The issue of smoking in Vienna and all over in Austria is a big deal for me. The fact that smoking is still allowed indoors is beyond my comprehension. It was outlawed in California starting in 1990. That’s 20 years ago!
I am a non-smoker. Always have been and always will be. I don’t know a single Californian who smokes. I move to Vienna and almost everyone does it. Being accustomed to a non-smoking environment and then moving to Vienna is a shock. People light up and I reel back in disgust. The smell is so incredibly offensive.
The smell of cigarette smoke is bad, but the direct effects of others bad habits on me really upsets me. I go to a restaurant and can’t enjoy my food because all I can smell is smoke. My eyes burn. I feel nauseous. I feel as if I don’t get enough air.
When I come home, I reek of it. My hair, my clothes, and I swear I can feel it on my skin. I jump in the shower like a crazy person and scrub down. I throw all of my clothes in the washing machine just to alleviate myself of the offensive odor.
What’s worse is the arrogance of smokers. They have an attitude of, “To hell with you, I’ll smoke where I want when I want. It’s my right” I think the attitude comes from not understanding the bad impression smoking gives non-smokers.
As stated earlier. I reel back in disgust when I see someone light up.
Needless to say I am 100% for a ban on indoor smoking in Vienna and Austria. I’m not trying to tell people to stop smoking because it is their personal choice. What I want is for the vile habit of smoking to stop directly affecting me.
First of all, I think you’re the one that is uneducated. People don’t smoke to spite other people. I am a smoker, but I do not smoke around non-smokers, and I do not blow smoke at people intentionally. Smoking is a choice, and if people want to poison themselves, who are you to pass judgment on them? When someone who is addicted to smoking smells cigarette smoke, they want a cigarette themselves. If smoking were banned from indoor areas in Vienna, then obviously you would have a better time whenever you happen to go out to restaurants, etc. But don’t blame the smokers for the fact that the government has not placed a ban on smoking – they are just exercising their right to smoke publicly, as long as it is actually allowed. If you don’t like it, don’t go out. No one is forcing you to inhale the secondhand smoke and then complain about it. So, honestly.. you are a very judgmental person, Britta, and maybe you can brush up on your facts on addiction before you so readily pass judgment on those who are actually just exercising their right to smoke publicly. Thanks.
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i’ll point you to this database of smoke free restaurants, coffee houses etc in Vienna:
http://da.stinkts.net/
have to say that i’m happy to be back in california for a while and away from the smoking. its an amazing cultural oddity. how the Austrians see this different from so many other 1st world countries.
You´re in Europe now… they love their smoking, and drugs too. Here I was the only one who didnt smoke and who didnt do drugs (pot or marijuana especially, thats common).
I agree with you. I´m used to it now, since my boyfriend smokes but I really feel a difference coming from iceland where its forbidden to smoke inside and then when i come back and i reek of smoke.
What suprised me the most was all the smoking! For a country that is very eco-conscience I was shocked. They have wind energy and recycling. They are very green culture in general yet everyone smokes. It makes no sense to me. I even had to stick a no smoking sign on our door because they just start smoking without asking in my home! It offends me. I really hate it. I love it here but I don’t love all the smoking.
Hey Ron, thanks for the tip
HA!
I have an Austrian friend who wants to go study in the US. I went to school in the mid-west and was telling him how I thought Chicago was a great city to study in, but he would probably enjoy LA..blah..blah… he answered, “Yes, Chicago would be a great city, but I don’t think I could stay there so long. Maybe only a few days.”
I looked at him, “But why?”
He answered, “Because of the bad air quality, in the US there are so many cities with poor air quality.” And then he lit up a cigarette.
Katia- What do I do as a non-smoker that endangers your health? You endanger mine when I have to breath in your smoke. Britta is not the uneducated one you are. If you choose to harm your own body go right ahead but leave mine alone!! There is no way you can control your cloud of smoke to not head over to non-smokers. If you have an addiction then seek help for it. There are plenty or programs and medications that can help. “If you don’t like it don’t go out”.. that was an incredibly rude statement (typical of smokers). What gives you the right to go out and not us?? We should have the right to enjoy ourselves also. One day you will suffer some ill effects from smoking then be crying about it; even though you as an educated person knew all of the risks involved. The sad part is your smoke will probably have damaged a non-smokers health too. Take your cigarettes and shove them! Britta is just too polite to tell you that!
Hi Chanda,
Oh I do have to confess that I am not entirely innocent. The blog post was a bit harsh, and then I edited it a bit to take the bite out a little.
However, I think Katia’s comments only confirmed my thoughts of the arrogance of Austrian smokers.
Barticagyal in Zell am See
I almost died laughing over your comment. My husband’s mother does it too. She lives out in the country. She tells me that I’m crazy for living in the city because I am missing out on all of the good, fresh air from the country. Then she sucks on her cancer stick. I pointed out the irony and she said that’s why she can smoke. The country air keeps her lungs healthy.
I perfectly agree with you… I am the same… It is terrible, and it should be forbidden to smoke in any public places, especially because of our kids…
Smokers and non smokers endless fighting:) I am European, lived in Montreal now in USA and fighting my smoking habit but still have one or two a day. I can see why smoking in-doors in public places such as restaurants especially should be banned for various reasons. However I think that Bars should allow a smoking section at least or as here in Georgia allow smokers to light up after 10 pm in some places. Smoking and non-smoking restaurants as a variety is also an option, just a though. This way people will keep their choices and everyone will be happy they have one:) By the way, I respectfully disagree with Anna C, calling marijuana a drug, that just makes me laugh… drugs are at the CVS pharmacy, Mary Jane is just a herb and has medicinal properties but just banned by majority of unwise lawmakers:)
Boom and peace to all!
I am thinking of going to live in Viena and I definitely I’ve made up my mind. I’ll go to Vienna because smoking is not absolutely forbidden. One may choose to smoke or not to smoke, go to places for smokers and go to no smoking places.
I love cities open to non smokers and smokers. I like Vienna.
I just moved here, and I can’t stand the smoking in restaurants and pubs. I used to live in New York where it was banned about 10 years ago. I like pubs. I like bars. I like going out. In New York you can do it without smelling like a dirty ash-tray. Smokers go outside to get their fix – and I have never heard any smoker in NY complain about it. They accept they should not smoke in public enclosed areas. Actually smoking decreased in New York and patronage in pubs increased after the ban was made. If Vienna wants more people to go out to restaurants and bars, then ban smoking indoors. UK has done, Germany, and EVEN the French. Why is Austria so backwards? Must be the proximity to the old Eastern block countries where the cancer rates from smoking are the highest in Europe.
Hi all,
I live in Wien. I hated the cigarretes smell since I was a child, so that made me to be a non smoker person. Life in Wien is great, but I have to recognise that frustrate me very much when I go out to restaurants or cafes as I can never enjoy my evening because of the smokers.
I had a lung cancer at the age of 24 year old. I only have one lung. I would like to keep myself healthy and enjoy of a free smoking environment when I am in public places. Sometimes, I have asked politely to the smoker persons around me to stop smoking and I always got a negative answer from them about my request; with the consecuence that if I was in a restaurant, I had to move to another table when that was possible or simply pay my bill and go. I think that smoker people still do not know how much damage are making to their lungs. As a non smoker person I am lucky that with one lung , I can do things that a person with two could make; but if a smoker person had a lung cancer and would lose one, it would be very, very, very difficult for him/her to breath. Really, one person does not know what is not to be able to breath, until things like that happens; then smoker people will remember how cool and great was to inhale and blow smoking for nothing!!!