Would you have done anything?

[kulotsalot]

As some of you know, I take public transit. Yesterday, while waiting for a long-delayed bus at a super cold bus stop, three teenagers (I'd say around 12-15?) lit up and started smoking. Smoking at bus stops is illegal, and there is a sign that says so. I'm personally bothered by cigarette smoke but usually I just try to walk away or do my best to ignore, because I don't really like approaching people about their smoking. Most smokers are really defensive about their habits already, anyway. So I say nothing and do nothing.

And then they start talking. Really loud! Of course teenagers have no volume control (ok, some adults don't, either!). But it's not really the volume that bothered me... it's how they talked. Bitch this and motherfucker that and the fuckin fuckity fuck. You get the idea. One mom walked away with her kid and was visibly upset at how they were casually trading curses.

I felt like I wanted to tell them off, but then I felt like I was a big hypocrite since anyone who knows me knows that I *do* swear, too. But I like to think that I choose my audience, so to speak, and also not super loud so that the whole neighbourhood could hear me. In the end, I did nothing about the smoking and the yelling and the cursing, but I felt bad about my spinelessness.

What would you have done?

[Juan.Camaney]

Me? I would have walked up to them, snatched the cigarettes out of their mouths and put them on out on the floor while simultaneously looking at all of them and telling them "the next ones go out on your face."

All 6' 260 lbs of me can pull that off. You? No.

Beware of teenage rebels in great numbers. Its like they egg each other on to act stupider every day. They might have actually jacked you up had you said anything, so IMO, ignoring them was your best bet.

[fmb]

Ignoring the idiots was probably your best bet. I'm not saying that because you're a woman, I'm saying it for the reason Juan posted. Getting whacked on the head because of a cigarrette and language isn't worth it.

I probably would have said something to them because of the mother and child. If those two were not present I don't think I would have said anything to them. At their ages, I don't think a word from me would've changed their behavior.

What about discreetly snappping a pic and emailing the photo and explanation to your local police station? A cop may occasionally check the bus stop. It might help.

[Krasch]

While I'd have been tempted to go all Juan on their asses, I am Canadian and we generally need three people to agree before we confront anyone.

So I'd have endured it. That being said, it can be braver to persevere through a challenging situation than to attempt to change it.

[joerockhead]

I would have said something to them, but I too am fairly big. I would have asked them to put out the cigarettes and keep the profanity to a minimum.

And depending on how they respond, probably act all tough, I would respond.

[ryster]

I suppose I ain't too far past them in years, but cursing around kids and women does bother me. I don't really care about smoking though, and think it's a bit ridiculous that laws that prohibit smoking in public places even exist.

So I'da probably told em to watch their language, like before the mom walked off with her kid.

[Juan.Camaney]

and think it's a bit ridiculous that laws that prohibit smoking in public places even exist.
If you had asthma and were one cigarrette away from an attack and then dying, you'd think otherwise.

[kulotsalot]

I suppose I ain't too far past them in years, but cursing around kids and women does bother me. I don't really care about smoking though, and think it's a bit ridiculous that laws that prohibit smoking in public places even exist.

So I'da probably told em to watch their language, like before the mom walked off with her kid.

Basically think of the most offensive smell on the planet for you - if that's poop, garbage, fermenting urine, whatever it is, just think about it - and think about that being puffed into your face because you are standing next to a smoker, or walking behind a smoker, or downwind from a smoker, etc. That's what it feels like for me.

[Krasch]

If you had asthma and were one cigarrette away from an attack and then dying, you'd think otherwise.
Agreed, burning tobacco smoke also releases alpha radiation, which when inhaled directly irradiates your lung tissue. This is a primary reason why people get lung cancer from tobacco products.

I'm all for personal choice as a right-winger, but once that stuff is in the air all personal choice is taken away for no-smokers in the area. The smoke is there for them to inhale, like it or not.

That's not even counting the recently discovered risk of cancer from third-hand smoke, i.e. smoke in the air depositing on your clothes/skin.

In that light, one person's personal choice to nuke themselves just doesn't stack up against the risk to others.

[ravenshrike]

That's not even counting the recently discovered risk of cancer from third-hand smoke, i.e. smoke in the air depositing on your clothes/skin.
Um, there hasn't even been a minor correlation proven between cognitive defects and third-hand smoke, they've merely been 'associated', which in research terms means "we don't actually have a link that stands under scrutiny, but it's bad, mmmkay". Not to mention that I was around third-hand smoke all the frigging time as a young kid(when development of the neural network is at it's most vulnerable) and I had the fastest reading speed and highest reading comprehension of anybody in high-school until senior year(At which point that was handed over to this really cute freshman).