Yesterday I was coming out of my gym in downtown Portland when two women stepped right in front of me. They were smoking cigarettes. One woman threw hers on on the sidewalk right in front of me.I was kind of shocked. You just don't see stuff like that in Portland usually. For the most part, people are environmentally conscious and polite. I think they might have even been dykes. (Although they did kind of look like they were from Gresham.)
Caught off guard, I said, "Seriously?" She glanced at me and said, "Yup" and just kept on walking.
I watched them walk away and then picked her cigarette butt off the ground and put it in the near-by trash can.
I just kept thinking there was something more effective I could have done. What would you do?
© Photo by Tony Jacobson
11 comments:
That would have pissed me off majorly.
Not sure what i would have done.
"Excuse me, ma'am...you seem to have dropped something." Then pick it up and toss it at her.
OMG. I love your response. Wish I would have thought of that!
That was about as classy as someone putting out a cigarette in a drink.
You handled it much better than I would have.
I probably would have done exactly as you did. Although, in my mind I would have picked it up, then followed her to her car, written down her license plate, tracked her down and had a steaming pile of crap delivered to her place of residence... with a cigarette butt garnish.
Thank you for picking it up! :-)
So far, cigarette smoking and tossing your cig is not illegal. She was rude and lacks manners, but she has every right to do what she did. Spend less time trying to teach her etiquette and more time changing laws.
Sorry for the last post. My post came off rude. I didn't mean it the way it reads. I am just mad. I get cigeratte smoke blown in my face on a daily basis and have taken steps to rid building walkways, etc. of cigarette smokers. I know this is bad but you should have picked up the cigarette butt and threw it in her face.
What's your objective? Do you want her to change her behavior? How would you respond if someone threw something in your face, would you think, "Gee, I guess I was wrong to do what I did, and I will not do that thing next time". Chances are, you will get defensive.
If it bothered you, pick it up. That's all you can do, really. Unless you have a relationship with the person and have a conversation with them about it, all you will be is a story they go and tell their friends about later.
People don't learn manners from strangers on the street.
Nohodyke
Get over yourself.
See, now I'm defensive....
Nohodyke
While I was wroking in Grand Teton National Park someone threw a lit cigarette out of their car at a visitors center parking lot. I could tell they were about to take off, and when they did, I threw the lit cigarette right back into their car. I saw their car jerk to a stop, but didn't see anything else as I was going fast in the other direction to get lost in the crowd ;)
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