Smoke out

Can I pick the next group to be "separate but equal"? I'd like to choose smokers.

Today, (right now actually. Isn't technology crazy?!?!, I was sitting on the train, when the guy next to me got up to get off at the next stop. Well, his siesta was quickly filled by someone. Upon him sitting down, my sense of smell was immediately assaulted by his stale smoke leftover from his early morning stroll down cancer lane. Hey, I always say, what you do at home is none of my business...until it starts to invade my personal space. And this guy? All up in my personal space.

I am sitting here, forced to take short labored breaths to avoid getting a full blast of that just back from the smokers' lounge smell. I'm pretty sure my lungs haven't taken in more oxygen than an infant's lungs in about 5 stops. I'm further damaged by the fact that he's hindering my ability to fight my already losing battle against aging. Because I'm so disgusted, I've been involuntarily scowling for a good 9 minutes. All the good worklSt night's deep wrinkle cream did, promptly undone. Any longer and the people who think I don't look young will bs right. Which is more than a little bogus. I take more than a little pride in proving that petty nonsense wrong.

My solution? In addition to creating a smoking area, make it mandatory for smokers to stayin that area. At least until they can prove that they are no longer offensively smokey the bear. Besides, separate but equal is equal, right?