When the new smoking law took effect 10/1, the Flying Saucer went 21 and up. The plan, I was told, was for the indoor room to be nonsmoking all the time. The outdoor room (The Garden) was to be smoking-allowed, which they can do because no one under 21 (customers or employees) is allowed inside.
Well, tonight I went to the Saucer and it was clear that those rules were only there for appearances’ sake. The real rules are, if you spend a significant amount of money in this bar, you can do whatever the hell you want. Inside or outside. During the past three months, if you wanted to smoke, you had to at least wait til 8 or go to the Garden. But tonight, the inner room – supposedly the nonsmoking room – was smokier than I had seen it in a while, even at 6:30, with regulars feeling free to light up at will. But, wait, it’s legal. Since all the people in the Saucer – employees and customers – were over 21, management was technically free to let people do whatever they want, so no laws were violated.
I’ve had a couple of people e-mail me, asking why I still support the Saucer, saying that I’m supporting a bar that has been allowed to flout the smoking law via a loophole. I dismissed their e-mails at first, thinking them to be a bit extreme. But after what I saw tonight, I may yet come around to my e-mail correspondents’ point of view. The inner room needs to be all nonsmoking, all the time, no matter who you are. NO EXCEPTIONS.