[Mpls] Benson and Goodman: ban it, and smoke-free groups must come

[Michael Atherton]

There are two major events in my life that have had 
a profound effect on my worldview.  The first was 
being promoted to management, which helped me realize 
that inefficiency, bad products, and poor service are 
not inherently intractable problems, but rather are 
endemic to poor management.  The second was living 
in the South, which showed me that even in a fairly 
rigid social milieu, people can have the decency to 
keep their fingers and attitudes out of other people's 
lives (and be damned polite about it too).

Jim McGuire wrote:

> At one point he implied, or perhaps I misunderstood, that 
> there wouldn't be service in the "smoking room" in bars.  
> I don't have a problem with that, but who cleans the tables?  
> And if there's an employee cleaning the tables (wiping them 
> off, removing empty glasses, etc) how is it that they do this 
> without inhaling smoke.  Are they given gas masks?

I found living in Tennessee to be fascinating.  I use to
sit in the University cafeteria and watch how *everyone*
would bus their own dishes and in the rare occasion
(sometimes the University hosted conferences from out
of state groups) when someone left their dishes on
a table, someone would bus them along with their own.
All of this predicated by a small sign that said, 
"Please bus your own dishes."  I guess Minnesotans
have trouble understanding how smoking rooms might work
because their cultural perspectives don't make the 
solutions obvious.

Okay, so maybe we can't expect Minnesotans to be
as courteous as Southerners, but then there are also
simple procedural solutions: require everyone to periodically
vacate the room so that it can be smoke free for
employees to enter and clean it.

Why is this all so difficult? 
 
Nathan Hunstad wrote:

> Few want the expense of ventilated smoking rooms.  
> Do you think every bar and restaurant owner wants to 
> invest tens of thousands of dollars in one of these rooms?  
> Ask around and see.

I can certainly agree that there are very few bar owners
who would be willing to provide smoking rooms on their
motivation, but they might if they thought that it would
attract customers if smoking was banned.  My position is that
smoking rooms cost the public almost nothing and to some 
extent they allow businesses and smokers to make their
own choices while protecting the rights of employees and
non-smokers. Personally, I'd rather see some bars and
restaurants be classified as smoking establishments. 
Smoking rooms are a compromise solution, one that anti-smoking
advocates seem to be unwilling to accept.  

I find it curious that the Tribune has not reported on
how well smoking rooms are working in Vancouver, BC 
(maybe I just missed it).

Michael Atherton
Prospect Park