“Smoking or nonsmoking?”

This question will no longer be heard from 6 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Ames restaurants.

The smoking ordinance went into effect Wednesday for Ames restaurants, hotels and some bars.

Ames residents had of variety reactions to the ordinance. Both employees and customers said they saw positive and negative effects.

Angie Warren, a smoker, is a waitress at Perkins Restaurant, 325 S. Duff Ave. She said some customers were very upset about the ordinance and will not return due to the change.

“A few of the regular customers were not here, but we expected that,” she said Wednesday. “On the other hand, a lot of people were happy about the ordinance, especially those who have asthma.”

Warren said she thought customers either couldn’t wait for the ordinance to go into effect or were bitter about it.

Perkins employees were more disgruntled by the ban than their customers.

“Part of the problem with the ordinance is the hours,” Warren said. “Employees who work during the day and smoke . can’t do that anymore, but the night workers are able to continue smoking.”

The manager of Perkins declined to comment.

Many of the regular customers at Village Inn, 524 Lincoln Way, are also smokers, part-time manager Julie Rohloff said.

However, she said business on Wednesday did not seem to be affected much by the ordinance.

“Some of the regulars didn’t come in this morning,” she said. “That was really the only change we saw.”

She said that with the construction on Lincoln Way, it was hard to judge whether business was slower because of the ban.

Overall, the employees of Village Inn were accepting of the ordinance, Rohloff said.

“Some of [the employees] decided to quit [smoking],” she said. “I have been trying [to quit] for a long time, and decided this would be a good opportunity.”

Rohloff also said a large portion of Village Inn’s regulars said they would not return.

The manager of People’s Bar and Grill, 2428 Lincoln Way, feels her business won’t be hurt greatly because all eating establishments have to comply with the ordinance.

“The ordinance affects everybody, not just us,” manager Jeanine Buckingham said. “Our business won’t be going to another place in town due to [the ordinance]. Everyone has to deal with it.”

A student’s father eating lunch in People’s Tuesday was very upset by the ordinance, she said.

“He thought it was the stupidest thing he had ever heard,” she said. “He went outside to smoke, but found it an inconvenience.”

Much of People’s business is from regular smokers, Buckingham said.

“Nobody really had a chance to get angry about it, since this is just the first day,” she said.