I have allergic reactions to cigarette smoke (or to one of the 7000 thousand chemicals in tobacco smoke) and when I politely mentioned my allergy to a woman who lit a cigarette while we were waiting for an elevator (from an underpass to an overpass for access to a bus stop) she said, "well then why don't you wear a sign around your neck stating that." I then asked "would you mind not getting onto the elevator with that" and she blew her cigarette smoke in my face and went onto the elevator with her lit cigarette. needless to say, I decided to take the stairs after that. Obviously this is not representative of all those who smoke, and it is likely that I only confront those who smoke in an extremely rude manner. As another example, I've had SBB employees flip me the bird when I mention they are smoking in their own non-smoking area of the banhof while also standing right next to an automatic sliding door. Anyway, point is that confronting rude people about their rude behavior will rarely go your way... because they are rude... this goes for anyone, not just rude smokers. it is unfortunate that their behavior harms others directly and immediately, but the best way to see change is to be proactive politically, push for rules you want, and push for enforcement of those rules.

st2lemans, thank you for groaning at the woman who blew smoke in my face and entered the elevator with a lit cigarette; I groaned, too!

Blew smoke in your face, dismissed you and took the elevator. It sounds like she had the last laugh.

This is precisely my point. I did exactly what Bowlie suggested, "Just ask them to do it somewhere else. And say thank you," and she blew smoke in my face and then entered an enclosed public space with a lit cigarette (two other people were in the elevator with her and they both groaned and looked at her with disgust as she walked on with her lit cigarette. Clearly this woman is just a very rude person and asking rude people not to be rude rarely works. The same goes for asking drunk men and women not to urinate in the middle of my apartment building's walkway or right next to our front door on their way home from the bar down the street. "would you mind not peeing here" gets the response of "f*** off" instead of an apology and they still pull out their pecker or pull down their pants and piss. these are just rude people, generally, and everyone in my building has to smell their piss for the next day or two or until it rains. There is a parking lot right next door, closer to the bar than our apartment building, which would make a fine spot to piss in if they really couldn't hold it in.. but they choose our building. There are two small businesses (hairdressers) inside our building and their clients also have to smell this.

Hardly, she acting like a spoilt child.

Hardly adult behaviour.

I think you need to stop being so nice with these people as it seems they view you as a doormat.

Strangely it is always new people who urinate here. I did have major schadenfreude when I saw one woman urinating in our walkway and lose her cell phone after she pulled up her pants; her phone flew out of her back pocket and into the neighbors bushes. she and her friend (who also urinated in our walkway at the same time) searched for an hour, roping in some drunk men passing by to search with her, but the phone remained lost. There is probably still a free iphone buried in the dirt next door.

fully agree, many do not seem to care about their own kids what to talk of others. I find this behaviour to be truly shocking, but seems that we are decades away from a smoke free Switzerland, we also need social awareness and acceptance in addition to the rules

And no one thought to call the phone’s number?

that's the first thing they tried, so either the phone was on silent mode or the phone had already ran out of battery power.

Definitely - we've got a long way to go here. Mind you, if I thought it was bad in Vaud, I just spent the WE in Tichino, and it a lot worse there!

That is a funny story - mind you, given her likely personal hygiene habits, imagine what you could catch from it. It isn't worth the hunt!

Anything dangerous to humans would've died by now, the phone should be fine!