When Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
The following is a guest blog post by Bill Smythe the owner of Claude & Annie’s near the old airport terminal.
Let me give you some advice!
That phrase makes me cringe when I hear it during my normal workday setting behind the bar at either of the (2) Claude & Annie’s locations I own. You see one of the most common practices of my customers is for them to offer their advice on what I need to do to make my place better or more appealing. These suggestions range from hiring sexier servers/bartenders , making them wear sexier uniforms , to changing the music on the jukebox , types of bands or eliminating karaoke to just lowering prices of their favorite brew. To be honest, there is no limit to the advice I have been given over the last 18 years of owning and managing my family’s business but I find it odd that the one bit of advice I almost never get is – would you please go non-smoking ?
The election Tuesday in Marion County for both Mayor and the City Council has received a lot of press (mostly from the Star) regarding the potential to eliminate the exemptions that came about from the compromise we forged in 2005 when the original smoking ban was implemented for any location that serviced customers under the age of 18. As such, we were required to post a sign on the entrance identifying us as a smoking location and request an exemption with the Marion County Board of Health. As best as I am able to confirm there are a total of 344 exempted locations in Marion County out of approximately 1,200 establishments that sell/serve alcohol and beer. So as you can see, a small minority of all establishments but an even smaller number if you look at it in perspective to every other business in Indy (some 30,000).
A recent poll by WISH-TV shows that only 1% of the people said the candidates’ position on smoking ban is the reason for voting for them in the upcoming election. This didn’t surprise me in the least when I thought back on how few (if any) of my customers have asked me to go non-smoking over the last several years. So why do a very small minority of people think they should be able to force their opinions on the both the private business owner and the general public with respects to smoking policy? Why is the sign posted at the door not enough to alert a person of age that they have a choice not to enter an establishment if they oppose smoking?
I can’t speak for the smoking prohibitionists. They appear to be motivated by emotion instead of logic, because the only thing extending the smoking ban will do is put small business owners out of business and cause many employees to lose their jobs. And here is what else I know – if I thought I could make more money by going non smoking – then I would do it in a heartbeat. All you need to do is stop in and listen to my customers “advice” to know what I should do, and that is oppose the nannies that want the ban and support the candidates that are willing to stand up and oppose them.
Bill Smythe
Bill’s Airport Bar , LLC
dba/Claude & Annie’s Airport
The Indiana Bar Owners Association has also come out with its list of City-County Council candidates it is endorsing.
