Smoke Ban in U.S. Offices Forces Puffers Into Corner

Smokers sought refuge in restrooms, cubbyholes and remote corners of cafeterias in 6,800 federal buildings across the country today as a strict ban on smoking in most office areas took effect.

The estimated 30% of the federal work force who smoke were prevented from lighting up in lobbies, office spaces and other areas inhabited by the government’s 623,000 nonsmokers.

“It means that I’ll have to go to a men’s room down another corridor,” employee Jack Pulwers said at the Pentagon, where smoking was restricted to half the restrooms. “I’ll just have to suppress (the smoking urge) until I go to the bathroom, and when I go to the bathroom, I’ll smoke.”

The ban did little to relieve the age-old smoking debate, with a chain-smoker at the Health and Human Services Department saying, “I resent being told what I can and cannot do. I try to respect the rights of others but I have rights too.”