Shells guide: No smoking in a bus shelter

 
Although a bus shelter is technically an outdoor facility, one should not smoke inside. This problem first came to my attention one bitterly cold winter afternoon. The weather was not displaying any inclement conditions like snow or heavy wind and I was hiding inside the mass transit shelter. A smoker came in and stood right next to me, her smoke wafting all around me in little clouds of apathy. Since the shelter was nearly empty, I moved to the other side to escape the cancer causing pollution. Then, I looked outside and realized the area was not crowded, and since the shelter provided no departure from the cold temperatures I wondered why the smoker chose to enter the shelter and stand next to me in the first place.

Recently, I ran into the same situation. On this day it was actually sprinkling, but the overhang area outside the dwelling was vacant. The overhang provides the same amount of protection from the weather as does the inside. So why stand next to me?

After doing some research, I found that people are not supposed to smoke in shelters in Indianapolis. The IndyGo website states that it does not have the capacity to enforce the policy. It continues to give a phone number for the Marion County Health Department, however I do not bet that calling would do a lot of good to quell the smoking problem. People may not even realize they're not supposed to smoke there, after all, the shelters are technically outside. Still, common courteous tells me that if there are people inside and there is not a tornado or blizzard outside one should keep their cigarettes and toxic plumes away. It is fine if a smoker wants to hot box their home or their car, but do not force others to fester in that same situation.

"Shells guide" is a collection of life lessons I wish everyone knew or was at least aware of. Someone once told me that everyone has a virtual book of knowledge in their head that they think everyone else should abide by. The thing is, not everyone has your pages and it is hard to play the game if you don't know the rules.