vraiblonde said:
By that token, I should also assume that noisy people who insist on yakyakking throughout their meal, annoying me beyond words, should be silenced, right? After all, the fundamental purpose of a restaurant is eating, not talking.
And all televisions should be removed - you're there to eat, not watch TV.
Right?
Yes and no. You see, talking (which I would be all for banning yackers and those ultra-loud screechy laughers from anywhere) and watching TV can be easily controlled. For example, if you want a quiet table alone, as many of us do, you can get that. If you don't want to see/hear the TV, you can be seated away from the noise and distraction. But once you puffers blow a load of cig smoke into the air, there's no way you can control where it goes. If it hovered in a vicous dark cloud over the smoking area, I would say "smoke'em if you got 'em." But that's not the case. You can be sitting on the far side of a restaurant and still get clobbered by a cloud of smoke.
Next, any restauraunteer or barkeep who opens his/her door to the public IS NOT the determining authority as to what his/her policies will be. If it is a public establishment, he/she most offer a minimal level of service which is acceptable to the public, i.e., food, drinking, etc. He/she does not need to provide any coutesies to smokers unless they are specifically a smoking establishment, such as a cigar bar. Private clubs are different and can set their own standards.
Restaurant owners are allowed (or should be allowed) to set whatever rules they want in their establishment. If you want to eat there and the restaurant allows smoking, you have to put up with it. If you smoke and the restaurant doesn't allow it, you have to put up with it to eat there. It's simple.
