Non-Smoking Restaurant Employee Sheds Light on Smoking Bans
30-09-2009
As we peruse the web, sometimes we run into truly moving points of view. We hope you will find this posting by a non-smoker with smoker friendly leanings as thought provoking as we did. The following was found at: www.restaurantreport.com .
The following was found at: www.restaurantreport.com . The exact URL is:
http://www.restaurantreport.com/greatdebates/smoking_p7.html.
As we peruse the web, sometimes we run into truly moving points of view. We hope you will find this posting by a non-smoker with smoker friendly leanings as thought provoking as we did:
I have worked in restaurants for 10 years. I am also a non-smoker, and I have to say that I am not looking forward to the non-smoking ban that seems to be sweeping across the country.
The first argument that I have is the fact that in every area where a smoking ban occurred, sales dropped. Many of the proponents of the smoking ban will argue this point, saying that restaurant sales as a total have not dropped. This is true, until you look at what they call a restaurant. Fast Food sales went up, and casual and fine dining went down. If you look at sales trends of restaurants where you have a server, you will see the money drop.
Second, I work the smoking section. That is where I am comfortable. The reason is that people in the smoking section are more laid back. I can joke around more. People like to sit back and have a few more drinks, tell a few jokes, and smoke a few cigarettes. In the non-smoking section, even in a place where they have a separate room for smoking and non, the non-smokers are up tight. It is harder to serve non-smoking tables than smoking. I get more frustrated, sell less food and drinks, have less of an opportunity to provide good service, and over all make less money.
In my opinion, people are more preoccupied with people who are smoking, than with having a good time. I remember a table I served in Non-smoking where they could see a group of smokers through a glass window. They could not smell the smoke, and I think that I heard five separate comments about how they could not wait until my restaurant was a non-smoking establishment.
I feel that this smoking ban is the next step in the falling of restaurants. You used to go out to a restaurant to have a good time. It was something special. Now, you go in, you eat, you leave. It is not about having a good time. It is not something to look forward to. Now the only people that, on a regular basis, treated us like an oasis in the modern world are going to be pushed out.
Tim
We don’t have his full name, but what an eloquent statement!
Non-Smoking Restaurant Employee Sheds Light on Smoking Bans
As we peruse the web, sometimes we run into truly moving points of view. We hope you will find this posting by a non-smoker with smoker friendly leanings as thought provoking as we did. The following was found at: www.restaurantreport.com .
The following was found at: www.restaurantreport.com . The exact URL is:
http://www.restaurantreport.com/greatdebates/smoking_p7.html.
As we peruse the web, sometimes we run into truly moving points of view. We hope you will find this posting by a non-smoker with smoker friendly leanings as thought provoking as we did:
I have worked in restaurants for 10 years. I am also a non-smoker, and I have to say that I am not looking forward to the non-smoking ban that seems to be sweeping across the country.
The first argument that I have is the fact that in every area where a smoking ban occurred, sales dropped. Many of the proponents of the smoking ban will argue this point, saying that restaurant sales as a total have not dropped. This is true, until you look at what they call a restaurant. Fast Food sales went up, and casual and fine dining went down. If you look at sales trends of restaurants where you have a server, you will see the money drop.
Second, I work the smoking section. That is where I am comfortable. The reason is that people in the smoking section are more laid back. I can joke around more. People like to sit back and have a few more drinks, tell a few jokes, and smoke a few cigarettes. In the non-smoking section, even in a place where they have a separate room for smoking and non, the non-smokers are up tight. It is harder to serve non-smoking tables than smoking. I get more frustrated, sell less food and drinks, have less of an opportunity to provide good service, and over all make less money.
In my opinion, people are more preoccupied with people who are smoking, than with having a good time. I remember a table I served in Non-smoking where they could see a group of smokers through a glass window. They could not smell the smoke, and I think that I heard five separate comments about how they could not wait until my restaurant was a non-smoking establishment.
I feel that this smoking ban is the next step in the falling of restaurants. You used to go out to a restaurant to have a good time. It was something special. Now, you go in, you eat, you leave. It is not about having a good time. It is not something to look forward to. Now the only people that, on a regular basis, treated us like an oasis in the modern world are going to be pushed out.
Tim
We don’t have his full name, but what an eloquent statement!