Night and Day Contrasts

This is a great example of the German love of "brotchen", the delicious variety of both plain "semmel" and wholewheat "vollcorn" breakfast rolls.
I took this shot in Munich, but this backerei could be in any town. I always thought Germans were big on healthy living, the outdoors, clean, green environment, bike path infrastructure, etc.

Yet, oddly enough, I've never seen such ubiquitous cigarette smoking than in Germany. Attached to buildings all over are cigarette vending machines, like so many candy vending machines from the 1970s. You can't enter any public building without running the gauntlet of people smoking in doorways, under arches, anything out of the rain. And the most disgusting of all: last night when I walked down a wide boulevard called Hohenzollern-ring, in a lively part of Cologne lined with terrace cafes and people enjoying an extended happy hour, I quit bothering trying to read the menus posted near the entrances to several nice restaurants because the wait staff were taking their ciggie breaks standing near the spiesekarten and smoking right into my face. Honestly, what's with this crap? These people are going back inside soon to serve me my bratwurst. It's thoughtless and rude behaviour, and very odd coming from people who pride themselves on courtesy. I don't think it's any sort of passive aggressive "I hate &$(!?! tourists" behaviour, as it's the same for locals too. I guess they don't complain because its socially unacceptable to do so? Yeah right. I remember those days myself, in the various countries I've called home.
I have to wonder how many Euros Germany's health care system could save by getting the locals to treat smokers like the pariahs they are in the USA, and increasingly the UK and Australia. There's plenty Germany can teach Americans for sure. In return, I think the Germans would really benefit from some US-style no smoking rules at all their lovely outdoor terraces, and a 25-foot rule for entrances to all buildings.
Sure there'd be a few people yelling. Tough cookies. Time to get over yourselves. It won't hurt your business. They just need to read a little business research from other places to burst that fallacy. It would make visiting Gemany more enjoyable, for local and stranger alike, and cut down on avoidable lung cancer cases.
I, for one, would like to eat my brotchen without a side order of second hand smoke. I'm certainly not alone.