It is biodegradeable

This morning I went to the grocery store. As I am walking up to the door of the store, I see this man several yards away from walking toward the store also. As he approached the door, he flicked his lit cigarette into the planter. I was stunned. As I approached the planter, the cig is burnin' away, still bright with flame and smoke rising from the leaves.

I walk into the store ready to go after this guy. As my fate would have it, he was right there in front of me checking out the hot soup selection. If you have read this blog for a while, you already know what I am going to do.

"Excuse me" I say politely

He smiles back, "Oh, yes?"

"I saw you flick your cigarette into the planter" I calmly and still very nicely state.

He stares back at me, dumbfounded.

"That is a bit inconsiderate, maybe, you think?" Not the best grammar, but trying to be nice.

He confidently replies "oh yes I did that but it is ok. It will BIODEGRADE into the soil like it was never there."

WWWHHHhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? I think but do not say aloud.

"No, it won't biodegrade back into the soil. It will be left there for a very long time" was my reply.

"I am sorry that I offended you" he lies.

"Sir, it is not so much me that you offended. What about the work that the gardeners did to plant the plants? What about the money that the store paid to plant them? And, what about the health of the plants and the soil? And, well, ok it does offend me because I have to smell it and so do a lot of other people. Yeah, I am offended" I offer back to him.

"When you go back out there to your car, look and see that the cigarette will have turned to ash. Then you'll see that I am right." He says.

Whatever, I think. And walk away.

I can not believe that a grown man would have the audacity to use that argument about a cigarette biodegrading. I wanted to tell him that his lungs were degrading...not bio degrading...just degrading from him throwing his cigarette tar nicotine smoke down his windpipe.