Today is World's No Tobacco Day. Should you see anyone smoking, it can be a good reason to ask them to stop smoking :).
It is almost impossible to escape the cigarette smoke in Jakarta as people smoke on the bus (the non-busway ones), in the train (the non-AC ones), at the bus stops, (sometimes) at the hospitals' waiting room (!), in the mosques and other religious places. So the only way non-smokers can get smoke-free environment is by spending more money to get on the air conditioned-trains and busway, which I find silly because hey, if you can spend money to burn, why don't you get yourself a car and burn your own lungs?
One of my French language teachers passed away due to some kind of lung infection a week after her husband died of heart attack. Her husband was a smoker, she was not.
I may not be able to escape the smoke in public transportation, but I try to stay away from smoking people in the office. Talking about this reminds me to my ex boss ISA in HoC, my previous workplace. ISA was a smoker and he loved typing on his laptop while puffing smokes in HoC's smoking room. One day ISA asked us to attend a meeting, which took place in the smoking room. So here's what happened...
ISA: (closing the door of the smoking room and preparing to lit up his cigarette) Ok, so here's what I want to say.
Me : (opening the door)
ISA: (closing the door) We're going to have a meeting. The smoke can disturb other people.
Me : (opening the door) Well, I'm not smoking and I refuse to have a meeting in this smoking room.
ISA and I glared to each other. If looks could kill, we'd be dead on the spot. FYI, ISA who is of Arab descent is taller than I do and he has this piercing gaze that can intimidate most people.
Rzk: Er guys, we can solve it peacefully.
Mys: (singing qasidah song) perdamaian perdamaian (peace oh peace)
After what seemed like thousands of years, ISA opened the door and yelled,"The meeting is moved outdoor!"
I didn't know who was more relieved, Rzk or Mys.
Much to the smokers' dismay, I also hid their cigarettes (and I had total approval from Rzk who is not smoking). ISA and Aru (another colleague who smokes) would look at me suspiciously everytime their cigarettes went missing.
"Where do you keep the cigarettes?" they asked.
"I don't know what you're talking about," I said, while putting on my innocent face.
Since then, I've been called as the cigarette police. But all my efforts worked because Rzk told me that ISA quitted smoking not long after my resignation.
Stop smoking before smoking stops you.
