Smoking on balconies

[funlovinkid]

I live in a condo which was built such that the kitchen/dining room (and laundry rack) is on the balcony.  Because of this layout, I find myself on the balcony very often, and sometimes for several hours at a time.  Unfortunately for me, the person living below me has a constant habit of smoking as he leans out over his balcony.  Very often, this means that the smoke immediately enters my kitchen/dining room, and very often stays there for a period of time.  Since I moved into this condo, for the past 8-10 months, I've put up with this situation without complaint.  However, about a week ago, I had spent more than an hour preparing lunch, and sat down to enjoy it just as he came out for a smoke.  I pondered going back inside the condo to wait for him to finish smoking, and for the smoke to dissipate, but I was very hungry at this point, and decided to eat anyway.  It felt like I was having a meal inside an airport smoking lounge.  It took about 30 minutes for me to finish eating, all the while ignoring the loud complaints from my body.  About an hour later, I came down with a migraine headache that ruined the rest of the day for me - and the day after, as well.  I've been getting migraines since I was 18, but they're very rare for me now, and I can't help but wonder if this one occurred because of my forced exposure to the smoke. In the past, I spent quite a bit of time in smoky bars, and the smoke didn’t particularly bother me at the time. Now, I find it extremely irritating, so my body has apparently changed - which makes me wonder if I've developed an acute allergy to cigarette smoke.

 

Since the migraine, I have now twice had a brief, friendly conversation about this with my downstairs neighbor (from our respective balconies).  Both times, he was extremely understanding and apologetic, and immediately went indoors with the cigarette.  I very much appreciate his understanding (and I told him so), and I can't help but feel a bit guilty about infringing on his pleasurable activity - but I feel I have no choice.  And I can't help but wonder if we will begin to continuously find ourselves in these conversations, and whether his willingness to cooperate will evaporate over time.  I've never met him before, so I have no sense of his temperament. I also have no sense of whether he owns or rents his condo.

 

It's possible that my neighbor is smoking while leaning over the balcony in order to comply with the non-smoking terms of his own condo lease, and that my request is now causing him to consider whether he needs to relocate, or that he might be subjected to financial penalties for smoking indoors. On the other hand, it’s occurred to me that, if I find myself constantly and unavoidably subjected to cigarette smoke in my own kitchen/dining room, I myself might have no choice but to relocate. I asked the condo building management about this, and they tell me that technically, smoking on balconies is not allowed. Of course, they’re very aware that people do this anyway, and my impression from my conversation with them was that it’s a gray area, with the outcome of any dispute unpredictable.

I think all this serves to demonstrate the issue associated with smoking on the balconies of multi-resident buildings. Until this situation occurred for me, although I had heard of it, I never had given it much thought. My initial impression of such balcony non-smoking laws around the world was that it was unnecessary. However, since I now consider myself somewhat of a victim of the situation, I understand the logic behind them.

I am not militantly anti-smoker, and I don’t dispute the right of people to enjoy tobacco products. I just want to breathe fresh air. And I’m afraid many smokers feel that the growing anti-smoker sentiment around the world is unfair - and motivated by pettiness, or political correctness, or drama queens, power mongers, whatever. Unfortunately, I think it’s too easy to disregard the true effects of smoke on some people more than others. If smoke doesn’t happen to bother you, that’s great. But it’s important to understand that not everyone’s body will react the same to cigarette smoke. For that matter, I regularly meet a smoking friend at the beach for a pleasant conversation and some coffee, typically lasting around 3 hours. And whenever he wants a cigarette, he excuses himself, moves away from the beach, and lights up. After a few minutes, he returns, and we continue. I’ve told him more than once how much I appreciate his consideration.

 

As far as my particular balcony situation, I have no idea what the future holds. It would be great if the downstairs neighbor moves away, or quits smoking entirely, or starts smoking only indoors with the windows closed, switches to a vaporizer, whatever – but I have my doubts, of course. This is unfortunately a perfect example of how smoking can unnecessarily pit people against each other. At this stage of my life, this is the last thing I want or need.

 

I have the feeling this posting will inflame the passions on both sides of the discussion, and that’s certainly not my intent here. I only want to share my own experience with the situation in order to hopefully expand on our collective understanding.

 

[daveAustin]

While I say good on you for speaking to him about it and potentially avoiding an ulcer, on the other hand if you look at it from his point of view, he is on his balcony after all. It is just unfortunate your place is laid out the way it is. Just think yourself lucky the guy is considerate. It usually isn't like that. You could have a right antisocial moron playing music at all hours, etc. I'd send him a bunch of flowers. ;-)

[rhythmworx]

I believe these are quite effective

 

[funlovinkid]

13 minutes ago, rhythmworx said:

I believe these are quite effective

 

 

Yet another helpful, constructive comment so typical of TV...

 

 

[funlovinkid]

33 minutes ago, daveAustin said:

While I say good on you for speaking to him about it and potentially avoiding an ulcer, on the other hand if you look at it from his point of view, he is on his balcony after all. It is just unfortunate your place is laid out the way it is. Just think yourself lucky the guy is considerate. It usually isn't like that. You could have a right antisocial moron playing music at all hours, etc. I'd send him a bunch of flowers. ;-)

 

That's a great idea, thanks for that.  I think I'll go for some chocolates instead of the flowers, though. 

 

 

[KittenKong]

Before the coup there was a proposal to amend the anti-smoking laws that would prohibit smoking anywhere on the premises of a condo building, indoors or outdoors. However I dont think that it has been enacted.

 

Personally I would be in favour of any such rule, and also of stopping people from leaving doors onto corridors open. It's really uncivilised to get an obligatory eyeful or noseful or earful of the way people live when walking past their unit.

[tonray]

I hate smoking around any living premises. But having said that, rights are rights. If I were you, I would move...only real viable solution. I have changed homes in the past to avoid the nasty smell of cigarette smoke.

[Thaiwrath]

I think you will find that car fumes in the area will be more harmful than the occasional cigarette smoked below.

Maybe you can ask the local Government to ban any vehicles within, say, 200 yards from the condo ? 

[mcfish]

Before the coup there was a proposal to amend the anti-smoking laws that would prohibit smoking anywhere on the premises of a condo building, indoors or outdoors. However I dont think that it has been enacted.
 
Personally I would be in favour of any such rule, and also of stopping people from leaving doors onto corridors open. It's really uncivilised to get an obligatory eyeful or noseful or earful of the way people live when walking past their unit.

Doors open were banned years ago in my condo bangkok and it's pretty much standard now. It's always been condo law more enforced these days. Nothing worse than hallways stinking of fried river carp!
Best way to stop it is to report it

Sent from my SC-01D using Tapatalk

[JHolmesJr]

Cant you buy a table fun for the balcony to blow the smoke away?

[BaldPlumber]

 
Yet another helpful, constructive comment so typical of TV...
 
 

Completely agree. Why do people post this utter nonsense? To show their edgy sense of humour? To waste everyone's bandwidth? Because they've got absolutely nothing better to do with their time?

Who knows

[KittenKong]

1 hour ago, mcfish said:

Doors open were banned years ago in my condo bangkok and it's pretty much standard now. It's always been condo law more enforced these days. Nothing worse than hallways stinking of fried river carp!
Best way to stop it is to report it

Reporting it would be pointless in my building. Nice to hear that some buildings are civilised though. Maybe there is hope for Thailand after all.

[manarak]

there was one very similar post on this forum not so long ago:

I don't smoke and wouldn't like to live with a smoker, but I am usually not bothered by people smoking unless in confined spaces.

 

My personal feeling is that an "allergy" is something personal and special, vs. smoking on the balcony which I would consider "a somewhat normal".

So I would personally lean to say "bad luck" to the allergy person.

 

OP, why don't you close your windows and switch on the aircon for the duration of your lower neighbor's cigarette?

[ScotBkk]

I live in a condo which was built such that the kitchen/dining room (and laundry rack) is on the balcony.  Because of this layout, I find myself on the balcony very often, and sometimes for several hours at a time.  Unfortunately for me, the person living below me has a constant habit of smoking as he leans out over his balcony.  Very often, this means that the smoke immediately enters my kitchen/dining room, and very often stays there for a period of time.  Since I moved into this condo, for the past 8-10 months, I've put up with this situation without complaint.  However, about a week ago, I had spent more than an hour preparing lunch, and sat down to enjoy it just as he came out for a smoke.  I pondered going back inside the condo to wait for him to finish smoking, and for the smoke to dissipate, but I was very hungry at this point, and decided to eat anyway.  It felt like I was having a meal inside an airport smoking lounge.  It took about 30 minutes for me to finish eating, all the while ignoring the loud complaints from my body.  About an hour later, I came down with a migraine headache that ruined the rest of the day for me - and the day after, as well.  I've been getting migraines since I was 18, but they're very rare for me now, and I can't help but wonder if this one occurred because of my forced exposure to the smoke. In the past, I spent quite a bit of time in smoky bars, and the smoke didn’t particularly bother me at the time. Now, I find it extremely irritating, so my body has apparently changed - which makes me wonder if I've developed an acute allergy to cigarette smoke.

 

Since the migraine, I have now twice had a brief, friendly conversation about this with my downstairs neighbor (from our respective balconies).  Both times, he was extremely understanding and apologetic, and immediately went indoors with the cigarette.  I very much appreciate his understanding (and I told him so), and I can't help but feel a bit guilty about infringing on his pleasurable activity - but I feel I have no choice.  And I can't help but wonder if we will begin to continuously find ourselves in these conversations, and whether his willingness to cooperate will evaporate over time.  I've never met him before, so I have no sense of his temperament. I also have no sense of whether he owns or rents his condo.

 

It's possible that my neighbor is smoking while leaning over the balcony in order to comply with the non-smoking terms of his own condo lease, and that my request is now causing him to consider whether he needs to relocate, or that he might be subjected to financial penalties for smoking indoors. On the other hand, it’s occurred to me that, if I find myself constantly and unavoidably subjected to cigarette smoke in my own kitchen/dining room, I myself might have no choice but to relocate. I asked the condo building management about this, and they tell me that technically, smoking on balconies is not allowed. Of course, they’re very aware that people do this anyway, and my impression from my conversation with them was that it’s a gray area, with the outcome of any dispute unpredictable.

I think all this serves to demonstrate the issue associated with smoking on the balconies of multi-resident buildings. Until this situation occurred for me, although I had heard of it, I never had given it much thought. My initial impression of such balcony non-smoking laws around the world was that it was unnecessary. However, since I now consider myself somewhat of a victim of the situation, I understand the logic behind them.

I am not militantly anti-smoker, and I don’t dispute the right of people to enjoy tobacco products. I just want to breathe fresh air. And I’m afraid many smokers feel that the growing anti-smoker sentiment around the world is unfair - and motivated by pettiness, or political correctness, or drama queens, power mongers, whatever. Unfortunately, I think it’s too easy to disregard the true effects of smoke on some people more than others. If smoke doesn’t happen to bother you, that’s great. But it’s important to understand that not everyone’s body will react the same to cigarette smoke. For that matter, I regularly meet a smoking friend at the beach for a pleasant conversation and some coffee, typically lasting around 3 hours. And whenever he wants a cigarette, he excuses himself, moves away from the beach, and lights up. After a few minutes, he returns, and we continue. I’ve told him more than once how much I appreciate his consideration.

 

As far as my particular balcony situation, I have no idea what the future holds. It would be great if the downstairs neighbor moves away, or quits smoking entirely, or starts smoking only indoors with the windows closed, switches to a vaporizer, whatever – but I have my doubts, of course. This is unfortunately a perfect example of how smoking can unnecessarily pit people against each other. At this stage of my life, this is the last thing I want or need.

 

I have the feeling this posting will inflame the passions on both sides of the discussion, and that’s certainly not my intent here. I only want to share my own experience with the situation in order to hopefully expand on our collective understanding.

 

I had a similar situation a few years ago and had to move because these guys smoking on the balconies below took umbrage after I asked if they could tone it down a little. However, my neighbours were extremely volatile and didn't want any confrontations with a load of lunatics !!! Good luck ...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Damrongsak]

40 years ago, a young American guy I knew related a story.  He was at some party or whatnot on the second floor balcony.  Completely blitzed, he took a crap off the balcony.  The Thai folks below took offense to that, and someone fired a handgun up through the balcony.  Stopped that shit right away. 

 

Same guy had to be retrieved one night after running his bicycle into a ditch.  Don't know how long it took for them to realize he was missing in action.  He didn't know how long he laid in the ditch.  I think he did have the nickname "animal".

Edited November 4, 2016 by Damrongsak

[tutsiwarrior]

4 hours ago, Damrongsak said:

40 years ago, a young American guy I knew related a story.  He was at some party or whatnot on the second floor balcony.  Completely blitzed, he took a crap off the balcony.  The Thai folks below took offense to that, and someone fired a handgun up through the balcony.  Stopped that shit right away. 

 

Same guy had to be retrieved one night after running his bicycle into a ditch.  Don't know how long it took for them to realize he was missing in action.  He didn't know how long he laid in the ditch.  I think he did have the nickname "animal".

 

yeah...there is something quite 'feral' about takin' a dump offa balcony when a toilet is at hand...

 

when I was workin' in the US NW woods we useta take dumps on stumps so as to not shit where we hadta work...we were regarded as 'timber beasts'...

 

 

[Ace of Pop]

Completely agree. Why do people post this utter nonsense? To show their edgy sense of humour? To waste everyone's bandwidth? Because they've got absolutely nothing better to do with their time?

Who knows

So why did you post this, no different,we all have different agendas,mine as teen was Intence,serious,self important,now at 70 I don't give Rats Ass Can't be serious these days.[emoji481][emoji950][emoji1]


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[rhythmworx]

Could you not ask him to blow it downwards on the balcony below?

 

A lot of smokers  raise their heads up in the air in bliss as the nicotene enters the system.

 

Politely ask him if he could blow it down onto the balcony below him, and get a fan going.

 

Maybe you need to do some barbecue the fan will help blow onto his balcony, play him at his own game.

 

If you want to make an extra point dry some squid over it.

[funlovinkid]

10 hours ago, tonray said:

I hate smoking around any living premises. But having said that, rights are rights. If I were you, I would move...only real viable solution. I have changed homes in the past to avoid the nasty smell of cigarette smoke.

 

Yeah...but if people can smoke on balconies, what guarantee would I have that my new condo would be any better?  Unless I decide to live in a house somewhere.  Or Siberia.

[funlovinkid]

9 hours ago, JHolmesJr said:

Cant you buy a table fun for the balcony to blow the smoke away?

 

The balcony has a large ceiling fan, and I've tried that.  It doesn't work.  With the constant supply of fresh smoke from below, it's a losing battle.  The balcony is somewhat enclosed, so the smoke seems to be getting trapped there - along with me.

[funlovinkid]

8 hours ago, manarak said:

there was one very similar post on this forum not so long ago:

I don't smoke and wouldn't like to live with a smoker, but I am usually not bothered by people smoking unless in confined spaces.

 

My personal feeling is that an "allergy" is something personal and special, vs. smoking on the balcony which I would consider "a somewhat normal".

So I would personally lean to say "bad luck" to the allergy person.

 

OP, why don't you close your windows and switch on the aircon for the duration of your lower neighbor's cigarette?

 

First of all, I've never been diagnosed with an allergy - all I know is that the smoke is extremely irritating, whereas in the past I could tolerate it more easily.  Based on that, it's only my guess that an allergy has developed, as a way to explain my increased sensitivity to smoke.  And I don't think I'm "special" in that regard: a LOT of people are uncomfortable with second-hand smoke.  As far as using the AC and going indoors, yeah, I've been doing that, but the guy seems to be smoking about every half hour.  He's not an occasional smoker, it's pretty constant.  So: abandon my kitchen and dining room, and just eat out all the time?  And forget taking in the pleasant ocean view?  Hmm.

 

[KarenBravo]

20 minutes ago, funlovinkid said:

 

The balcony has a large ceiling fan, and I've tried that.  It doesn't work.  With the constant supply of fresh smoke from below, it's a losing battle.  The balcony is somewhat enclosed, so the smoke seems to be getting trapped there - along with me.

 

You're talking about the smoke emitted from a single cigarette? Outside?

You make it sound like you are doing personal battle with the Smog Monster.

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1682712/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Edited November 5, 2016 by KarenBravo

[mcfish]

A bet he is a reformed smoker . They will often cross the road if a smoker dares to use the same footpath

[ThaiPauly]

9 hours ago, funlovinkid said:

 

Yeah...but if people can smoke on balconies, what guarantee would I have that my new condo would be any better?  Unless I decide to live in a house somewhere.  Or Siberia.

Don't move to Siberia...the Ruskies smoke like crazy!!!

[seedy]

flaming post removed

[Maestro]

"I live in a condo which was buyilt such that the kitchen/dining room (and laundry rack) is on the balcony."

Is this a common layout for condominium units in Thailand?

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Thaivisa Connect mobile app

[funlovinkid]

On 11/5/2016 at 10:52 AM, mcfish said:

A bet he is a reformed smoker . They will often cross the road if a smoker dares to use the same footpath

 

Sorry, you'd lose that bet.  Although I did try cigarettes once in a while, I was never a regular smoker.

Edited November 13, 2016 by funlovinkid
typo

[wpcoe]

On 11/8/2016 at 3:39 AM, Maestro said:

"I live in a condo which was buyilt such that the kitchen/dining room (and laundry rack) is on the balcony."

Is this a common layout for condominium units in Thailand?

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Thaivisa Connect mobile app
 

 

I have seen a few studio apartments that had that arrangement.  One example is Jomtien Complex.  Studios there have large balconies and several owners have put their kitchen and/or dining area out there.  I think I've seen realtor ads for Metro Jomtien Condo with similarly large patios with kitchen/dining area out there.

[jerojero]

You could suggest a gift to your neighbor, a large fan for his balcony that would blow his smoke outward, dissipating it.

[A1Str8]

You didn't have the migraine because of the smoke but because you ignored the loud complaints of your body. 

Every time we go against our own grain, an energy imbalance is created and in your case it shows up in the form of headaches. 

If I was the smoking neighbor, I would just go downstairs and smoke there. That way I wouldn't bother anyone and wouldn't need to smoke inside my room.