Victoria DeCanio – 1/2/07

This page was last updated on January 2, 2007.

Smoking and dining don’t mix; Victoria DeCanio; Beaver County Times; January 2, 2007.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“I would like to comment about the smoking ban.

“My family and I would like to dine out and not have to breathe in someone’s cigarette or cigar smoke. In most restaurants, you have to pass through the smoking section just to get to the non-smoking section. What sense does that make?”

[RWC] Not that it makes a difference, but in my experience the nonsmoking section tends to be in the front.

“There is a small restaurant that we no longer patronize because it didn’t have a non-smoking section.”

[RWC] Yes! That’s how it’s supposed to work. If Ms. DeCanio were a smoker and her favorite restaurant switched to nonsmoking, she might stop patronizing that establishment.

“When I questioned the waitress as to why they don’t make it smoke free or at least create a non-smoking section, she told me that they would lose all of their customers if they did that. Apparently, smokers are their preferred customers.”

[RWC] Isn’t that what businesses do, target their customers?

“I have even observed people smoking and eating at the same time. I think it’s pretty bad when you can’t even stop smoking long enough to finish a meal.”

[RWC] So what? Isn’t that a choice of the smoker?

“I would also like to be able to enter or exit an establishment without people smoking right outside the door.

“The bottom line is that yes, smokers have the right to smoke. However, common sense, common decency and being considerate of others should be followed.”

[RWC] Translation of “common sense, common decency and being considerate of others should be followed.”: I don’t smoke so I want smoking banned everywhere I frequent.

As a reminder, I’m a nonsmoker. I just believe property owner rights are more important than my being annoyed with tobacco smoke.