To the otherwise reasonable people who insist on smoking at the various entrances to the St. John’s Arts and Culture Centre at intermission: if you simply must smoke just outside the doors, could you please determine which direction the wind is coming from and smoke downwind from the entrances?
You may think your smoke emissions are dispersed by our famously vigorous winds but if you are upwind, the smoke is immediately noticeable to other people who come outdoors to get a breath of cool, fresh air.
At the NSO’s highly-enjoyable Final Frontier concert on Friday night (April 20) I stepped outside the main entrance and was immediately hit by the nasty stench of tobacco smoke. I’m an asthmatic and it caused immediate pain in my lungs and required use of a steroid inhaler.
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I explained the problem to the smoker and politely asked if she could go downwind. She refused but did go a few steps further away upwind. It made no difference.
In addition to the smoke, there were dozens of cigarette butts that had been stomped out on the entrance steps and they emitted that skanky cigarette butt smell that is so unpleasant.
The Arts and Culture Centres shouldn’t have to bear the additional cost of hiring “babysitters” to enforce the existing no smoking policy.
There are big signs reminding people that smoking is not acceptable. Yet some smokers indulge in the magical thinking that says no one will notice.
We very much do notice and you don’t have to be an asthmatic to be harmed by second hand smoke.
So why do smokers continue this anti-social, harmful-to-others behaviour?
These are probably the same people who would run to help you up if you fell or stop to help you change a flat tire. But when it comes to second hand smoke, they are blind to the harm and discomfort they directly cause.
There are none so blind as those who will not see.
Mary McKim
Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s
