Snuffed Out: Smokers Need Not Apply

Originally posted by jibeho
Once again, the only entities that are doing this are Hospitals. They certainly have more justification than other companies may have.

Actually this is false.
Fired For Smoking

Airlines and More Firing

This is more far reaching than people think or understand. I take the stand that it is a violation of a person's civil rights. I guess most people disagree.

Of course when I was in college the professor did a little experiment in class. He asked people wehter they would want to live in a very free society, or a dictatorship where their life was laid out for them from birth. Most people wanted the dictatorship.

He then described the old Russian system. You are born. When you turn five you go to school. When you turn ten they give you some standardized testing. After the test your education is specialized to meet your abilities. You complete school according to a government mandated plan. Then you are given a job, an apartment, and a paycheck. Over 60% of the class loved the idea. When he said food, gas, alcohol, and clothes would be rationed people thought it was a fair trade for not having to make the hard choices or worry about taking responsibility.

My point is simple. Americans are more than willing to give up anything to feel like they are protected. If they are told, it keeps the wolf from the door, they will give up anything for the security. Who cares if companies run a little more of your life if you get to save 5% on health insurance and don't have to deal with a minor physical bother?

Don't forget it is actualy about more than cigarettes.

Bud Employee Fired For Drinking Coors

Miller Employee Fired For Drinking Bud

A cheerleading coach was fired for nude photos taken before she was hired.
Fired For Nude Photos

Art Teacher Fired over Nude Art Photos on Flickr

Ellen Simonetti was fired for blogging.
Fired For Blogging

It goes on and on. When I worked in the retail world I was threatened for shopping at a competitor's store. I was purchasing items we no longer carried. It didn't matter. I was told by my store manager that I could be terminated if I did it again.

A former co-worker of mine was a race car driver on weekends. He raced for a "factory" team. My co-worker's photo turned up on line. My co-worker was working on his little brother's personal car with his brother and father. My co-worker was released from the factory team because the car in the photograph was made by another manufacturer.

I'm getting off topic. I think I made my point though. It is bad enough that thy do this for smoking. However it is bigger than smoking. It is the slow creep of corporatism in to every aspect of people's lives.

[edit on 15-2-2010 by MikeNice81]

reply to post by MikeNice81


I so think it is a violation of people's civil rights. And I am dumbfounded about that professor's outcome in his little experiment...I cannot beleive people are so willing to give up their rights so willfully and easily. This is just un-freaking-beleivable, honestly!!! Why if you're an alcoholic and looking for employment, nine times out of ten you're protected from being discriminated against but they can discriminate against tobacco users? WTF Is that? Oh they'll mask it with telling us that smokers are sick more often and drive up costs of insurance by making more claims? WTF??? REALLY? More than that of an alcoholic? I think NOT!

This is what gets me, today I went to a career fair at Faulkenburg Jail in Florida. Ok, I saw a sign last night out on the roadway about the career fair and it had some basic requirements on the website for jobs as Law Enforcement Officers and detention center officers, well First of all it states only under LEO applicant's qualifications that they must not have used a tobacco product in the past six months, ok np, I was going for the detention center job, which had a seperate set of qualifications, tobacco use was not on the list at all!!!! I went this morning and they said "If you smoked a cigarette on the way in, get out of line, leave, you are not eligable." Ok so I thought well FU I got up early on a Saturday to be here and I will go through this line, I will just say I use a patch or nicotine gum right? Oh BTW I see these LEO's and Detention Center Officers smoking ALL THE TIME!!!! But, that doesn't even matter the rules for applicants for the detention center DID NOT list that as a prerequisite or I would not have even bothered at all, what's more they take into account your moving violations, you can't have had more than three in three yrs or five in a lifetime(also not even specified on their website). Ok NP I don't have that many Just one in this state, they never mentioned anything even while I was in line about moving violations in another state, I had many in NJ because we were horribly harrassed (that's another long and complicated story) anyway they don't even mention about your Florida license nonetheless any out of state license you may have had, but sure enough they asked me did I ever have a license from another state I said I did in NJ and they said "Well we will need you to get those abstracts from that state" I walked out after that I knew that I have too many in NJ. My point is they need to specify ALL PREREQUISITES for their careers. Because it is misleading. Anyway WTH does your driving history have to do with working inside a detention facility? WTH would I have to drive for them? Why would they need me to? I mean they have enough funds that they could just hire seperate personnel for the driving alone. I know that is not the topic here, but at least let people know what is required so as not to waste their time on a DAMN saturday, nontheless! UGGGHHHH!!!!!

Anyway I think it's about high damn time we get together every smoker in the nation to march on Washington to demand our GD RIGHTS BE PROTECTED. Oh BTW there are some states whom have protection for smokers' rights:New Jersey, Wisconsin, Arizona,

The New Jersey law bars employers from discriminating against smokers in hiring, compensating, and promoting, "unless the employer has a rational basis for doing so, which is reasonably related to the employment." The law does not affect an employer's right to ban smoking in the workplace, however.

Source

Furthermore, some states (e.g. Minnesota , Montana , South Dakota , Wisconsin and Wyoming ) forbid work-related discrimination against employees on the basis of smoking, or any legal activities outside of work. Wisconsin law, for example, goes an extra step and forbids employers from discriminating against both workers who use lawful or unlawful products, such as illicit drugs.

Source2

So if you live in these states and you have run into this type of treatment, go to an attorney!!! Sue the bastard company or even if it is state/county job, SUE THEM!!!!!


And if you live in the state of Florida, here's a group fighting for smokers' rights in our state:

The Government should NOT
make these decisions for the property owners.

Property Rights are
"Smokers Rights"

Property Rights are
"Cologne Wearing Rights"

Property Rights are
"Cell Phone Using Rights"

Property Rights are
"Who You Want On Your Property Rights"

It is up to the owner of each property to decide what they want on their property and post a sign.
It is up to the public to decide where to go and where to spend their money.
The market will decide what business does well.
The Government should NOT make these decisions for the property owners

Florida Rights

So to get your co-worker fired all you have to do is add Tobacco powder to his drinks or food.
And get a part time job at fast food restaurants and add tobacco to food products to insure all of Americas can not pass a nico-test.
Who needs violence when you can overthrow a country with tobacco.

Originally posted by Gmoneycricket
So to get your co-worker fired all you have to do is add Tobacco powder to his drinks or food.
And get a part time job at fast food restaurants and add tobacco to food products to insure all of Americas can not pass a nico-test.
Who needs violence when you can overthrow a country with tobacco.

Well that's a bit insidious, Don't you think? But heh, that would be funny to have a bunch of people scratching their heads wondering why or how they cam up POS for a nic test when they never smoked a day in their life.

Originally posted by hotbakedtater

Originally posted by Pajjikor


Why any job would require that you don't smoke I got no clue. I have worked at places that said I couldn't smoke if I was on the clock. Its just a bunch of politics I guess. We will find out soon enough.

And I have no problem with an employer asking you to not smoke at all during your shift, and not providing smoking areas. But to dictate you cannot engage in legal activity OFF the clock?

THAT is what disturbs me about this TREND.

It is uniting my free time and my employment, one more line blurred for civil rights and freedom.

are these businesses privately owned? if they are they can make any rules they want. if they dont want people to work there that smoke then thats the rules...its their company they can hire who they want to....if they dont want people that are white to work there then thats the rules...if they dont want people who have brown eyes then thats what goes....its called freedom.....private property....now if the government steps in and overrules what the owner wants to do then it becomes a problem....thats not constitutional....the government cant tell a private property owner what to do with his or her business or home.

reply to post by ldyserenity


And don't forget drug test steal granny's legal drugs put in food system.
If I was China and wanted to over throw a country, just make it so workers in that country could not get a job by selling them food products with banned items in it.

Originally posted by Pseudools
Smokers normally try to take more breaks than non smokers, they are usually less productive, and easily agitated if something goes wrong while they are having a craving. The county I live In doesn't allow smoking at the workplace period. more and more towns are also becoming smoke free.

This is pure nonsense.

1) Please show me evidence that non smokers are more productive than smokers.

2) Please show me evidence that a non smoker is less likely to get "agitated" than a smoker in the course of a 24 hour period while dealing with the same set of circumstances.

I have been smoking for 20 years and I can say with 100% certainty that at my job I am, hands down without a doubt, one of the more productive and dependable people there is.

oh KNOW!

what next, not letting people shoot up at work, too?

So Obama the smoker is less productive?
Millions of non smokers elect smoker into the White House?
Smoker gets Nobel Peace Prize?
Double talk again!

reply to post by Gmoneycricket


OMJEEBUS Obama smokes? WHAT shudder at the thought. A lot of people are stating privately owned companies can have any policy they want to, they should read my post ABOVE /\... Again we the people own, paid for the building, and pay for the workers at a state / county jail, this means WE THE PEOPLE OWN IT!!!! But, yet they have adopted this policy here in Hillsborough County Florida, so again, tell me it's not affecting government(Taxpayer owned) JOBS?????????

reply to post by ldyserenity


i thought government jobs were the bad kind.?

all socialisty and stuff.

reply to post by hotbakedtater


I don't care if it's someone's "right" to smoke. I have a right to breath clean air.

I work with enough smokers and they often take too many small cigarette breaks that lead to a loss in productivity.

It's not the job of employers to provide these folks with special privileges. My employer would never allow me to have a beer while at work. Why should it be different for people who smoke?

And before you attack me for infringing upon freedom, just consider the health ramifications of smoking and how it affects even those who do not smoke. You may think that secondhand smoke is a myth but the medical facts may disagree with you.

reply to post by MrWendal


You're likely an exception and not the rule itself.

I worked at a place with a woman who would take cigarette breaks every 10-15 minutes. She's still working at that company but it got to a point where she wasn't getting things done and I had to pitch in.

I've worked for companies that had "smoking rooms" where employees could go to smoke. The companies even went out of their way to keep them heated if they were outside of the main buildings.

I still don't think it's their responsibility to cater to such a nasty habit.

reply to post by hotbakedtater


Where I work, people do not punch out for breaks. Technically, they're still on the clock even on a break.

Again, I do not think it's the responsibility of a company to accommodate smokers.

And just so you know, many companies have drug/alcohol testing and they would likely not tolerate someone having a beer on their break. Your argument falls flat when you talk about them still hiring alcoholics, etc.

reply to post by endisnighe
That's the key.....

Not letting them get started with infringement of liberties.......

Because once they get started,they never stop.......

They'll come for them all eventually......

reply to post by The Sword
If you feel clean air is a right,might I suggest you quit infringing upon my right to clean air by not driving your pollution spewing car?.

reply to post by ldyserenity

The Surgeon General has determined that free thinking in a Police State is bad for your Health?

If you really want to fight unfair practices,maybe looking for how many false positives can be expected from these nicotine test are probable.

Render it null,nothing is infallible except most peoples ignorance.

Gone.

I understand that a person who smells like smoke might be off putting to some, however, does it give someone the right to implement there beliefs on the smoker?

I would certainly not tell anyone who eats curry that I do not enjoy smelling there scent, I would keep it to myself because I do not have the right to impose my beliefs on someone else

Seriously? I feel sorry for you guys, When are the governments just going to get it over with and make nicotine illegal. To the person whining about the smell, have you ever smelt someone who has just eaten cheese and onion crisps? how about eaten garlic? or drunk coffee? they stink should they be banned in the workplace? what about people with bad bo or bad breath should they not be allowed to work?


EDIT - Just to add that maybe the employers whos employees go for random smoke breaks should control their employees a bit better instead of blaming it on nicotine, I can safely say that if I did that I would be fired.


EDIT 2 - You have a right to clean air, I have the right to smoke. If a smoker was blowing smoke in your direction or if they moved to your area "excuse me could you move" would suffice or if the roles were reversed then you moving away would suffice but in my experiences the ultra-anti crowd go for the childish coughs to try and get across the message. No two way street with these types it's one way and thats NO SMOKING.