Share Real Life Stories

Better don't challenge locals even if you are legally and morally correct. This is not your country, you do not know who you are challenging, if they know or are related to someone in a position of power you might be on the next flight out. Just walk away...

kids always tell the truth when they are young, nice story, pity they can't stay young forever :)

Any smoker who has honestly given their best effort to stop smoking and has not been able to quit is weak willed and deserves whatever is coming to them as a result of smoking.

Do you drive a car? Do you fly in airplanes? Do you use electricity? Basically, as TinyEve eluded to, unless you live in a cave and make a living by fishing and growing your own organic food, you also have a hand in the destruction of the Ozone layer. I would venture to say that you haven't a clue as to what effect cigarette smoke actually has on the ozone layer anyway. Don't become an anti-smoker because of environmental reasons...that's just silly.

Personally I find it rude when people take it upon themselves to confront someone who is smoking simply because they may slightly smell smoke in the span of the whole 4-6 minutes that it may take to smoke a cigarette.

smoking is the easiest habit to kick... my dad has stopped smoking 20 times already.... so it must be easy I reckon..

rgds,

J.J

I hate smoking and i stay away from places where people smoke, even public places where they are not allowed to i choose to be the one to go somewhere else instead of trying to force the masses to go follow the rules.

I'm more of the "leave people alone even when they are screwing up" kind of guy so i'm glad i wasnt a meesenger or prophet or something like that because i dont care enough to change people who dont want to change. I just look at it from my advantage, more cancer for them and less for me!!

However if something people are doing is directly affecting me, then its another thank you note from the wheelchair company coming in my mailbox.

I'm not being too much, but smokers are sick people who need medication. Many of them do want to quit but nay they are trapped and can't help it. It is in all sence a health hazard but still they can't help it, they are ADDICTED and Laws can't do much to an addict!!

It needs alot of patience to talk to a smoker. I've been hurt and harrassed by smokers just because of reminding them that their action is affecting me. Now do you know what i do: I show a very grimmy face before the smoker, a very loud aaaghhhh, a quick move away and physically wave my hand sideways to keep away the smoke. I send a very strong message. I have managed in two instances to annoy the smokers so much that they decided to leave the place there and then.

So guys and gals, have mercy on sick people and lets hope that they will come to senses one DAY. Won't they....

I agree...my husband smokes but he is what I call a "Curteous smoker".

Why r u defending those qatarians.. it seems to be that u r one of them.. I am a smoker and i'm poluting the air but at least i don't disturb others with my sh*t ...

Let me tell u something man .. qatarian r doing this cuz they r qatarians ..they don't give a damn sh*t about any thing .. it is their country ..they have the right to do wutever they want ... better to take the kids out of childs area and let them play far away from the qatarians .. Does that make sense to any one of u?? there is a places for smokers ..why do they insist to harm others .. like that they will feel the power ..

Wut security u were talking about? the indian guy or the filipino one .. come on man .. do u think that a stranger can go to a group of qatarian and asking them to put of their cigarettes .. that's really funny .. u want him to lose his job ..at least he will be afraid of that ... those security guys were hired only for foreigners not qatarians ...

Look man .. those were living in deserts ... they have no rules there to follow ..wut they want they do even if it was sh*ting infront of others tents ...

have mercy on people who doesn't smoke at least the innocent CHILDS ..

I like the story and have my thoughts to share with it as well. I encourage everyone to make a point. QHell had accepted the reaction, she moved on. Just shared the story with us to go and figure the moral value out of it (if any) :-)

If you advocate QHELL's tactics then that's great. You are all free to do as you please. However, you should understand that people may retaliate and/or flat out ignore you completely and you had better be ready to accept that reaction. It's a chance you take.

"Unless you are the person in charge of enforcement, you should keep your opinions to yourself" So what you are saying is we have no right to question someone when they are blatently disregarding a law, and the only people who have rights are those in charge of the enforcement?

Are you therefor expecting us to hunt around the mall (with young kids) trying to find the security person to report an incident of smoking ... come on ... we are all adults here. Tell the offenders you don't like it, it's not allowed or whatever you want ... it's your right for goodness sake. IT'S BANNED!! If you want to take it further, then seek out security.

You comments sound good in theory, but it just doesn't work here .... just have to read postings on this forum about the double standards that take place. There's no way a security guy (if decided to go and find one) is going to tell a group of Qatari men to put out their cigarettes.

I still stand by my praise of QHELL and say go girl, good on ya!

Aside from the relative weakness of that comparison, public pools see quite a bit of public urine. Is it ok, no. Why isn't ok? Because there is never an excusable place for someone to urinate when it may come into contact with other people. Human waste carries way more of a biohazard risk than cigarette smoke ever will. Lots of things are banned but people do them anyway, welcome to earth. However, if something is banned then that usually means that some governing body is responsible for enforcing that ban. Whether it's law enforcement or a local shop owner, it is someone's job to confront people who are breaking that ban. Unless you are the person in charge of enforcement, you should keep your opinions to yourself.

ok the western guys were stone drunk so they used those words. i am sure if they werent drunk they would have watched their language knowing kids are around...their world was their table.

but our local babies were not drunk were they?they choose to smoke.....just becos they can and no one will tell them any other way..so when u did confront them they went crazy...i can imagine the look on their faces :-)they were probabaly trying to decide in that split second shud we pretend we dont understand english or shud we pretend to be stone deaf and go on smoking.

it seems real funny.

i had been to dairy queen a few weeks back......a bit late in the evening...bcos the kids wanted ice-cream.......the minute we entered there.... it reeked of smoke bcos everyone was smoking...........there is no partition to seperate smokign from non-smoking....it was sick.whom do we go an argue with when all are smoking (there at least 10 tables occupied)..........the kids play area reekd of smoke...so we did the most obvious............got out of the place and went to baskin robins instead.by the way at 10pm in dairy queeen there were no ice creams available.

happy heart

drive safe cos someone is waiting for u at home

in my opinion, smoking is compared to some one exercising his right to have a relief corner in a swimming pool. If one think that it is OK for a non-smoker to be "slightly smell smoke in the span of the whole 4-6 minutes that it may take to smoke a cigarette", is it then OK for one to be swim in a pool where it took someone less than 1 minutes to take a leak?

If smoking is banned in malls etc., then it is banned. it doesnt matter if I am 10 , 20 or 50 feet away.

few months back i took my 5 yo to go to gym club in Al Markhiya. Since it was too early we stopped at landmark starbucks to get a drink. I told my son to wait in the soft seat. Then when i come back with the drink, there is this Qatari guy came and hand in a lolly to my son. I asked him why? This Qatari guy told me that Sam came to him in his table ... asked him ... why is he smoke while there is non-smoking sign on his table. And said my son successfully embarassed him.

I can understand both sides. I'm not a smoker but used to be and my husband still is. I do not make my husband smoke 50 feet away from our son. It depends on the place. If it's outside, he can smoke near my son. If we're in a restaurant, I prefer he not. I'm not going to totally shut my son out from something he will eventually be exposed to. He'd be in shock once he finally did get around smoke.

HOWEVER, if smoking is not allowed in an establishment, it is not allowed for a reason. So, yes if I see some people smoking then I will say something! For them to be rude, only adds to their ignorance.

Smoking is BANNED in the shopping centres ... except for some strange reason the coffee shops.

I for one can't stand the smell of smoke ... why should I breath in someone elses rubbish ...

Of course people have their rights ... but it has been proven smoking is bad for your health ... and passive smoking is just as bad too.

DUH ...... WHY DO YOU THINK IT IS BEING BANNED????

I would love to change a pooey nappy in front of the smokers .. :-) then argue it's my right, smell doesn't offend me ........

I usually try and remain unemotional in forums, but this smoking thing gets me riled, especially that they were doing it in a kids area and espeically cause is blinkin' banned anyhows!!!

I say, Good on ya QHELL you had every right!!!

Dear Ram,

If you have eaten today the food from the supermarket than you are also promoting farmers to plant genetic modified seeds and transnational corporations to produce the GMO food. And needless to say the process destroyes the soil, pollutes the lakes, etc.. This is just to follow up your speech about smoking "harming ozone layer"

I agree with chbck - do not exaggerate the situation and do not call it selfishness

I wanna tell u something chbck, It is ur right to get ur freedom BUT don't ignore others freedom ... u r free to smoke n they r free not to smell.. so wut the hell r u talkin about... BTW even if u r away from her children and ur mind is just telling u that u r harming those children only then u r totally wrong.. u r poluting the whole air in this world not only 20 feetaway from ur cigarette ..ur harming the Ozone Layer .. ur abusing all the non-smokers in this world with ur cigarette ...

This is Selfishness not freedom

U r free to smoke n non-smokers r free to breath clean air..

Got it..

It was wrong for them to be swearing with children around but at least they apologized and moved. Although they were in the wrong, that was very kind. Good story.

As for the guys smoking, this is not a surprising reaction. I've seen it happen here. So rude. I'm glad you said something even if they didn't stop.