So a guy standing outside Safeway with a petition for a higher tax on tobacco approaches me

So I'm walking up to the door of the local Safeway grocery store, and there's this really obese young man, in his late 20s I would say, I mean really obese, at a table, he points to it and asks me if I'm a voter. I ask him what's it for? He says we want to raise the tax on tobacco (again). I say back to him, it's already too high....he says I think we should make it even higher...this pisses me off and I look at his fat a%* and say "I think we should start raising the tax on food at McDonald's". He just stood there speechless and I went inside and did my shopping.

Was I mean to the guy? I just really told him how I felt, him and his oversize wide load standing there wanting to tax my tobacco. I felt like maybe I hurt the guy's feelings a little, should I have just kept my mouth shut?

a reply to: AreUKiddingMe

No, the tax is already too high and it's only going to get worse in the next few years. That guy is lucky I wasn't there, it's probably our taxes that will save his life from a heart attack somewhere down the track.

a reply to: AreUKiddingMe

I don't think you were mean at all. You gave the guy a dose of his own idea of 'fair'. He wants to force others to suffer for their behaviors and lack of self control...while he sits as the monument to the very same failing in a different form.

Pot...Meet Kettle....though I'm sure deep thinking like that would have been lost on him.

I don't think you should have kept your mouth shut, I do think he should have shut his mouth.
We get a 12.5% hike on tobacco here in Australia each and every year.

That is a lot, I smoke tobacco and roll my own, so to combat the increase I use two filters now instead of one which gives me a saving of 20% I will be down 5% over 2 years but I will worry about that later.

I wonder if meatloaf got into his car and fired up his carbon monoxide factory when he had finished harassing shoppers.

a reply to: AreUKiddingMe

a reply to: AreUKiddingMe

G,day mate. i think Darknstormy gave you a good answer there
i will also add
well you put that bloke straight
and i have a smile on my face trying to picture his shock/dismay at your retort
have a good one bloke

a reply to: AreUKiddingMe

LMAO.

You were right to voice your opinion. So what if you hurt the guy's feelings was he concerned about how you feel?

Almost every person I know is a hypocrite, I'm a hypocrite. I try not to judge but I don't drink soda and once in awhile I'll make a comment to a friend about how it's full of sugar and god knows what and how it's bad for them to drink the stuff. Then I light a cigarette.



Oh well whatever I gave you a star and a flag.

Im in agreement with the rest, you were right to say what you did. I myself don't smoke cigarettes, and I have seen plenty of family die of lung cancer, but its their right to smoke, and the higher taxing thing to make smokers not want to buy cigarettes is insane. Just like gas, its kind of a necessity in a way, so no matter the cost. people will pay. That goes for other things as well.

a reply to: keenasbro

G,day mate. two filters bugga. glad i gave up several years ago
sorry i cant resist. two bloody filters.
that must really suck

originally posted by: AreUKiddingMe
So I'm walking up to the door of the local Safeway grocery store, and there's this really obese young man, in his late 20s I would say, I mean really obese, at a table, he points to it and asks me if I'm a voter. I ask him what's it for? He says we want to raise the tax on tobacco (again). I say back to him, it's already too high....he says I think we should make it even higher...this pisses me off and I look at his fat a%* and say "I think we should start raising the tax on food at McDonald's". He just stood there speechless and I went inside and did my shopping.

How much do you charge for ... Teaching-Lessons ???

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OPINION: High-Five !!! ... ( plus another Star-n-Flag )
.

lol. no I find it stops the bitey sensation at the end of the burn, pretty happy about the change.
Also I have put it in my head that I can use this as a tool to rid myself of the habbit altogether.
I have tried cold turkey, didn't work for me.

a reply to: pronto

a reply to: AreUKiddingMe

You were mean but then again so was he for trying to get the tax raised. If he wasn't able to take the heat, he shouldn't have dished it out.

If you start down the path of condemning people for health or lifestyle choices you better make sure you have your own house in order.

S&F from me as well. What's good for the goose is good for the gander and it never ceases to amaze me that folks don't mind making laws to do away with things they don't like never thinking that it's going to come down the line for them one day. Slippery slope and all that.

He deserved the reaction he got IMO. I have not smoked in over a year now, and would never sign a petition for something like that even though I have seen the harmful effects in myself and my family members. It's a choice and not one that is being foisted upon folks unwillingly. Just as it's that guys choice to feed his face until he dies of diabetic complications or until Jerry Springer has to come cut a wall out of his house to get his fat arse to a hospital for a checkup and a weigh in on a scale built for shamu.

Sometimes folks need to be told/shown their own hypocrisy. That's what you did. Maybe he will think about that the next time he wants to ban the flavor of the month.

It seems that live and let live is dying a quick (but not entirely painless) death lately.

The guy was probably just hired by some do-gooder PAC to collect signatures. He might not even care one way or the other, nor have bothered to educate himself enough to form a coherent opinion of his own with which to retort.

Either way, he's clearly an ignorant clod.

I'm pretty sure I would've lost my cool with the guy. My compliments on restraining your response to the extent that you did.

Well, a guy came buy hitting up people in the ferry line on Friday. He said the tax would go to cancer research, I just said, "No," and he walked off. But he was Native American. I guess I should have said, "No, but I'm in favor of putting a higher tax on alcohol."

So maybe just buy what you want to buy and go?
I dont see the point in new taxes, let alone you taking it out on the guy here or anywhere else.

a reply to: AreUKiddingMe

You were well within normal conversation. I'm sure he doesn't see it that way. Maybe one day he will.

It's the same argument, though.

Tax tobacco more because it's harmful (with additives) --- he was trying to help you
Tax food more because it's harmful (in large quantities) --- you were trying to help him

originally posted by: schuyler
"No, but I'm in favor of putting a higher tax on alcohol."

There would be riots in the street over that one. Pay no attention to the fact that alcohol is just as harmful as cigarettes health wise... But REALLY pay no attention to the families it destroys from the inside out either. Domestic violence, DUI's resulting in deaths, etc. etc. etc.

Somehow it is still more acceptable than cigarettes to most. Any mention of raising the taxes on that as much as they have tobacco and it will be snowing on the hilltops of hell before you can get away from the angry mob that would be hunting you down like a pack of rabid wolves.

The price rises here in Australia have helped me give up, about 6 months now. It is not the first time I have tried but has been the longest.

As for you being mean to him, you say you where already pissed off about the petition. The fact that you even have to ask this question does indicate that it is something you need to think about.

a reply to: AreUKiddingMe

I find this young guy naive to think he wouldn't be offending any smokers. Either he's pretty bold or pretty ignorant. I think you gave him something for him to think about. I wonder if he folded up his table and went home after your comment. lol

a reply to: AreUKiddingMe

You did fine. The very first question he should have asked is if you were a smoker.

You gave him the same respect he gave you.