scrabbler1
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2009
- Messages
- 6,699
I suspect this had a lot more to do with people's desire to avoid confrontation than supporting smoking. My guess is they were upset because you "made a scene". The average person does not like that......regardless of who is right and who is wrong.
I doubt I would have made the effort to confront him, but I sure would have been pleased as punch to see someone else confront him, and would have supported your position.
To me, it was the rude smoker who was causing the scene. I refused to be a doormat and ride in an elevator which would feel like a gas chamber and be a fire hazard, so I stood up for myself. Arrogant smokers count on others to suffer in silence when they smoke in places they are not supposed to.
Before all the people left the elevator, I had yelled out, "Security!" to get the old guy who watched the lobby area to get the smoker to leave. However, he (a smoker, unfortunately) just walked away when I pointed out the smoker inside the elevator with me. If I had the assertiveness back then I would acquire later, I would have reported that lobby guy to my company's administrative services department and to the building's management. To top this off, this confrontation happened to occur on my birthday.
I guess I thought yelling "Security!" would have had the same positive effect it had the year before when a smoker tried to do the same thing at my college. She entered an elevator with a lit cig and I stood in the doorway and asked her to leave or put out the cig. (There were no other passengers this time.) She snarled at me so I yelled for security. The uniformed guard walked over and ordered her out of the elevator. She snarled again at me and I let the door close and went on my merry way.
Back then, I was always careful to look for smokers trying to "hide" their lit cigs between their fingers and would make sure to board the elevator near the control panel so I could hold the Door Open button if I had to. This was a common occurrence when I was in college, as students who smoked were frequently rude in this way.
Again, in my mind, it was always the smoker who was causing the scene with his rude, inconsiderate, and illegal actions. Reacting to such acts to thwart such actions was the only right thing to do and not be a doormat.