Bar Owners May Turn Tables On Smoking Ban Lawmakers

[ree-Xi]

MA has been smoke-free for quite a long time now. CT has been for a while, too.

There are way more than two states who are smoke free.

[33girl]

When we got a drink tax here in Allegheny County, many of the bars refused to serve the county council, put up their photos so if you saw them on the street you could tell them what dicks they were, and put a note at the end of their computer receipts that said "thank your County Council for this stupid tax" and a few things that were even ruder.

As far as the smoking ban is concerned, PA has one, but there are TONS of ways to get a waiver, which pretty much shoots a hole in their "we did this so the workers would be protected" argument. They did it under pressure from anti-smoking interest groups, who (of course) now seem to have forgotten all about the workers who are working in bars that are still smoker friendly.

The only absolute is that if you have smoking in your establishment, children under 18 are not allowed in the smoking area. EVER.

There are all sorts of bars and all I can say is if you don't want to work in a smoking bar, don't apply there. If you had a perfume allergy you wouldn't work at Ulta, and if you had a peanut allergy you wouldn't sell them at the ballpark. Around here, what I've seen is the bartenders who work in smoking bars are for the most part, people who've been doing this a LONG time, have a following and could go to another job in a non-smoking bar if they wanted to. The places with the horrible working conditions, misogyny and constant turnover are the corporate-owned or catering-to-college-kids non-smoking bars.

[ASTalumna06]

I'm not a smoker and I don't like being around it, but I actually like the way that PA does it..

Restaurants and bars are exempt from the No Smoking law where 80% or more of the sales comes from alcohol, and where anyone under 18 isn't allowed. In other words, you're allowed to smoke in bars that are only open at night.

I don't really have an issue with this. After attending many college parties where people were smoking, I got used to it. Don't get me wrong.. I'd much prefer to not be around it at all, but I also think establishments where people are drinking and will be staying for hours and hours on end should allow it. The only time that I'm truly bothered by people smoking around me is when I'm eating. And if you can't get through a 45 minute meal without a cigarette, it might be time to pick up some of that special gum they sell at the pharmacy.