Note From Chris: This post is highly opinionated. It contains my "personal" opinions and the occasional curse word. If this is not the type of information you wish to read, please skip this post. Consider yourself warned.
I hesitate to even write this post, for I am sure it will generate at least one heated comment or email that I just don't care to deal with... But you are reading, so I did post. "I blog, therefore I am..." or something like that.
As you know, I live in Vegas. Or if you haven't caught on to that fact you really need to pay more attention to what you read. You should have probably noticed that I am a smoker. (Go ahead and make your personal judgments... I will wait. Ok... hop off the soapbox and read on.) As a whole, Vegas is not a very kid friendly place and for the families that live here that is a little sad. I think that all members of a society should have places they are welcomed and feel comfortable. From the family with 12 kids between the ages of 3-15 to the retired couple that can't really get around that well. Not everything need be designed for the 25 year olds who can walk three miles in blistering heat without breaking a sweat.
That being said, I also strongly feel that as a small business owner you have the right to tailor your business to attract the customers you want. Liquor stores don't have SpongeBob hanging all over the walls... The putt-putt course likewise doesn't have AARP brochures near the video games. You cater to the crowd you want to attract. Recently here in Vegas, a law was slipped past the voters to ban smoking almost EVERYWHERE with the exception of Casinos. I say "slipped" past because there was a great deal of confusion on the differences between the two items we voted on... and misinformation nightly on the news. Stuff like "One of them will pass... Even if it doesn't get 50% of the vote, the one that gets the most votes will be put into law, so you had better vote on at least one!" The completely overused "But it is to protect the children!!!!" bullsh!t was constantly thrown into our face. Election day came and the smoking ban was voted in. Unlike every other law that takes three years to be put into effect, this one was implemented immediately.
Basically here is the law. No smoking in any restaurant or bar that serves food. No smoking in those places in casinos either... Only on the casino floor or in their free-standing (non-food) bars. No smoking in grocery or convenience stores.
So.... I have NO PROBLEM with the grocery store and convenience store thing. Kids do frequent those establishments quite often and if the law really is in the spirit of "protecting the children" I applaud. I was never one to light up in those places anyway.
But here is the kicker... Vegas is FULL of local Bar and Grills. They make money three different ways. Food sales... Drink Sales... and via Video Poker. Walk into any Bar and Grill and you will see at least four people sitting there with a beer, a cigarette, dumping dollar after dollar after dollar into the machines. The commentary on gambling or these people's lives I won't touch on... but that is what happens. The establishments said "Ok... if the law is to protect the children, then we will make our place 21 and older only." Nope... You want to server food... NO SMOKING! Then a rather uncomfortable decision has to be made by all these small business owners. Do they stop serving food and allow smoking? How many people will they have to fire from the food service staff? Do they ban smoking but keep the food service? If they do that, they take a huge hit in their profits. You might argue with that, but the numbers have come out to support this fact. Do they just flip off the law and keep doing what they are doing? Nah... some little whiny rat will of course complain...
Since this stupid stupid infringement on private business owners' rights has gone into effect, some very interesting things have happened.
- A couple places just say "fuck it" and allow smoking and eating. "the horror!"
- A great many food service folks have been fired and unemployment went up. Way to go you whiny non-smokers.
- Some places have gone non-smoking and are barely getting by.
- And then there are establishments like the "Timbers Bar & Grill" that just opened by me... It is a smoking establishment. They are 21 and over only. They don't serve food, but you can walk into a little "completely separated" room and order food. They buzz you when it is ready. You carry it back out to your table in the bar and eat. 100% legal... and even better, it really REALLY pisses off the people that are trying to dictate everybody else live their lives by their standards. As we sat and ate last night, I enjoyed witnessing just such a person complain and get kicked out. Good stuff right there.
Now... with all that being said. If I am going to smoke, do I think everybody else should be forced into a confined space with me and have to breathe it? No. In fact, one of my favorite restaurants is a 100% non-smoking establishment. Do I have a problem with Sonio's Cafe? No. Why? Because as a private business owner, he made the choice based on the customers he wanted to attract. His rights as to how he wanted to run his business were not trampled on by the government. Smokers and non-smokers alike should be able to vote with their wallet. The free market will work things out and I guarantee everybody will have a place to go. At least... when we had a "free" market that was how it worked.
--C
I hesitate to even write this post, for I am sure it will generate at least one heated comment or email that I just don't care to deal with... But you are reading, so I did post. "I blog, therefore I am..." or something like that.
As you know, I live in Vegas. Or if you haven't caught on to that fact you really need to pay more attention to what you read. You should have probably noticed that I am a smoker. (Go ahead and make your personal judgments... I will wait. Ok... hop off the soapbox and read on.) As a whole, Vegas is not a very kid friendly place and for the families that live here that is a little sad. I think that all members of a society should have places they are welcomed and feel comfortable. From the family with 12 kids between the ages of 3-15 to the retired couple that can't really get around that well. Not everything need be designed for the 25 year olds who can walk three miles in blistering heat without breaking a sweat.
That being said, I also strongly feel that as a small business owner you have the right to tailor your business to attract the customers you want. Liquor stores don't have SpongeBob hanging all over the walls... The putt-putt course likewise doesn't have AARP brochures near the video games. You cater to the crowd you want to attract. Recently here in Vegas, a law was slipped past the voters to ban smoking almost EVERYWHERE with the exception of Casinos. I say "slipped" past because there was a great deal of confusion on the differences between the two items we voted on... and misinformation nightly on the news. Stuff like "One of them will pass... Even if it doesn't get 50% of the vote, the one that gets the most votes will be put into law, so you had better vote on at least one!" The completely overused "But it is to protect the children!!!!" bullsh!t was constantly thrown into our face. Election day came and the smoking ban was voted in. Unlike every other law that takes three years to be put into effect, this one was implemented immediately.
Basically here is the law. No smoking in any restaurant or bar that serves food. No smoking in those places in casinos either... Only on the casino floor or in their free-standing (non-food) bars. No smoking in grocery or convenience stores.
So.... I have NO PROBLEM with the grocery store and convenience store thing. Kids do frequent those establishments quite often and if the law really is in the spirit of "protecting the children" I applaud. I was never one to light up in those places anyway.
But here is the kicker... Vegas is FULL of local Bar and Grills. They make money three different ways. Food sales... Drink Sales... and via Video Poker. Walk into any Bar and Grill and you will see at least four people sitting there with a beer, a cigarette, dumping dollar after dollar after dollar into the machines. The commentary on gambling or these people's lives I won't touch on... but that is what happens. The establishments said "Ok... if the law is to protect the children, then we will make our place 21 and older only." Nope... You want to server food... NO SMOKING! Then a rather uncomfortable decision has to be made by all these small business owners. Do they stop serving food and allow smoking? How many people will they have to fire from the food service staff? Do they ban smoking but keep the food service? If they do that, they take a huge hit in their profits. You might argue with that, but the numbers have come out to support this fact. Do they just flip off the law and keep doing what they are doing? Nah... some little whiny rat will of course complain...
Since this stupid stupid infringement on private business owners' rights has gone into effect, some very interesting things have happened.
- A couple places just say "fuck it" and allow smoking and eating. "the horror!"
- A great many food service folks have been fired and unemployment went up. Way to go you whiny non-smokers.
- Some places have gone non-smoking and are barely getting by.
- And then there are establishments like the "Timbers Bar & Grill" that just opened by me... It is a smoking establishment. They are 21 and over only. They don't serve food, but you can walk into a little "completely separated" room and order food. They buzz you when it is ready. You carry it back out to your table in the bar and eat. 100% legal... and even better, it really REALLY pisses off the people that are trying to dictate everybody else live their lives by their standards. As we sat and ate last night, I enjoyed witnessing just such a person complain and get kicked out. Good stuff right there.
Now... with all that being said. If I am going to smoke, do I think everybody else should be forced into a confined space with me and have to breathe it? No. In fact, one of my favorite restaurants is a 100% non-smoking establishment. Do I have a problem with Sonio's Cafe? No. Why? Because as a private business owner, he made the choice based on the customers he wanted to attract. His rights as to how he wanted to run his business were not trampled on by the government. Smokers and non-smokers alike should be able to vote with their wallet. The free market will work things out and I guarantee everybody will have a place to go. At least... when we had a "free" market that was how it worked.
--C
Comments
I was actually surprised about the grocery stores, though. I assumed those were already non-smoking!