Smoke Free Restaurant and Bar! Would you go more or less?

That’s how it works here in Sweden in both bars and restaurants. But often the ventilation isn’t that good though. Many of my friends are contemplating giving up smoking rather than to step into “the gas chamber” as the smoking areas often are referred to.

I got that point but if there is no law then the majority of such places, and that may very well include those that non-smokers like to frequent for the food or drinks, will be few. As such is not much of a choice but I am rather “forced” [to stay out].
And, that’s my main point, where health hazards are an issue then it should not be left to the individual like the manager; else one could make the same argument for any other place, including busses, trains, offices/workplace etc.
Just picture that your boss tells you (non-smoker) to put up with the smoke produced by your office colleagues or “make the choice” not to come anymore, or the bus driver says “take a walk if you don’t like other passengers smoking in here”.

I would prefer 100% non-smoking restaurants; if people can stand a 12-hour or longer plane flight then what’s a few hours in a restaurant where you could always go out for a smoke? Don’t try this on a plane though. :wink:

I don’t think voting is a practial approach; how would you know if the ever-changing clientele of a bar/pub is a smoking or non-smoking majority?

Anyhow, I think it’s also a good time to state that I appreciate the consideration some of the HH venues and Forumosan smokers have shown. :sunglasses:

The pub for a lot of people is a sort of warm cacoon where they can relax, socialize and cater to the twin addictions. I wouldn’t dream of stepping into the middle of that and start complaining, at least not unless I felt like losing a few friends. People who smoke will want to smoke at the pub and most will continue to do so until regulations prevent them. Ultimately, that would benefit everyone.

Where are Uncle Bob’s and Uncle Alan’s contribution today/this evening on the the subject! :fume: Is tomorrow’s HH smoke free? :noway:

I don’t enjoy getting home from happy hours with smoke filled stinky clothing
I agree with Bob though. Leave people alone and let them smoke until regulations fix it

Or at least until they have a stroke or one of their limbs drops off with little warning.

The pub only serves one addiction/vice and that is crucial. If someone wants to set up a cigar bar then of course people who do not smoke will not go unless they wish to be hit with smoke. Most people on this thread arguing for a restaurant/bar’s rights to set up their own smoking policy are missing that point. You are not selling smoke. You are selling drinks and/or food and I come for these.

The analogy with club music then is seriously flawed as no one goes to a hip hop club unless they want to listen to the music. It’s not as if they went to a club for silence and found they weren’t getting it there. But that’s what it’s like when I go to a bar or restaurant and people are smoking. I came for the fare that is advertised but I am also getting a noseful of smoke which in most cases means I can’t actually enjoy what I came for.

When the taverncaptain goes to a hip hop club with friends he is going for the company not for the music. If he went for the music wouldn’t he be very annoyed if the club played it so low he couldn’t hear; or similarly, played some other music in addition to his favorite so that the second music actually hindered his enjoyment of the first?

Welcome to the world of second hand smoke. It’s like having a second, unwanted sound track being played atop the music at a concert you paid money to hear.

No.

No.[/quote]

I was sitting outside in the outside open space of a restaurant in Tienmu when a patron who ventured outside from the smoke free inside sat down at a table next to me.

She asked me if I wouldnt mind to stop smoking to which I replied that yes I would mind as I was sitting in the smoking area. The inside was iarcondintioned and the outside isnt. She got all upset and started saying but in Europe and America in public places yada yada yada

Well this is Taiwan. I dont smoke in peoples faces when they are eating and I can’t see why some people insist on making others who do enjoy a smoke… stop doing so.

I can’t imagine with all the fresh air around Carnegies why patrons would not be allowed to smoke.

[quote=“Muzha Man”] The pub only serves one addiction/vice and that is crucial. If someone wants to set up a cigar bar then of course people who do not smoke will not go unless they wish to be hit with smoke. Most people on this thread arguing for a restaurant/bar’s rights to set up their own smoking policy are missing that point. You are not selling smoke. You are selling drinks and/or food and I come for these.

The analogy with club music then is seriously flawed as no one goes to a hip hop club unless they want to listen to the music. It’s not as if they went to a club for silence and found they weren’t getting it there. But that’s what it’s like when I go to a bar or restaurant and people are smoking. I came for the fare that is advertised but I am also getting a noseful of smoke which in most cases means I can’t actually enjoy what I came for. [/quote]

While I agree 100% I think something you may need to accept for a while at least is that to a lot of people the cravings for cigarettes and alcohol feed off of each other. They drink, they REALLY wanna smoke. They smoke, they REALLY wanna drink. It’s not fair, it’s not reasonable, it’s an addiction. In the calm sober atmosphere of an internet message board I’ll say what I really think but no way would I raise a stink at a happy hour. In fact at the last HH I had forgotten about this whole issue and hardly noticed my fellow forumosans puffing away until they asked if it bothered me. I guess I’d just gotten used to the fact that people smoke in bars. Hopefully this will change but if does I suspect it will be the result of regulations as much as social pressure on individual smokers which of course is useful too, just not at the bar, IMHO.

[quote=“Satellite TV”]…I was sitting outside in the outside open space of a restaurant in Tianmu when a patron who ventured outside from the smoke free inside sat down at a table next to me.

She asked me if I wouldn’t mind to stop smoking to which I replied that yes I would mind as I was sitting in the smoking area. The inside was iarcondintioned and the outside isnt. She got all upset and started saying but in Europe and America in public places yada yada yada

…[/quote]

AFAIK, that lady was totally uninformed about Europe anyway. Back “home” you have to pass through a barricade of hyperactive smokers to get in or out from most places, and the outdoor areas are in fact the “smoking allowed” area.

Dear all,

On behalf of John Tung Foundation, a leading anti-tobacco industry NGO in Taiwan and our 102 NGO alliance in Tobacco controol, I am cordially asking for your support to the recent smoke free campaign in Taiwan.

If you are from countreis/region where regulation of banning smoking in indoor public and workplacese has been enacted, enforced or debated, and you personally support this policy/compaign, we would like to invite you to join this campaign.

We will be helding a press conference in our congress featuring people who live and make a life in Taiwan from all over the world. We hope to show solidarity and diversitiy in protecting HEALTH FOR ALL regardless where are we from. Smokers, nonsmokers don’t matter, we believe it is by all means, good for everyone’s health, we have gained signicant support from smokers as well. As you can also see in this thread.

Please post a reply directly at this thread or send a PM to tell me if you are interested, I will reply you a PM to tell you how to involve. I think this is going to a meaningful and fun experience.

Thanks, in advance

My eatery is 100% smoking free and I had never one person complaining about it … but than … maybe some smokers don’t come anymore due to this policy … on the other hand, I could lose customers if smoking were allowed :s well, we’ll never know …

I didn’t realised that, just thought it was lucky that nobody smoked there when I visited you. So in this case one reasone more to come to your place more often than. :smiley:

Hi, broonAle, sandman and elektronisk,

I read my post again. I decided to cancel large font size and colour on my previous posts. (I didn’t know you could actually do that).

As for the content, if it was not polite, my apology to BroonAle. I admit that I assumed BroonAle possessing certain position on the subject matter. And I assumed they were opposite to mine(pro smokefree policy implementing very soon in Taiwan). Even if they were truth, I didn’t have to to be mean or insulting. Again, I apologize to BroonAle for this. I guess that fighting Big Tobacco and related politicians in the past few months has made me overly offensive.

As for the correct grammer, DON’T YOU THINK IT IS TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR A LOCAL :s You know how forgiving locals think about weiguzen’s mandarine in general :wink: .

Thank you all.

Edit: oops, the mod is too fast. Feel free to can this one too.

We used to have a spell check on this site, but it disappeared at one point.

However, a quick Google came up with a free on-line spell check at http://www.spellcheck.net or an on-line spell and grammar check at http://www.spellchecker.net/spellcheck. You could give those a try.

Also, Microsoft Word has a grammar check, but I’m not sure how good it is.

Google has a great spell check on the google bar.

SuchAFob gave you a great tip.

No worries. I don’t think anybody here expects perfection. At the same time, I didn’t notice anyone picking on your grammar. It was mostly for the garish presentation. Don’t worry too much about it as most here are trying to be helpful.

Just remember this is Taiwan. What would happen if a restaurant owner went all no smoking then some beetle chewing HIC parks his Mercedes outside comes in and lights up? Do you know what the restaurant owner could do? NOTHING if he called the police he would probably get a ticket for bothering them.

Well, I’m not local and I would tell him to swallow his cigaret or get outside … than I might make the papers … :smiley:

I would definitely go more often to bars/restaurants if they were smoke free or had enclosed smoking areas. Just separating the floor into smoking and non-smoking does dick all.

I usually only visit places like Alleycats and Carnegies on the weekdays for an early dinner because there is generally less people there at those times, thus less chance of someone smoking. That’s another reason why I avoid HH, can’t stand the smoke.
When I’m looking for new restaurants to try and it’s smoky, I’ll leave.
Every restaurant owner is entitled to allow or disallow smoking/other policies in their own establishment; I just wouldn’t go if I don’t like it.

I do love Toronto though when they adopted the no smoking policy for restaurants. Now I can go anywhere to dine. I hope they do this in Taipei as well.