6, non fumeur

July 12th 2007

One cool thing about my current assignment is we usually eat together. There are about 4 of us “regulars” who always eat together, and then there are usually a few others who join us, often a different few each time. That makes lunches interesting and fresh. Today, they decided to go to the Moroccan restaurant.

We ate there last week and it was really good, but really smokey. Today one of my coworkers was coming with us and he hates cigarettes more than I do (if that’s possible). So I told him how last time we were next to the window and we opened up the window to avoid suffocating let all the smoke out. You really can’t imagine how horrible it is to be in a very small restaurant (maybe 12 tables total), with all the windows shut, and cigarette smoke all over. Makes you want to stop-drop-and-roll. In fact, my condition to eat with the group is that we only eat in restaurants with non-smoking sections, which is very uncommon in France. Fortunately my coworkers don’t mind accommodating my request. In fact they don’t like cigarettes either. We’re all non-smokers.

So I had a feeling the Moroccan restaurant would be a problem but I wanted to go with the flow. We arrive and ask for a table for 6, non fumeur (”non-smoking”). It was pretty empty when we arrived. But towards the end of our meal it started getting busy (around 1pm). Then to my horror I hear , someone lighting up. At the table just behind me! I wasn’t going to start complaining, because I’ve been trying to run in “observer” mode and see how the French handle it. I didn’t have to. All my coworkers started complaining. Quietly to ourselves I might add. I wasn’t the only one who noticed that the other room, full of smokers, still had tables available. Why did the guy seat the smokers next to the table that requested non fumeur?

Normally I’d say something to the waiter. I’ve done it before. Something really polite, like “Excuse me, we asked for non smoking yet they’re smoking right next to us?” I don’t bother any more because usually non-smoking in France means there is no one smoking within 10 inches of you. (The standard distance between tables in most French restaurants is about 5 inches). So lately I just don’t bother. I figure it’s easier to just never go back. Not that they miss me, the restaurants are full of people. All smoking mind you.

My coworker who hates cigarettes more than I do (if that’s possible) couldn’t take it any more. He gave us his money and he split. Walked back to the office by himself. I wanted to do the same but there was a guy still eating (he’s from the south and eats real slow, unlike us Parisians). I gotta hand it to them (the one who split, not the slow eater). If everyone just got up and walked whenever there was a smoker it’d be pretty funny. But the restaurant owners would be happy because it’d free up the tables. For more smokers.

I think that’s the last time I go there. There are other restaurants that are just as good and that have real non-smoking rooms. Not many, but enough to give us a variety during the week.

In January 2008 all this will change. We will be able to go into any restaurant and enjoy a nice meal without breathing cigarette smoke. Until then, I intend to give my business to the restaurants who appreciate those who don’t want lung cancer. I can’t tell you how many times someone has sat right next to us and lit up a cigarette, with the smoke going right in our faces. Even when my wife is pregnant! Probably the same people who abandon bathtubs in the street.

And btw, the bathtub is gone! Today was the day of the month where they haul away large items. If only they’d haul away the smokers too.

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