There has been a tremendous change, for sure.

I think, though, when all else fails it boils down to common courtesy. I don't think I would have been one of those standing outside the conference rooms smoking.

OTOH, sometimes the anti-tobacco crowd gets out of line. I'm a little tired of those "tobacco smokes you" ads on kid's networks showing diseased lungs and such. They scare my son to death.

Sometimes smokers don't respect common courtesy, but those ads cross the line of common decency, IMHO.


>>Progress? I'm not sure that's the right word. But I mostly agree with you. Smoking should be limited to areas off the beaten track such as the hotel bar and outdoors. It shouldn't be an irritant to those trying to focus on content. As a smoker, it's never really bothered me to have to go outside to smoke....except in bars ;-)
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>Progress in the sense that 20 years ago, if I'd suggested that a hotel lobby should be smoke-free, I'd have been laughed at. Now it's rare to find a hotel (at least in the North) where smoking is permitted in common areas.
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>I remember vividly taking one of my kids to the infirmary at Veteran's Stadium during a Phillies game because the smoke in our seating area had brought on an asthma attack -- that was 10-12 years ago. Now all the seating areas are smoke-free with smoking allowed only on the concourses. (I'll be curious to see what the rules are for the new ballpark that opens in about 18 months.)
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>There's been a tremendous change in the rules about smoking in one generation.
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>Tamar