Mark
Legend
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2012
- Messages
- 13,961
I went out last night to an old haunt of mine, the Jubilee pub in Norwich to see a favourite local band of mind and maybe see a few old faces again. I knew the landlord Tim is dead against ecigs but I figured it wouldn't be a problem. It has a big beer garden and as the band play in the conservatory it isn't as if we couldn't hear them. Landlady Katy is fine with them but Tim is the boss. They are both smokers.
I was sat Vaping with my girlfriend Melanie, outside, breathing in the smoke from 20-30 smokers around us when Tim came over. Quite PROUDLY he starts to tell me how he threw someone out of the pub a while back for using an ecig. He said the guy was standing near the door and the 'smoke' was coming in to the conservatory. He wouldn't have that in his pub oh no. Weird because when we sat in the conservatory later to get closer to the band the smoke from the outside seating area was palpable. My shirt still smells.
I asked him why he did that and btw it isn't smoke. He said it looks like smoke so it is smoke and it upsets people. I said but that's about education Tim. If someone says he's got a fag, you say No he hasn't. He looked at me like I'd said something monumentally obvious and true. He hadnt thought of that. So he changed tack. He said they won't catch on. His evidence for this was he knew someone THREE yrs ago who started selling them, and he went out of business. Jeez.
I started to give him some facts but his eyes glazed over, becoming distracted with another customer so he stopped the conversation with ' the days of smoking in pubs is well and truly over Mark, I see all your Vaping posts on Facebook but it won't make any difference' and walked away.
I wanted to say so much more but Tim isn't the kind of person you want to ruck with and it is his pub at the end of the day but it did put a bit of a dampener on the evening. Landlords have a lot of influence and it's clear from the clientele....and a majority of them smoke..that they were ignorant of ecigs and what they know or think they know about them is influenced by Tims view. We got a few ' have a proper fag' and ' they look like silly flutes in yer mouths' type comments.
We had a good evening anyway but it has made me reflect. Ignorance I can cope with. But where people with real power and influence, people who could help change and even save lives wear their ignorance with pride, that gets me down.
Thank goodness for pubs like the Plasterers and cafes like the Boho
I was sat Vaping with my girlfriend Melanie, outside, breathing in the smoke from 20-30 smokers around us when Tim came over. Quite PROUDLY he starts to tell me how he threw someone out of the pub a while back for using an ecig. He said the guy was standing near the door and the 'smoke' was coming in to the conservatory. He wouldn't have that in his pub oh no. Weird because when we sat in the conservatory later to get closer to the band the smoke from the outside seating area was palpable. My shirt still smells.
I asked him why he did that and btw it isn't smoke. He said it looks like smoke so it is smoke and it upsets people. I said but that's about education Tim. If someone says he's got a fag, you say No he hasn't. He looked at me like I'd said something monumentally obvious and true. He hadnt thought of that. So he changed tack. He said they won't catch on. His evidence for this was he knew someone THREE yrs ago who started selling them, and he went out of business. Jeez.
I started to give him some facts but his eyes glazed over, becoming distracted with another customer so he stopped the conversation with ' the days of smoking in pubs is well and truly over Mark, I see all your Vaping posts on Facebook but it won't make any difference' and walked away.
I wanted to say so much more but Tim isn't the kind of person you want to ruck with and it is his pub at the end of the day but it did put a bit of a dampener on the evening. Landlords have a lot of influence and it's clear from the clientele....and a majority of them smoke..that they were ignorant of ecigs and what they know or think they know about them is influenced by Tims view. We got a few ' have a proper fag' and ' they look like silly flutes in yer mouths' type comments.
We had a good evening anyway but it has made me reflect. Ignorance I can cope with. But where people with real power and influence, people who could help change and even save lives wear their ignorance with pride, that gets me down.
Thank goodness for pubs like the Plasterers and cafes like the Boho
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I think everyone is catching on and the Pubs will follow 
