Don't Like - Intentionally Coughing While Walking Past Someone Smoking A Cigarette

Is there a more annoyingly moralizing bit of passive-aggressive behavior than walking by someone smoking a cigarette and forcing out a little cough? Maybe throwing red paint on a person wearing a fur coat PETA style but that’s not passive-aggressive. That’s regular aggressive-aggressive. Now, perhaps it’s worth disclosing that I am someone who indulges in cigarettes from time to time—usually when I’m drinking. Despite my bias, I think I can remain a relatively neutral judge here because the fact of the matter is that this behavior is childish. Sure, cigarettes are bad for you. So sure, you shouldn’t smoke them. Sure, inhaling secondhand smoke is bad for you too. Sure, no one should smoke cigarettes inside (unless apparently, you live in an apartment in New York City). Sure, cigarettes don’t smell good the way a Cohiba might. Sure, sure, sure, sure, sure. It’s just… the cough isn’t necessary. It’s never a real one. It’s not the kind of cough you have when you’re trying to unlodge mucus from your lungs. It is a judgmentally affective cough that only serves to shame the smoker, to tell them that what they are doing is bad and that they might even be a bad person doing it. So get a life or be complacent in the certitude of your correctness. Passive aggressive coughing isn’t going to change anything.