Smoke 'em If You Got 'em

When the bars here in Florida started banning smoking, I thought it would never work. After all, nothing goes with drinking and getting drunk like a cigarette. I know that when I quit smoking, the hardest part was when I was in a bar. Smoking just seemed to go so well with alcohol. Well apparently they were right, people have got used to not smoking in bars, and I for one am glad of it. No more  waking up the next morning with that awful smell on your clothes and in your hair. I'm not sure what I disliked more back when I used to go out drinking in my youth. The stink of the cigarettes the next morning or the stranger in bed next to me that looked nothing like he looked the night before. 

This past week the CVS Drug Store chain quit selling cigarettes. I applaud them for that. After all, a drug store should emphasize healthy habits and discourage dangerous ones. Although, they do still sell those ninety nine cent bags of gummy bears which isn't doing me any good. I can pretty much swallow a whole bag of those things during one half hour television show, and when I'm done I always feel shitty for having done it. As for the smokers who used to clog up the checkout at the CVS while trying to point out the exact brand, size, and type of cigarette to the person behind the counter, they don't have to worry. For just one block away from the CVS is a store that does not care about your health. A store that offers beer, wine, junk food, sixty four ounce Coca Colas, and hot dogs that have been spinning around for the last two days while being kept warm on that roller thing. It's the 7-Eleven®. And don't let 7-Eleven® try to fool you, they are as happy as a holdup man in front of a convenience store at three in the morning. How do I know this? Because as we were coming back from the CVS today I saw a new sign outside the 7-Eleven®, a block away. It wasn't fancy, it wasn't clever. All it was, was a welcome to all the smokers that CVS had spurned. And on top of the fact that smokers can now get any brand they want from 7-Eleven®, nobody will be pissed when they hold up the line while the cashier searches for their brand. Because that is the way it's always been at the 7-Eleven®.