I was at this kopitiam sometime ago with a friend. We were happily chatting away while sipping a nice cup of Teh-C after a tasty bowl of Kolomee ~ (yummy!). However, the conversation was interrupted when the stinking smell of burnt tobacco passed by our nostrils. Urrghhh!~ What's worst next was that the wind was blowing towards our direction. Three men, in their mid-thirties or so were sitting in the next adjacent table proudly puffing away... inconsiderately! Yes, inconsiderately! And I stressed that again - inconsiderately endangering other people's health! Hey, some of us are trying to breath here, ok? Sure, we are living in a world where the air is polluted with free-radicals, but some of us here are trying live a healthier life by avoiding what we obviously know is hazardous. Breathing secondhand smoke can be extremely harmful in the long run. After all, prevention is better than cure.

In a typical kopitiam, there are no zones divided as "Smoking" or "Non-Smoking". So, customers are entitled to sit wherever they want. But surely, this is not a good enough excuse for smokers to be inconsiderate when non-smokers are around? Perhaps they can take the liberty to lower the cigarette in their hand down to the ground -- this would be a HUGE favor to our poor nostrils; at least when the wind blows the smoke doesn't blow directly to our faces and not to mention turning our clothes to smell awfully smoky. Bluehkk!~

As for air-conditioned places, be it cafes, restaurants or even offices, is there really any distinction between "Smoking" or "Non-smoking" zones? Many times when we walk into a typical air-conditioned cafe or restaurant, we will see signs marking the zone as smoking or non-smoking and most of these places are not being divided properly -- no special room for the non-smoking zone. So, what difference does it make when the air-conditioner is running and the two supposedly different zones are sharing the same air? Even with air filters, the smoky air is circulating around both zones and everybody is inhaling smoke!~ Healthy, huh?

Smoking is definitely a choice of unhealthy addiction, not to mention a selfish act -- indirectly causing harm to other's health and oneself -- causing anxiety to the family members or people who cares about the smoker's health. And what about the utter wastage of money? At present, they spend a huge amount of money on who knows how many packs of cigarettes daily. But have they ever thought that on one fine day, they would be spending a huge amount of money on medications as a consequence to this hard-to-kick habit. Sigh!~ I can never understand what the smokers are thinking when they are puffing happily away. Don't they realise that they are posing danger to themselves as much as the people around?

Smoking in the office is another huge issue. Some people just never learn that air-conditioned rooms are non-smoking zone! Isn't this common sense? Naturally, an office is fully air-conditioned except maybe for its pantries and washrooms. But puffing in pantries and washrooms is definitely a NO NO! Oh please! We also need to breath there. Please go somewhere where non-smokers wouldn't go or perhaps a designated area, be it outside of the office building. Sad to say, the offence is usually committed by those big shots -- causing other staff (smokers) to act by example. So, where is this all leading? Is there no hope for a smoke-free world?