Smokers at Hospitals Apparently Can't Read

I’ve been spending a lot of time in hospitals lately, and it never fails: every time I walk up to an entrance, there are people smoking in designated nonsmoking areas.

There are gigantic signs that read NO SMOKING BEHIND THIS LINE, and yet people insist on lighting up anyway. I’m not sure if these people are jerks or just plain stupid. But then the same could be said for so many Vancouver drivers as well as dog owners who refuse to leash their pets or clean up their shit.

(In my North Vancouver neighbourhood, nine out of 10 dog owners are responsible. But there’s this one guy, who happens to live right behind us, who never has his dog on a leash nor does he ever carry a plastic bag with him. And there he goes, out for his twice-daily walks, with impunity. I think this guy in particular is a jerk, not a dumbass. The problem with dogs dumping on my front lawn or the park across the street is that my kid could walk in the offending pile of steaming feces and manage to get the crap on his fingers then into his mouth, resulting in illness.)

But back to smokers. I don't care if people smoke, but I do care if they do so in nonsmoking areas. Is it too much to ask to smoke where you’re supposed to? It’s bad enough to have to visit a hospital to see a sick loved one, never mind having to walk through a cloud of fumes to get there.