Caller, I think the U.S. is one of the most restrictive places. 28 of the 50 states have banned smoking in ALL public places statewide. I think that means that you can only smoke in your car, home, or on your own property. Some of those states exempt adult only venues like cigar bars and casinos, and some even exempt small businesses (5 or fewer employees) if the owner and employees all want smoking. Also generally in all large cities (even in the states where it is not totally banned) in the U.S. it is illegal to smoke indoors in any public place.caller wrote:Maybe that's the same in America? It still came as a shock to me in my recent two months in Thailand, to see folk smoking in what would be smoke-free zones in most other places.
I remember when I was working in both California (before the statewide ban) and Florida where smoking indoors in public places in both states was banned, the area immediately outside the building doors was always crowded with smokers and you had to walk through a cloud of smoke so thick sometimes you couldn't see more than a few feet to get to your car in the parking lot. Being an ex-smoker, I didn't mind, but many people did and finally, in California a designated (outside) smoking area was set up away from the building.
What always struck me about this law was all the lost productivity because of all the people spending 10 minutes outside once an hour to have a cigarette. I think the company would have been better off to build an open air (no walls) type office for the smoking employees and just let them work outside and smoke all that wanted at their desks.