Seriously???

I'm sitting at my desk looking out the window at the beautiful fall day (yep, still fall in St. George) Two clients walk up. Scroungy, dirty, a guy and a girl. Both start huffing and puffing away at their cigarettes. Both sit down at the picnic table in front of my office and smoke for about 5 minutes. Both get up to leave. Both throw their cigarettes on the ground-in the grass, step on them and start walking into the front doors of our office. (Yes, this is the outside area that us caseworkers petitioned for so our clients and kids would have somewhere to have their supervised visits other than our dinky playroom). I think to myself....be appropriate and professional...be appropriate and professional...

I walk to the front office to the lobby area where there is a police officer waiting to be buzzed in and where the clients are just walking in. I approach them with a stern-trying to be nice smile. In my nice-but really not nice voice and tone of voice say..."Do you know what? We have children and families outside playing in that front area and eating on the picnic table everyday. It is not appropriate to smoke out there and then throw your cigarette on the ground-in the play area. I would appreciate it if you not litter anymore and go get your cigarettes and throw them in the trash. Littering is against the law and as I said before, children play out there. Thank you. "

Wide eyed and shocked, they said okay...went back outside...ruffled through the grass and the leaves...picked up their cigarettes and threw them away.

Wide eyed and shocked, the police officer looked at me with the look of-wow, they just got told.

But seriously people, how easy would it have been to just throw the dumb things in the garbage in the first place? Have respect. I was going to remind them of the law of no smoking within like 25 feet of a building, but I thought I would save that for another day. :)