Baileys and other stories

As I mentioned last week, I won $100 on a hermit crab race. Nick gave out the winnings on Friday afternoon, then we all went to the pub. I blew the $100 on booze for everyone. Beers, spirits, cocktails for my fellow co-workers. I probably should have done something more responsible with the money, but I think sometimes you need to splash out, especially if the money came unexpectedly and at a time when you don't really need it.

Anyway, so I pulled into the pub, bought drinks for lots of people and started chatting to Dina and Lindsay D. The reason for his absence at the Christmas party was quite boring in the end, something to do with a broken air conditioner. He then pulls out a cigarette and lights up. Anyone who knows me well enough will know that I'm not just a non-smoker, I'm an anti-smoker. I don't like anything that smoking stands for - neither the false prestige it gives, nor the health and environmental damage it wreaks. I hate the addiction factor, I hate the inconsiderate nature of most smokers and I hate that people who smoke are weak. So any last vestiges of turning my attention to him (despite the girlfriend, of course) flew out the window.

I started thinking about it on the way home. Irresponsibly, I'd gotten sucked into Baileys marketing and ended up buying four Baileys cocktails so I could get a free Ministry of Sound CD (I didn't drink all four cocktails - Dina had one). That took my evening's tally to seven drinks in the space of two and a half hours, which was only one less drink than what I'd had at the Christmas party but in a third of the time and without food or non-alcoholic drinks to pad it out. So, needless to say, I wasn't thinking entirely straight, but I was thinking nonetheless.

I was thinking about whether it was unfair of me to lose respect for someone the moment they pull out a cigarette. I don't lose all respect for them (I'm not that shallow) but I do lose a little respect for them. It's a subtle form of discrimination, really, because my opinion is based on whether or not I see them pull out the cigarette. For all I know, many more people might smoke than I know do but the whole loss of respect thing only occurs if I know whether or not they do.

But I still stand by my anti-smoking manifesto. Not one smoker has ever broken the stereotype that I've formed in my head, thus the stereotype shall remain until I am proven wrong. And thus ordinary people, when they pull out a cigarette, will have my assumptions thrust upon them. I make no apology for it. I'll let you know when I do.

Sorry Lindsay D, it seems that it isn't to be.