They do not go out as before because they can not smoke when they go out they smoke some they do not pay and become smoke. This is the new που fashion that we meet more and more after its application anti-smoking law and has caused shop owners a headache as well as… feces.
At the time when mixed ranks of the National Transparency Authority and the Hellenic Post. implementing the specific audit action program and utilizing data from the "1142»Continue controls throughout the country, recording low crime rates in places where a few months ago smoking was the norm, citizens who forget to pay or choose not to do so are growing and becoming employees and shopkeepers to seek solutions.
Have they designed it? Do they decide at the last minute? Or do they just react to the law that forbids them to light a cigarette while eating, drinking or drinking coffee? No one knows exactly what is going on and can not understand why he simply did not catch them before they left to ask them. The ghost people disappear holding the cigarette in their hands, while they have the money they had to leave in the store… in their pocket.
"Usually they do not disappear the first time they go out to smoke but the second or third time" explains a cafe owner in the center of Athens speaking to newsbeast.gr, while as he notes "The damage is usually two to three drinks".
"It has never happened that a large group of people leave the store and do not pay. It happened five times that we look for and do not find the customers "he emphasizes and explains" in order not to have problems we ask, especially in the evening when it is more crowded, from them customers to pay as soon as their order goes to the table. I know that it is not the most beautiful thing we can do but we must also protect our work ".
"What was funny was that a couple went out for a cigarette and really forgot to pay. "The girl came the next day, apologized to us and paid the bill."
"A solution must be found for the bills that remain unpaid," said another shopkeeper, noting that "as long as no one in the store breaks the law and necessarily obeys it, it is not possible for us to leave damaged."
PASKEDI, the Panhellenic Association of Shops, Consumers, Catering and Entertainment, which has 35.000 members across the country, is constantly receiving complaints concerning citizens who leave without paying since the anti-smoking law came into force.. However, the exact number of cases can not be recorded because they are increasing daily and occur throughout the country, but mainly in large cities.
As the people in charge of PASKEDI point out in contact with newsbeast.gr, "Unfortunately, it is not possible to check whether someone will pay his bill or not, nor is it possible for the employee to know this from the time he receives the order. "The shopkeeper or the employee can not actually do the guarding and check if the customers will pay or leave the bill unpaid and leave."
"The stores have been destroyed. About 1/3 of the citizens are smokers in our country and so the anti-smoking law brought a drop in turnover of 50%. The smoker is the good customer. He is the man who will go out to smoke. There are few who drink a drink while not smoking so consumption before the anti-smoking law was basically based on smokers and is now declining. There are specific stores, especially those where football matches are shown, where the turnover has dropped by as much as 70%. When a fan watches a match and gets upset, he wants to smoke most of the time. He goes out, then re-enters the store and gets more irritated. The same goes for those who want to spend the night. They want to feel free, not to have "must" even in fun ", points out the head of PASKEDI, citing research data that have been conducted recently in our country.
"Customers are now forced to leave the store to smoke. The second time they may not return as reported by members of our Association who are looking for solutions. They are given the opportunity to "escape" from him account. They usually do not disappear when they drink coffee. We observe such phenomena mainly in the shops with drinks. In restaurants, the complaints that have been made to us are few "point out the Panhellenic Association of Shops, Consumers, Catering and Entertainment, while they add that" applications for smoking clubs are constantly increasing. Most shopkeepers are looking for ways to survive businesses they want to turn them into Smokers clubs. The criteria for implementing such a project are many, such as the two exits of the store and there are few stores that meet the requirements. Dozens of clubs are already operating in Greece, with the most developed being located in Komotini and one in Athens ".