This morning I woke up and realized that one of my posts this week is a perfect illustration of a point I made in another. On Monday I posted about why I hate smoking so much – it’s not that it’s a nasty habit or an unhealthy habit, but that it’s an obnoxious habit. Smokers tend to have a total lack of consideration for anyone else in the world where their habit is concerned.
Well, last night I made a post about the Flying Saucer’s enforcement of its smoking policy, and this morning I realized how perfectly it illustrates that smoking is obnoxious. In case you missed that post: The Saucer went 21 and up on Monday, which under the new law grants them the right to let patrons continue to smoke. In an attempt to appeal to nonsmokers as well, they declared that the indoor room would be nonsmoking all the time, and the outdoor room (the Garden) would be the smoking section.
But, in reality, here’s what really happened. Regulars, people known to consistently come in and spend money, would sit at the bar in the nonsmoking indoor room and say, “Gotta go smoke… sure wish I could still do it here.” And the bartender, manager or waitress would say, “Weeellll… this is the non-smoking room… but we like you, so…. shhhhh… here you go….” and then push an ashtray their way. By 9:00 there must have been 20 people in the inner room holding cigarettes. The air was as smoky in there as it was back in June, before any kind of smoking rules were in place.
It’s incredibly obnoxious that smokers can’t be troubled to walk 20 feet into the other room to indulge in their habit. Once again, their attitude is, they should be able to do whatever they want wherever they want, and the rest of the world will just have to deal with it.
I wouldn’t have a problem with the Saucer’s smoking policy if they did either of the following:
1) Scrap the non-smoking section altogether, and turn the entire bar (both rooms) into all-smoking, all-the-time; or
2) Keep the indoor room non-smoking, but start enforcing it on EVERYONE, including regulars, including VIPs, including Saucer employees who have gotten off work, including employees of other bars who come in there for a drink after work. EVERYONE.
But the de facto policy in place now – saying they have a nonsmoking room, when it’s actually full of smokers – is just a complete joke.
Coverage of their Oktoberfest events in this blog is hereby SUSPENDED for as long as they claim to have a nonsmoking room and I still see smokers in it. I won’t go back and take down old posts, but there will be no new ones, including no pictures of this Friday’s blessing of the kegs.
All right. Rant over for now. In other news, the Rapscallions, despite an extremely strong third round, came one point shy of the win at trivia last night. So we added $25 to our gift-certificate stash, bringing the total to $195, with about a month and a half before the oldest certificate expires.
Back later this morning with a “Wednesday update” post with info about events going on Downtown.