Hi Everyone,
It was a smart idea for Dawhoo to start this post.
It allows everyone to clear the air with their own points of view on vaping in public non-smoking places.
If you all think that vaping or smoking in public areas is the only thing that ignorant people don't understand and freak out about then you should try this as a quick test study.
Even though it didn't start as a a test or study of people in public places having the ability to approach the unknown with any amount of open-mindedness or certainty -- it has become a study of such for me.
I was an analogee for a many years and when the bans came along I grew use to having to go outside or hide my smoking like I was doing something illegal or dirty.
Here is one example of how people and their fearful opinions in public places can get totally out of control.
I went to an oral surgeon in the spring of 2009 (last year).
I was sent to the surgeon because I had 2 impacted molars which my dentist said had to be surgically removed. During the surgery something went wrong and the surgeon broke shattered my lower jawbone. Zip-pop-crack-that’s all I heard, but not all I felt. From that day on I've had to wear a hot-ugly surgical mask (when I’m working or in public) to protect the wires running through the lower bone from infection. It's been one infection and nightmare after the other since. I'm still stuck in that surgical mask anytime I go out in public.
So if you all would like to know exactly what kind of a freaked-out trip uneducated people in public can go on in the blink of an eye, then try wearing a surgical mask and walking into a public store or restaurant. (I can't eat in the restaurant, my 82 year old mother insists I take her out to eat and being a loving daughter I take her.)
It gets really freakier if someone sees me vaping with a surgical mask hanging below my chin.
Mind you I go way out of the close path of vision for the public eye, but there is always someone who wonders along my hidden path. I don't do it totally in the open, like the guy Dawhoo mentioned in the restaurant.
There are just some hard to deal with days when I have to care for my mother and we are in public areas.
Like the day that we went into a restaurant (which only had 3 people besides us in it at the time). I went into the restroom to wash up and to get a much needed-quick vape – I was in there about two minutes when 1 of the 3 other people in the restaurant came in. She was an older woman, the kind you just know from the minute they enter a room that they will be picking apart every other person in that room sooner or later. Judging what they wear, how they speak, you know what I mean.
So there I stood in the far corner of the restroom, hands and face all sanitary, with a surgical mask hanging below my chin, and lightly vaping. You see, I can't vape hard because of the wires, but you would have thought I was smoking a pack of analogs all at the same time the way this woman reacted.
Oh, I almost forgot to tell you that my Mother is a total advocate against Smoking! She's allergic to cigarette smoke, was diagnosed as such over 28 years ago.
When she's around people smoking or enters a room where people have recently been smoking she immediately chokes up, her eyes start running like a river, and she coughs as though she were dying from a terminal lung disease.
At any rate this older woman whom I'd never seen before comes into the restroom and immediately tells me to put out the cigarette or she'll call management and have me thrown out. Mind you we are in a quite large ladies restroom. Only my mom and 2 other customers are in the restaurant. This woman wasn't nice about it at all! She stuck her face close to mine, and started pointing her fingers at my mask. She followed her demand by rashly asking me, "Do you have AIDS or something?!" Bear in mind I'm a level-headed quick-thinker. So I looked her right in the eyes and ask her, " Are you afraid of the unknown, AIDS and the likes, or are you just having a bad day?" She stepped back and repeated her demand for me to stop smoking. I never raise my voice except for at a sporting event or something exciting. So I remained very calm which freaked her out even more. That's when I hit her with this little ditty. "Mam, I don't have AIDS, so you can rest easy you're not going to catch anything." "But, I do have a medical need which my doctor thought this cigarette looking inhaler device would be better for me to use to quit smoking because of the wires in my jawbone." "Further, may I advise you that it would be most beneficial for you to get proper education on AIDS and other things which frighten you before you approach the next person in such a manner?" "Keep this day for a point of reference because the next person you approach in such a negative manner just might send you to the nearest hospital."
The woman looked at me and calmly said, "Oh, I thought you had AIDS or something and you were smoking cigarettes in this restroom."
I walked out of the restroom, joined my mom at the table, and a few minutes later the older woman walked out, went past us and smiled at the both of us.
Why didn't I take that opportunity to educate this woman on the electronic cigarette?
It was because in my lifetime of working with people from all walks of life, I've learned that there are just some people you can't on-the-spot-educate, they have to be gradually eased into the learning process. It takes some people, especially the fearful, close-minded ones time to accept even the smallest of changes.
So the next time you want to really find out how quickly people over react to the unknown put on a blue and white surgical mask, go out to a public place, drop the mask below your chin and start vaping. You'll find out in a hurry just how closed-minded - uneducated-people over react to even the smallest changes around them.
By the way, I wasn't in the restaurant's eating area when this happened. Like I said I was in the ladies restroom. And to top it off I was vaping at the lowest possible level.
Dawhoo is right…….if we want vaping to succeed we need to realize that we must pursue our goals, swiftly but quietly.
FYI: As I said my Mom is severely allergic to cigarette smoke, directly or indirectly, BUT SHE HAS ZERO REACTIONS WHEN I VAPE IN A ROOM OR WITH HER IN THE CAR.
Here's to peaceful vaping and its success!
Smiles! (At home so I don't have to wear that awful surgical mask) Can kind of smile now.
It was a smart idea for Dawhoo to start this post.
It allows everyone to clear the air with their own points of view on vaping in public non-smoking places.
If you all think that vaping or smoking in public areas is the only thing that ignorant people don't understand and freak out about then you should try this as a quick test study.
Even though it didn't start as a a test or study of people in public places having the ability to approach the unknown with any amount of open-mindedness or certainty -- it has become a study of such for me.
I was an analogee for a many years and when the bans came along I grew use to having to go outside or hide my smoking like I was doing something illegal or dirty.
Here is one example of how people and their fearful opinions in public places can get totally out of control.
I went to an oral surgeon in the spring of 2009 (last year).
I was sent to the surgeon because I had 2 impacted molars which my dentist said had to be surgically removed. During the surgery something went wrong and the surgeon broke shattered my lower jawbone. Zip-pop-crack-that’s all I heard, but not all I felt. From that day on I've had to wear a hot-ugly surgical mask (when I’m working or in public) to protect the wires running through the lower bone from infection. It's been one infection and nightmare after the other since. I'm still stuck in that surgical mask anytime I go out in public.
So if you all would like to know exactly what kind of a freaked-out trip uneducated people in public can go on in the blink of an eye, then try wearing a surgical mask and walking into a public store or restaurant. (I can't eat in the restaurant, my 82 year old mother insists I take her out to eat and being a loving daughter I take her.)
It gets really freakier if someone sees me vaping with a surgical mask hanging below my chin.
Mind you I go way out of the close path of vision for the public eye, but there is always someone who wonders along my hidden path. I don't do it totally in the open, like the guy Dawhoo mentioned in the restaurant.
There are just some hard to deal with days when I have to care for my mother and we are in public areas.
Like the day that we went into a restaurant (which only had 3 people besides us in it at the time). I went into the restroom to wash up and to get a much needed-quick vape – I was in there about two minutes when 1 of the 3 other people in the restaurant came in. She was an older woman, the kind you just know from the minute they enter a room that they will be picking apart every other person in that room sooner or later. Judging what they wear, how they speak, you know what I mean.
So there I stood in the far corner of the restroom, hands and face all sanitary, with a surgical mask hanging below my chin, and lightly vaping. You see, I can't vape hard because of the wires, but you would have thought I was smoking a pack of analogs all at the same time the way this woman reacted.
Oh, I almost forgot to tell you that my Mother is a total advocate against Smoking! She's allergic to cigarette smoke, was diagnosed as such over 28 years ago.
When she's around people smoking or enters a room where people have recently been smoking she immediately chokes up, her eyes start running like a river, and she coughs as though she were dying from a terminal lung disease.
At any rate this older woman whom I'd never seen before comes into the restroom and immediately tells me to put out the cigarette or she'll call management and have me thrown out. Mind you we are in a quite large ladies restroom. Only my mom and 2 other customers are in the restaurant. This woman wasn't nice about it at all! She stuck her face close to mine, and started pointing her fingers at my mask. She followed her demand by rashly asking me, "Do you have AIDS or something?!" Bear in mind I'm a level-headed quick-thinker. So I looked her right in the eyes and ask her, " Are you afraid of the unknown, AIDS and the likes, or are you just having a bad day?" She stepped back and repeated her demand for me to stop smoking. I never raise my voice except for at a sporting event or something exciting. So I remained very calm which freaked her out even more. That's when I hit her with this little ditty. "Mam, I don't have AIDS, so you can rest easy you're not going to catch anything." "But, I do have a medical need which my doctor thought this cigarette looking inhaler device would be better for me to use to quit smoking because of the wires in my jawbone." "Further, may I advise you that it would be most beneficial for you to get proper education on AIDS and other things which frighten you before you approach the next person in such a manner?" "Keep this day for a point of reference because the next person you approach in such a negative manner just might send you to the nearest hospital."
The woman looked at me and calmly said, "Oh, I thought you had AIDS or something and you were smoking cigarettes in this restroom."
I walked out of the restroom, joined my mom at the table, and a few minutes later the older woman walked out, went past us and smiled at the both of us.
Why didn't I take that opportunity to educate this woman on the electronic cigarette?
It was because in my lifetime of working with people from all walks of life, I've learned that there are just some people you can't on-the-spot-educate, they have to be gradually eased into the learning process. It takes some people, especially the fearful, close-minded ones time to accept even the smallest of changes.
So the next time you want to really find out how quickly people over react to the unknown put on a blue and white surgical mask, go out to a public place, drop the mask below your chin and start vaping. You'll find out in a hurry just how closed-minded - uneducated-people over react to even the smallest changes around them.
By the way, I wasn't in the restaurant's eating area when this happened. Like I said I was in the ladies restroom. And to top it off I was vaping at the lowest possible level.
Dawhoo is right…….if we want vaping to succeed we need to realize that we must pursue our goals, swiftly but quietly.
FYI: As I said my Mom is severely allergic to cigarette smoke, directly or indirectly, BUT SHE HAS ZERO REACTIONS WHEN I VAPE IN A ROOM OR WITH HER IN THE CAR.
Here's to peaceful vaping and its success!
Smiles! (At home so I don't have to wear that awful surgical mask) Can kind of smile now.
