We’ve seen it countless times. A person with a cigarette is approaching a building and needs to get rid of their tobacco tube. On the ground it goes. This drives me insane. It is doubly irritating if there is indeed a trash can with an ashtray top near by. I at least have some tolerance for those wise enough to stomp it out. Those who allow the burning wand to simply roll in the wind really get my dander up. I have chased many a cigarette in an attempt to give it the squashing it rightfully deserves.
The cigarettes I can’t chase and terminate are those tossed from car windows. Boy, what a blood boiler. I have yet to see a car that does not come with an ashtray. When sparks fly out of the car in front of me and dance over my windshield, I just want to speed ahead and give that person a finger shaking. (Don’t worry. I’m strictly a ‘pointer finger’ kind of girl.) How thoughtless can a person be to throw a burning object out the window to who knows where? Do they have some psychic ability that allows them the confidence their cigarette won’t be the beginnings of a raging fire?
I’m not trying to pick on smokers in general. There are those who are very responsible with how they dispose of their butts. They realize the habit is their own and cleaning up after that habit rests on their shoulders. There is simply no way for others to accommodate the needs of smokers at all times. Businesses can’t line their parking lots with ashtrays. Transportation agencies can’t build drive thru cigarette disposal booths every 5 miles. Having a plan for keeping one’s butt off of the ground is the only solution.
Amen, Sister!
Responsible butt disposer here. Really. (My smokes are guiltily inhaled only on my back porch, never in the house or public!) As the wife of a FF I hear you roar, so many forest fires are started in this careless manner.
a. I am so glad I am not a smoker anymore
b. when I did smoke, I put out the butts on my shoe and threw them away. In college, I actually ended up with some in my pocket when I couldn’t find a garbage.