Finally, the smoker counts again

The life of a smoker is really no fun. Smoking is expensive, unhealthy, and for the past two years, smokers have also been banned from campus. Fortunately, the university has found a way to let those poor souls know that out of sight does not mean out of mind. And that they count, too, thanks to a multi-purpose ashtray.

In several places just off campus, they can be found, the green “ballot boxes.” They are ashtrays, but with a twist: two compartments. You can throw your cigarette in on the right or left. And on the panel above it a poll can be placed. Smokers may have been kicked off campus, but in this way, they can still count for something. And, the remains of their overpriced cigarettes are recycled as a form of expression of opinion.

Win-win, for the cigarette smoker. Yet there are some downsides to be mentioned right away. The cigar or pipe smoker, traditional attribute of many a professor over the past centuries, gets a raw deal. Their smokes are not compatible. This ballot box also has little to offer those who prefer the electric cigarette. But above all, the ballot boxes lack polls. The butts go right, the butts go left. But what that means? No one who knows.

Translated by Language Center, Riet Bettonviel

_Advertentie.