The Fast-Walking Smoker
One of the worst things I can encounter while walking on the street is a fast-walking smoker. With my tendency to hold my breath while passing up smokers or people I would rather not smell (see Waiting to Exhale), it becomes a challenge and a nuisance when I get stuck behind a smoker I just can’t pass up.
I feel like this is something that has been happening to me more and more frequently. Maybe it’s just the time of day that I happen to be out and about on the street, but mostly, it’s probably because I’m not a very lucky person.
I was once climbing the stairs out of the 34th Street subway station when the person in front of me lit up a cigarette. Mind you, this person’s addiction was so strong that she could not wait until she was fully out of the subway station, but had her cigarette ready to go before she stepped out of the subway car.
Now, for me, the worst part of catching someone’s smoke is getting that first breath, because it is always a deep and particularly potent cloud of smoke. And fresh, cold air (can the air in New York City really be considered fresh?) after a sticky subway ride is something I always look forward to. To have it tainted with the first drag of a cigarette is, to say the least, disappointing and unsavory, especially when I have no where else to escape to.
Don’t get me wrong, I think everyone has a right to smoke, but it just sucks to be me when one of these smokers walks faster than I do – in which case I get stuck downwind and have no choice but to inhale their second-hand smoke. With the narrow walking space available today, it has become more than difficult to pass someone up on the sidewalk. Since single-file in both directions has become the norm, attempting to pass someone can quickly become a game of chicken with a determined walker in the opposite direction. Even when there is plenty of room on the sidewalk, the combination of fast walking and a cigarette still tests the limits of my lung capacity. Would it look weird to these smokers if they saw me run past them, as my face is turning blue, and then resume walking at a normal pace once I was in front of them while gasping for air?
Sometimes, I just have to give up and breathe, and it’s then that I think there’s nothing worse than a fast-walking smoker.
I feel like this is something that has been happening to me more and more frequently. Maybe it’s just the time of day that I happen to be out and about on the street, but mostly, it’s probably because I’m not a very lucky person.
I was once climbing the stairs out of the 34th Street subway station when the person in front of me lit up a cigarette. Mind you, this person’s addiction was so strong that she could not wait until she was fully out of the subway station, but had her cigarette ready to go before she stepped out of the subway car.
Now, for me, the worst part of catching someone’s smoke is getting that first breath, because it is always a deep and particularly potent cloud of smoke. And fresh, cold air (can the air in New York City really be considered fresh?) after a sticky subway ride is something I always look forward to. To have it tainted with the first drag of a cigarette is, to say the least, disappointing and unsavory, especially when I have no where else to escape to.
Don’t get me wrong, I think everyone has a right to smoke, but it just sucks to be me when one of these smokers walks faster than I do – in which case I get stuck downwind and have no choice but to inhale their second-hand smoke. With the narrow walking space available today, it has become more than difficult to pass someone up on the sidewalk. Since single-file in both directions has become the norm, attempting to pass someone can quickly become a game of chicken with a determined walker in the opposite direction. Even when there is plenty of room on the sidewalk, the combination of fast walking and a cigarette still tests the limits of my lung capacity. Would it look weird to these smokers if they saw me run past them, as my face is turning blue, and then resume walking at a normal pace once I was in front of them while gasping for air?
Sometimes, I just have to give up and breathe, and it’s then that I think there’s nothing worse than a fast-walking smoker.
posted by danielle at 1:52 PM
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