It's all about butts...

I guess I was just lulled into complacency by living in NYC where you have the choice of not smoking everywhere; in, on, or near any venue. Totally forgetting that smoking laws are state’s rights issues I stumbled across a vestige of the bad old days last week in Florida. I had occasion to participate in a sporting event in Ft. Myers and, as is the usual pattern with these things, we macho types repaired to a local pub to celebrate our victories and/or drown our sorrows in the pathos of defeat. The popular pub of choice for this particular event is called Tubby’s and it’s a nice, cozy little place with wonderful service and extra-friendly clientele. They even gave me a freebie t-shirt. Anyway, the Florida law states that you can allow smoking in your establishment if you serve no food, which even includes the stray bowl of peanuts on the bar. One free kernel of popcorn and you have to send your smokers out to the sidewalk or, in this case, a large, hot, paved parking lot. When these partial smoking laws went into effect in Florida I guess every establishment had to make a choice and Tubby’s came down on the side of smokers, presumably the motive being the perception of higher profits, to hell with the general health of employees and clientele.

Although buoyed by peer friendship and the camaraderie of complete strangers, after twenty minutes I found myself standing out in that parking lot with burning eyes and scratchy tonsils. Luckily the designated driver for our group was in the same boat and, thus, we had the power (and the wheels) to force our less-allergic companions into the realm of breathable ozone and we went elsewhere for our victory (or, see pathos reference above) cocktails, an establishment where food is served and, thus, it’s the smokers who are relegated to the sidewalk. Was this fair to everybody? Probably not, but are the smoking wars ever fair? I guess I should feel guilty about keeping that t-shirt. But it’s a really nice shirt and I like it.