smoking and a busybody....how would yourespond?
By mzz663
@mzz663 (2772)
United States
September 22, 2007 10:52pm CST
My son's a senior and on the football team in high school.
Ohio passed a law not long ago about smoking indoors in public places.
I go to all of my sons games and dont leave the property until the game is over (he's gotten a few injuries and a concussion before and I actuallly need to be there in case he has to go to the hospital again.)
The last few years it was an unspoken rule that you dont smoke in the stands....which I've respected.
I go as far away from the crowd and field as I can.
Alot of other people smoke, I'm not the only one.
After the game was over friday night, I was in my own little space and this woman that I've seen at the school before, not a football parent...started telling me rather loudly that it was against the law to smoke on school property and that I'd get fined for it and I needed to put it out NOW. She's not an employee of the school, just one of the parents.
I've walked by coaches and teachers that know me, police officers that know me and no on said two words about me smoking.
Why is it that some people have nothing better to do than to start crap?
I'm going to confront her next week if she says something to me again and it could cause quite a scene....bigger than the one she caused and probably quite embarassing for her.
Unless she's the one writting the ticket for a fine, I think she should mind her own business.
Any opinions on this?
I know I'll get all kinds of opinions on smoking, but really....that's not my issue....it's people that can't mind their own business.....
it really pissed me off....
4 people like this
5 responses
@Destiny007 (5805)
• United States
23 Sep 07
She should definitely mind her own business. If she went out of her way to confront you, then she was really asking for it.
It is my sincere belief that sooner or later, one of these "in your face" anti-smoking Nazis is going to discover something a lot more hazardous then second hand smoke.
It is only a matter of time.
I don't know how it is where you are, but here the kids still smoke outside the school, and I am told that the teachers have an informal lounge/hideout where they smoke. The regular teachers lounge is a non-smoking area.
I would imagine that local customs would dictate whether or not smoking was allowed on the school property, regardless of what any state law said.
@mzz663 (2772)
• United States
23 Sep 07
I have to agree with you.....there are informal places everyone hangs out to smoke.
And yeah, that woman almost ran into something (and still might) a little more hazardous than second hand smoke (namely ME) and there's always the possibility of her saying something more stupid than that to someone else at the wrong time wrong place.
I wasn't expecting it, and was taken off guard, but a busybody came and said something to me about smacking my kid on the leg (to sit down in a grocery cart) and that it was child abuse (yrs ago) and I said something to the effect that....yeah, that would be a good thing! I could let them stand up in the cart, let them fall out and split their head wide open, I bet that wouldn't bother you as much seeing me smack them on the leg, would it?
and that was the end of that.....
Makes me wonder why stupid people are aloud to talk in the first place!
@Destiny007 (5805)
• United States
23 Sep 07
I worry less about stupid people talking then I do about them breeding...that's the real problem.
They do it because they think that since it is currently politically correct to bash smokers, that it is acceptable to get in someone's face about it.
People just don't seem to have much respect for others these days.
A lot of these smoking bans came into effect simply because non-smokers didn't have sense enough to stay out of the smoking areas.
1 person likes this
@MrNiceGuy (4141)
• United States
23 Sep 07
Well, it is illegal, but I can see why it would just be unnecessary for her to open her mouth like that. Look at it this way though, she did warn you and now you know.
Being a former football player, I can tell you that it is very annoying to smell smoke from the stands while you are huffing and puffing on the field. I know you're far away, but it wafts and it really is bothersome to get such a smell/feeling when you need your air that much.
@rosie_123 (6113)
•
23 Sep 07
Oh I'm with you on this. I am a smoker, - I would never smoke in anyone's house or car if they asked me not to, and I abide by the new rules here in England and don't light up in enclosed spaces,- but I would get really mad if this happened to me. I hate busy-bodies and trouble makers in all walks of life - and the whingeing, whining, anti-smoking brigade, are big on my "hate" list! If she had done it to me I wouldn't have reacted with anger or shouted or caused a scene - that is not my way at all - but I sure would have put her down with some quiet, cutting words that would have sent her away with her tail between her legs! LOL! I remember being outside in a Bar in Germany once with a German girlfriend of mine. We were both smoking - it was not against the law. This American couple came and sat at the table next to us and then whinged about our smoking and "polluting" their atmosphere - I guess they thought we were both German and wouldn't understand them. Then they glared over and started fanning themselves with their menus - so I quietly told them it was not "their" atmosphere, and they had seen my friend and I smoking when they sat down - so if they dodn't like it - they should go and sit somewhere else! They did:-)) Take care.
@sherrir101 (3670)
• Malinta, Ohio
23 Sep 07
Ohio laws suck. I think that you did right. That is how I would have reacted. People should mind their own business.
