Swiss native. I’ve been living in the US for 10 years. I come back often for work. This is me every time I set foot at the train station.

Swiss native. I’ve been living in the US for 10 years. I come back often for work. This is me every time I set foot at the train station. from Switzerland

26 comments

  1. Think that was my biggest surprise about the culture here, esp. considering how often the Swiss rag on Americans about being fat and unhealthy, yet every weekend I see people smoking outside before their workout at the gym and the train stations are basically giant ash trays. I really wonder what is driving this?

  2. the cool thing about switzerland and most of europe is we like to do whatever we want. and if i wanna smoke myself to an early grave i can do it. and i think its a good thing.
    and if you dont like it or gotta cry if you smell smoke from time to time u can fuck right off.
    its called freedom btw… idk if americans still know what it means.
    rant over.

  3. Yeah, hope they are going to make it illegal to smoke in public places sooner or later, but for now it is what it is

    There are also places where it’s technically not allowed (e.g. train stations), but people don’t really care

  4. Hated getting the train anywhere in Switzerland. It’s almost guaranteed that at least one person will immediately light-up when getting off the train…so non-smokers are pretty much beholden to these inconsiderate ballbags.

  7. Also gotta love the vapes. There was a guy on the track yesterday blowing out these *enormous* raspberry clouds. No, people do not want to walk through that…

  8. Just checked on a S-Bahn train station (Zurich suburbs). To my surprise, around 100 persons waiting and no one smoking. Did stations go smoke-free recently?

  11. 25% of the (15+) population smokes in Switzerland, 23% in the US, there’s not really that much difference.

  13. You may reach best social contact with your colleagues while smoking with them outside..
    I’m non smoker, but this old Indian habit is deeply rooted in Swiss culture.. Hawk.

  14. They forced us all to wear masks, not visit friends and stopp doing sports to protect other peoples health – but those people are still allowed to destroy the health of themselves and everybody around them and make 10 meters around them a stinking mess of poison before throwing their poisonous garbage on the floor and into fields and flower beds while literally making it impossible to go buy groceries with children without exposing them to smoke.

    And every year an assumed over 1 Million people die world wide from the effects of so called second hand smoking.

    Couple years ago they had the guts to complain that they can’t smoke literally in restaurants where people are eating.

    Then they fought for their right to poison everybody in discos bars and clubs – and if you don’t like it, just stay home.

    Now they still stink every little peacefull piece of fresh air that they can find – preferably right next to entries and exits of public and busy buildings, shops restaurants etc.

    Some literally smoke on childrens playgrounds. They smoke in the badi where people want to enjoy healthy outdoor activities. They smoke in the forest where people want to smell nature – then throw the buds into nature to poison the wildlife.

    I don’t mind at all what you do in your own home. But it’s downright impossible to avoid getting covered in smoke and exposing the children to it.

    Call me a Karen all you like. But Smokers are widely the most inconsiderate people I know.

  16. Same here. I live in Australia and whenever I’m back to visit family and friends I notice the smokers again. I keep forgetting they exist, because so few smoke in Sydney.

  17. No one is talking about smokers at entries.

    They stand at the main entrance which forces every one to pass the smoke cloud.
    When you are inside of the building the smoke is concentrated in the hall (air draft from opening doors).

    My asthmatic lungs can’t handle this.

  18. Precisely this happend to me when I came back from a 6 month exchange semester in South Korea.

    Sitting outside the mensa at uni to eat lunch and people smoking at the tables… great taste

  19. If I’m out walking and need to fart, I hold it until I pass the next group of smokers, where I can release it among people who don’t consider it rude to blow great clouds of stinky gas at others. I rarely have to wait long.

  20. If a smoker invades your space and starts puffing, tell them to bugger off. It amazes me how non-confrontational Swiss are. If you want change, sometimes one must be more vocal. Until laws can change, social pressure is the best remedy. That’s how laws changed in the US. People became fed up with it, called others out and laws were enacted along with an increase of taxes on cigarettes. Those who disobeyed were shunned. Many simply gave up the habit because it was no longer worth the stigma and price. Many switched over to vaping, but that’s another story.

  21. Are people not allowed to have vices ? So everytime you arrive in the US are you like “damn people still super fat from over eating?” , “damn people still drive 4.8ltr v8?” “Damn more than half of adults still believe in virgin birth?” Etc etc .
    I’m sure at least by now your good at nailing the smug look as in your pic.

  23. Smoker here. I do my best to smoke away from people (especially kids and older people) so I dont bother that much. When I vape, I blow the cloud above me so there is not a huge cloud in the fucking way.

    I kind of hate people who don’t give a shit about non-smokers.

  24. I’m on the parent council at my son’s school, and we took a smoke break in the middle of a meeting which went long. I am originally Canadian, but have lived here for 12 years, been a citizen for 7 and was still shocked.

  25. Our tobacco laws are less strict than in most other european countries. That’s probably related to the fact that several Big Tobacco multinationals have headquarters here.

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