peopl eare walking around with cigarettes, which there is no ashtray for in the open areas, PLUS kids run around wild there (it's a zoo, as long as they don't hurt anyone or anything...) and could easily be burnt

[Seshat]

I had a hand-knitted jacket burned by a carelessly-handled cigarette. I was really, really annoyed.

Fortunately, I wasn't wearing it at the time. And it was repairable, but you could still see the mark if you looked.

[sarahj]

People smoke under covered areas at train stations, though that's illegal now. And at a rave last weekend, with HUGE signs, people still smoked. Made me cough like crazy. On July 1st, all our clubs will be non-smoking. I can't wait to see how this is enforced.

[mariamousie1]

I see that all the time. It's disgusting. It's bad enough you're dirtying your lungs and our air, but do you have to make the streets all filthy too? I am a big non-smoker as you can tell. I don't tell people what to do as long as they're not blowing it in my face but it has always bothered me. I better stop this post before I go off on a rant.

[Sliceanddice]

Yeah ranted about this.
What bugs me is when i try to inforce the law by asking the drive thru customers kindly to put out their cigerettes and get cussed by them and then had have my manager come and tell just to serve them. I know tell them "sure heres the head set, have fun. If you aren;t going to back me up, you can be responcible for every thing"

[FuzzyKitten99]

See, I don't care if people smoke where it is allowed, as long as they dispose of the butts in a place other than the ground/landscaping. I don't like that the government tells private property owners (specifically businesses) that smoking is not allowed in their building. I don't smoke, but I believe it should be up to the property owner, not the government to decide what they want to allow.

Anyway, it just irks me when I have to see the mess that smokers make with their little habit. We've gotten people to mostly stop littering regular garbage(although there's the select few that still do), why can't they do the same with their cig butts?

[Gawdzillers]

I've been burned by a cigarette many times. All by my parents.
The ashtray in the car is right under the very small arm rest. I had my arm, well, resting on it, kinda near the ashtray. My mom went to tap her cigarette out in the tray without looking, and it hit my arm. I flipped out and nearly had a stroke.

Another time, (at band camp...) my dad and I were at a store, can't remember what, and he was smoking. I went to point at something and accidentally rubbed my hand across the cigarette.
Me: Hey, dad check thi- JESUS FUCK.

[MMATM]

On one of my semi-frequent road trips between school and home, traffic was backed up for at least three miles and a huge column of black smoke was rising up from the side of the road. About a half-acre had been torched by some asshole tossing their still-lit cigarette out the passenger window and into the brush on the side of the road. It's tough to get fire trucks to the middle of nowhere fifty miles out of West Bumfuck, especially in a hurry. It's a damn good thing the wind wasn't bad that day or we could've had an East Coast California-style wildfire.

BTW: "JESUS FUCK" may be the funniest thing I've ever heard. Not positive yet, but I'll check and get back to you all on that.


EDIT: While "JESUS FUCK" comes in a close second, the winner still is and may always be "Are you made of leprechauns? 'Cause that was awesome!"
A million jillion cookies to whomever can identify where that's from. (Hint: It's an obscure quote from a non-obscure source.)

[scruff]

Our local pub has a non smoking section and a smoking section.
Trouble is, you have to walk though the smoking section to get to the bar.
I can't wait till July 1st.
:-)