Smokers and their inconsiderate Butts! Just me blowing off some Steem here...

Today I saw a man finish smoking a cigarette and throw it on the floor before climbing on the waiting bus. There was a bin less than 2 meters away which he could have used. It was raining lightly, so he decided to smoke directly under the bus shelter, while exhaling his second-hand smoke almost directly through the back door of the bus, which I was sitting in. I thought about saying something to him, but he looked like the kind of guy who would snap anyone who looked at him the wrong way.

It's not so much the fact that he smokes that gets to me. It is rather the inconsiderate behavior of the man towards the environment and people around him, which seems to be quite common among some smokers here in Perth. It seems you can't go very far without seeing a cigarette butt lying on the pavement, in the gutter or in a garden bed, or someone throwing their still glowing cigarette butt out of the car wind in rush hour traffic. Why could he not extinguish the cigarette in the puddle at his feet, and throw the butt in the bin? Why did he have to light up under the bud shelter, which is a non-smoking area, and blow his smoke in the direction of the bus?

I know smoking is a terrible addiction, and very hard to quit, and I'm not painting all smokers with the same dirty brush here, but there is no excuse for people smoking where they shouldn't be, blowing their smoke into areas where non-smokers are, and there being so much cigarette litter lying all over the place. Yes, there is also other litter that lies around, but I'm talking specifically about smokers and their inconsiderateness towards others. The other litter doesn't exhale secondhand smoke into peoples faces.

Perhaps it's just me being inconsiderate towards them, because I suffer from allergic rhinitis, and it can get triggered at the slightest whiff of cigarette smoke. If I'm walking behind a smoker, I either have to get past quickly, or move to the other side of the road to get away from the smoke. If it does trigger, then it takes hours to clear up, and comes with severe sinus headaches attached. I have learnt to deal with it, and take antihistamines almost every day to reduce the chances of it flaring up, but why can't smokers drop this self-entitled attitude and be more aware of the people and environment around them.

So thank you to the smokers out there who do go out of their way to try to keep their smoke away from the general public, and who do extinguish and dispose of their butts properly. I just wish more smokers would do the same.

Rant over! I feel slightly better now. Now where is my Claritin? Thanks for reading :)