*cough*

So today I caught up with someone I hadn't seen for awhile. It was good to see her I think. My only issue is that I now stink of cigarette smoke and feel like my lungs are totally congested.

Now before there is any outcry of this being a whinge about smokers, I would like to point out that one of my best friends is a smoker, so I can't be accused of being anti-smokers (I am however anti-smoking, but that is a seperate, albeit related, matter) ;)

In all fairness, the congested lungs thing may be due to the fact that tropical weather and humidity probably makes the air, and therefore anything in the air (e.g. cigarette smoke) just that much thicker and clingier.

However.

I would like to think that there is such a thing as consideration for the non-smokers that one is sharing a meal with. In most cases, my smoking friends do not smoke while they or anyone else is eating, and are conscious of sitting down-wind so that their smoke doesn't drift into their friends' faces/food/drink/clothing/hair/etc. If for some reason the wind changes, no offence is taken if people ask to move or swap seats.

In this case though, I encountered blatant disregard for any of this etiquette. Open air or not, when the smoke drifts into your face, it kind of does spoil the flavour of the food (and air) one is trying to consume. Asking to swap seats was met with a look of 'wtf?' and then refusal in the form of a not-joke about how some people must be very sensitive to the Asian climate and have delicate lungs (?). I don't think I was asking for much, but I appear to have been.

As a result, I literally stink.

Honestly, it makes me wonder if it is worthwhile making the effort to catch up again. Sure, it seems a small price to pay - I can just shower the smell off - but the lack of understanding isn't something that can be sloughed away like yesterday's dirt.