One thing I can’t stand here in Beijing, and all over China for that matter, is that I simply cannot go into a public restroom without getting fumigated by a revolting cloud of urine-tinged cigarette smoke. There are a lot of people living in this city, so odds are by the time you need to relieve yourself, so do at least a couple of other souls, and if they are men, as in this case I would certainly hope, they are statistically likely to be smokers. Much of the time they stand right in the doorway, barring my entry, only having come in for a quick puff and lighting up as soon as they step foot through the door. They probably misinterpret my scowl as I enter the room as stemming from their rudeness at blocking my way and moving so slowly to get out of the way, and throughout the course of a given day, that too is a very common scenario; disapproval at smoking the restroom is likely an alien concept to most of them who see public toilets as the logical place to go for quick ciggie. The men’s room should probably have a sign on it re-designating as the de facto smoking room. They should hang a sign on the door, maybe right above the no smoking sign prominently displayed but utterly ignored. Lest you mistakenly assume this only happens in the less than prime real estate, I’ve worked in quite a few of the fanciest office towers in the city, and it is always the same, even worse if the building has a comprehensive ban on smoking. Can nothing be done?

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