The Petrol Station as Sundry Shop, and More
At a petrol station, a signboard hangs, strictly prohibiting the sale of cigarettes to children below the age of 18. The signboard hangs next to another, which prohibits smoking on the premises. This is a strange pair of signboards: If smoking is prohibited on the premises, why are cigarettes permitted to be sold at petrol stations? Could permitting the sale of cigarettes be an invitation to light up a cigarette on the premises? Surely, the management of the petrol station is not hoping that an explosive event take place at the petrol station? But the scene is not as strange as it appears at first sight. Selling cigarettes is simply part of the economic activity of a petrol station. Condoms are sold at petrol stations, but surely the sale of condoms is not in itself an invitation for the patron to indulge in sexual activity on the premises. Chewing gum is also sold at petrol stations, but neither is it an invitation to the patron to stick the chewed gum on the premises indiscriminate...