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| No Smoking sign. |
1. "A custome lothsome to the eye, hatefull to the Nose, harmefull to the braine, dangerous to the Lungs, and in the blacke stinking fume thereof, neerest resembling the horrible Stigian smoke of the pit that is bottomelesse".
2. This famous quote was written by James I of England (also known as James VI of Scotland) in his treatise
A Counterblaste to Tobacco, where his majesty described his distaste for tobacco smoking.
3. As a non-smoker, I know how annoying and bad smoking, particularly, tobacco smoking, can be. And as James I of England wrote, it is hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain and dangerous to the lungs.
4. To begin with, back in my childhood days, I used to tell my grandfather to stop smoking. Back then, I didn't treat cigarette smokers with total hostility like today.
5. I can still remember back in the mid-90s, I accompanied my grandfather along with my father, grandmother and their relatives to a traditional healer to cure what he believed to be a black magic curse being cast upon him by someone, as he complained of coughing up blood.
6. However, as it turns out, it was not black magic that caused him to cough up blood; it was lung cancer. This was finally revealed after he was admitted to the hospital.
7. My grandfather finally passed away in 2004, and yes, I know what caused it.
8. To be honest, I loved my late grandfather; his death affected me so much that travelling to Pulau Pinang were never the same again. His death also made me failed to change my grandfather's smoking habits, as he was still smoking on that same year I last saw him alive.
9. Since then, I dislike smokers even more, as their habits are dangerous, not only to themselves, but also, to the people nearby the smoker. In fact, passive smoking is more dangerous than smoking itself!
10. Speaking of passive smoking, I still remember what my late father told me about a friend of his, who never smoked, was working at a workplace where the majority of them are cigarette smokers. What happened after that? That said person died, due to lung problems caused by passive smoking, while the other workers who smoked, did not.
11. To move on; I always feel extremely uncomfortable in places where people are smoking, especially at this one Malay restaurant and a Mamak restaurant I frequented. Everytime I go there to have a drink while using their Wi-Fi, whenever I come home, my shirt would always smell like cigarette smoke.
12. Looking back, it makes me wondering: Aren't restaurants a place where people EAT AND DRINK?
Are restaurants here slowly turning into open smoking lounges? Does smoking really quell one's hunger and thirst??? These situations really confused me a lot.
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| This is the situation that normally annoyed many non-smokers at restaurants. Image by Budak Kartun. |
13. Finally, came the breaking point that eventually made me totally hostile towards cigarette smokers: about a year ago, my mother and I accompanied my father to Hospital Serdang when I went for a toilet break at a toilet located at the hospital's Rehab section, located near the hospital pharmacy. The decision to use that toilet was because, as my parents told me, it was much cleaner and more comfortable than the toilet located near the lift lobby which tended to be full. Not only that, it was gloomy, and some doors to the stalls are damaged.
14. Once I got to the Rehab toilet, unfortunately, I had no choice but to use the disabled persons' toilet (OKU toilet), since the normal patrons' toilet was closed for cleaning while the lift lobby toilet was full. Once I got inside to use it, I was greeted with a disgusting smell of, guess what? CIGARETTE SMOKE!
15. Can you imagine how does it feel when you discovered someone is smoking at a place where it is not only forbidden to smoke at all costs, but also, the place where it is synonymous with HEALTHCARE?
16. Since hospitals are obvious NO SMOKING ZONES, I am highly disgusted at how UNCIVILISED these people are. Seriously, do these people have, I don't know, MENTAL PROBLEMS?!
17. DO THEY KNOW THAT IT IS FORBIDDEN AT ALL COSTS TO SMOKE AT HOSPITALS, EVEN IN THE TOILETS?! WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME THESE PEOPLE HAVE HEARD THE WORD 'HEALTH' CARE?!
18. Guess it is true that cigarettes REALLY does make you stupid!
19. Oh, did I forgot to mention that cigarettes use pigs' blood as filter ingredients?
20. Since that incident, I vowed to show no tolerance towards cigarette smokers at all costs. For example, whenever someone is smoking nearby, I would choose to avoid them and 'tell' them by coughing (they tend to ignore it, as expected), or if I can't go anywhere, I would try not to breathe! In fact, as proof to that, there was this one night at the Mamak restaurant I frequented, I decided to change places at random intervals just to avoid smokers nearby (interestingly enough, the Mamak restaurant I frequented sells cigarettes!).
21. I know some people may deny this, cigarette smokers are sometimes notorious for being rude.
22. Want an example of the rudeness? Say, if you approach a smoker who is smoking at an area with the obvious NO SMOKING sign placed, and tell that person not to smoke, the probable responses you would get are either of these:
- ignored
- have cigarette smoke blown to your face
- being told off rudely by the smoker
- the smoker threatening to fight you
- the smoker literally fighting against you, with bare fists and burning cigarette tip!
23. Although I have to admit there are some smokers who understand that some people around them who loathe the smoke, there is one problem; I can't tell whether that person really understand our distaste or not, which is why I prefer to keep my mouth shut and avoid them.
24. Anyway, since I view cigarette smokers with total hostility (thanks to my bad experience at Hospital Serdang, mind you), what about vapers?
25. I have no problem with vapers, since they use a vaporizer that only produces steam. While cigarette smoke smells disgusting, vape steam tends to smell like fruits, although it is still unhealthy nevertheless!
RemainUnknown522 Out.
