ajcjobs > BlogBreak > Archives > 2006 > April > 30 > Entry
Could your career go up in smoke?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Back in the 80’s when RJ Reynolds was opening up a new office in Atlanta, I went to Winston-Salem to their corporate headquarters to meet with the HR people to see if we could do business together.
The corporate campus was massively impressive, but what struck me as a dying practice at work even then, were people smoking everywhere inside the building.
I saw open packs of cigarettes, matches, and ashtrays throughout the main lobby for anyone to use.
When I was ushered into the VP of HR’s office, he lit up and offered me a cigarette. I had already been coached by someone who was doing business with RJR that it was a good idea to smoke along unless you were going to cough all over the place. So, I joined in. Today, that would be tantamount to shooting up drugs together.
Granted that was the HQ of a multi-billion dollar tobacco company, and just like a visit to The Coca-Cola Company where you are offered Cokes, Sprites, and Dasani, you were offered tobacco at RJR.
Today, not only has the smoking area (if there is one on a corporate property) been removed to Siberia, people are nervous of their compromised image if seen sneaking off for a smoke. To make it even worse for die-hard smokers, many companies are imposing policies…if you smoke at all, you’re out of a job.
So, what do you think of a policy that can tell you your job goes up in smoke if you continue to smoke? What are employers going to do?
Impose random nicotine tests? And what about pre-employment drug testing that might test for nicotine in your blood stream?
Is that really a fair test of how well you can do the job? Or, because of rising health care, do you think big brother is justified in dictating your habits, good or bad?
Before your career goes down in flames just because of ‘private’ smoking against company policy, are you willing to quit smoking or quit your job?
Note: Your comments may be printed in the Sunday Jobs section. Pick up a copy to check.
Comments
By John
May 1, 2006 09:27 AM | Link to this
I don’t smoke but realize some people do. Smoking has health consequences obviously that can affect a companies health care costs, but so do a lot of activities…eating too much, drinking too much booze, commuting too far, working with power tools etc. Why is smoking singled out?
By Linda
May 1, 2006 09:33 AM | Link to this
If someone can fire you from your place of employment because you are a smoker we have some serious issues going on in the U.S. Smokers are not asking to smoke inside but they should have the option to smoke on their breaks and at lunchtime. I know that if I were fired from a job due to the fact that I smoke I would sue the hell out of that company and make an example out of them. If people are so opposed to smoking then they need to forfeit the tax dollars that smokers pay. I don’t feel as if anyone should be spending money, especially coming from something that they are so strongly opposed too. I as a smoker would love to purchase my cigarettes with no tax added to them.
By A non-smoker
May 1, 2006 09:50 AM | Link to this
If anything, the corporate world is still bias towards smokers. Smokers at my company manage to take a 20 minute smoke break every hour to hour and a half where non smokers get questioned for taking bathroom breaks. I’m half tempted to take up smoking just so I have an excuse to waste half my day standing around outside of our building. I think employers should care if an employee smokes. The need to take a break every hour seriously hinders productivity.
By john
May 1, 2006 09:54 AM | Link to this
“So, what do you think of a policy that can tell you your job goes up in smoke if you continue to smoke? What are employers going to do?”
What I think is that it is a good policy; a no-brainer. Cigarette smoking has long been a most bankrupt enterprise: it greatly raises the user’s risk of heart disease, numerous cancers (including of course, lung cancer, which almost always has a very poor prognosis), stinky breath, ugly teeth; leads to cigarette butts everywhere, thrown out by their slovenly users; nasty ashtrays everywhere; dirty air which contains hundreds of carcinogins for non-smokers, including children, to breath. Smokers also litter a lot by throwing out the packs and cartons anywhere they please, which is consistent with the rest of their irresponsible, vapid behavior. Last but not least are the huge drain that smokers cause to insurance companies—and us, when their inevitable problems arise, draining all of our wallets.
By George
May 1, 2006 10:25 AM | Link to this
Smoking is a privelidge and not a right. Companies don’t let their workers have margarita breaks. Smoking is slowly and rightly being removed as a culturally acceptable public habit.
By ray
May 1, 2006 10:51 AM | Link to this
As a lifelong nonsmoker, I have never understood the attraction of smoking to so many people. However, in this country, people who engage in dangerous but legal activities (skydiving, bungee jumping, racing cars/motorcylces, etc.) assume the added financial consequences that accompany a defined risk. Smoking is a known, defined risk and whatever the risk factor, the smoker must bear the expense of the risk.
By muffin
May 1, 2006 11:10 AM | Link to this
it was my understanding employers are required to provide at least two breaks in a regular 8+ hour shift. what you do on your break is your own business as long as you’re not getting drunk or drugged up or committing a criminal act. nicotine does not affect your ability to do your job. as long as people don’t abuse the privelege of taking a break, what is the harm? smokers should not get more breaks than others to get a quick nicotine fix but there has to be a line drawn for personal rights somewhere.
By endorph
May 1, 2006 11:19 AM | Link to this
Smokers are stupid Smoking is a vile, filthy, disgusting and expensive habit. Smokers take more breaks at work, produce less when they are working, drive up everyone’s health insurance premiums, pollute the air, they have rotten breath, ugly yellow teeth and black lungs.
On the plus side they will die younger, thus depleting the companies retirement fund less than non-smokers.
By Erin
May 1, 2006 11:35 AM | Link to this
Smokers don’t seem to realize that they NEVER smoke alone. The air is polluted with their smoke, the ground is polluted with their butts and they never seem to even pick up after themselves. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seem smokers toss their butts to the ground or out of the car window onto the ground. Or wave their cigarette outside the window so their ashes could hit the next open car window (which may or may not contain a child).
Smokers are selfish, negative, hopeless people. Why would any company want someone like that working for them?
By
May 1, 2006 11:43 AM | Link to this
smokers stink… and that’s the god awful truth.
By
May 1, 2006 11:48 AM | Link to this
i think that it is wrong for an employer to single you out because you smoke. i used to smoke and i stopped. but i don’t discriminate against people who still do. what people do to themsleves is thier business, having an employer implement that they will be fired if they smoke, is affecting someone’s basic human rights, and if that happened to me i would sue. if i can’t smoke in the office that’s one thing. if there is a smoking room or you have to smoke outside i suggest the employees follow those guidelines, for everyone’s comfort.
By Kevin
May 1, 2006 11:56 AM | Link to this
Now this is just my opinion, but this is getting out of hand…I put the people who are against smoking in the same boat as the anti-abortionist. Give it a break folks…Why do you want to run others lives? Is your life style perfect? Nicotene is a powerful drug and now I’m chewing nicorrete gum instead of smoking. Perhaps if I can’t find a company to hire me, I can go on disability and you can support me.
By Bob
May 1, 2006 12:08 PM | Link to this
Dear Non-Smoker.
You say that smokers take up more time well sit back a minute. I am a smoker and also a manager. I do take a smoke break in the morning and also one in the afternoon. I am at work early and late.
My employees who do not smoke come to work at 8, go to the breakroom, fix their breakfast, go to the restroom, fix their hair, the go to their desks and make all their personal phone calls. I figure on a daily basis they waist almost 2 hours per day with their ritual. My 5 minute smoke break is far less wasteful dont you think.
Waisting company time is an everyday thing. Think about that next time your wife or kids or friends call you during business hours just to chat or see what you want for dinner.
By Wendy Williams
May 1, 2006 12:10 PM | Link to this
Considering that tobacco is still a legal drug that does not impare the user, I think its wrong for a company to not allow an employee to smoke. However, a company is completely within its right to restrict or put into policy how often or when employees can take cigarette breaks.
I have seen employess take advantage of their cigarette breaks and leave thier desks every 30 minutes! This I think is a little too much. But for a company to threaten a persons job simply because they are a smoker crosses a line.
By Dont Smoke
May 1, 2006 12:13 PM | Link to this
I dont smoke but think about this. Smoking is bad for you. Single them out. Drinking is bad for you and we dont single them out. Drugs are bad for you but they are not tested for, therefor not singled out. Driving while talking on a cell phone is bad and can cause accidents or death causing insurance to rise, but they are not single out. They only want to single out a certain area of people and that is called discrimination. To fire someone will cause a great deal of lawsuits as well it should.
Next time you want to pick on someone look around. How many of you and your friends hang out drinking all weekend. Friends that causes liver disease a very costly problem.
By case
May 1, 2006 12:23 PM | Link to this
I think that it would be more appropriate for companies to deny smokers health insurance benefits for smoking-related illnesses. That would keep other employees from shouldering the burden for smokers’ self-desctructive behavior. However, that still doesn’t cover the additional sick time off from work that smokers take to care for their own respiratory afflictions or those of their smoke-poisoned family members.
By Pat
May 1, 2006 12:25 PM | Link to this
Up front - I’m a smoker. I smoke on the way into my offie, on the way home from my office and when I”m in my own home - in my garage, so no one else is bothered. I’m not taking smoke breaks at the office so what I do on my own time as long as I’m not breaking the law, is my own business. As far as I know, smoking is still legal. It’s really that simple - whether you like it or not, it’s legal.
By Justin
May 1, 2006 12:25 PM | Link to this
It`s okay to hire Illegal Aliens but not smokers, you people sound like the same Idiots that voted for “W”.
By Filster
May 1, 2006 12:26 PM | Link to this
First off, there is no constitutional privilege you have for smoking. Second, the medical evidence as to smoking’s harmful effects, whether on you the smoker or anyone around you, is indisputable. Third, y’all smell bad after a cigarette. I can smell them on the highway with my window open if someone is smoking several cars ahead of me, which also leads to the multitude of smokers who use our roads as their personal ashtray. Finally, it would be healthier for you if you stuck your cigarette you-know-where rather than inhaled it. Nasty habit, and people who smoke must not be the sharpest tools in the shed.
By Sandra
May 1, 2006 12:30 PM | Link to this
Smokers do not realize how bad they smell. When they come back into the office after spending 20 minutes outside (some smoke more than one cigarette on each break they take) we all have to back away. When we have the unfortunate luck of getting on the elevator with them, it is a question of how long we can hold our breaths. We have had meetings held up waiting for smokers to return. I would never hire a smoker if I have another candidate that does not smoke.
By filster
May 1, 2006 12:34 PM | Link to this
While I rarely, if ever, attack someone who blogs here, Linda, you are the classic example of why so many people detest smokers. If you were fired you would sue the hell out of the company. For what? Georgia is an “at-will” employment state and as long as the reasons for termination do not involve a protected category, i.e., race, gender, etc., I can fire you simply because I don’t like red hair, or overpowering perfume, or smelly cigarette smoke coming back inside on your clothes after you’ve finsihed your break. As far as taxes, what you pay for your habit is far outstripped by the expenditures in health care on smokers who are now sick. Face it, it is a dying habit, and nons-mokers are tired of dealing with people who act like smoking is some God-given right and we’d just better accept the stench, litter, etc. I had people (before smoking was banned in restaurants) blow their smoke over at my two young daughters (guess they didn’t want to inhale it themselves) and then get all high and mighty and lecture me about “rights” and how I could leave it I didn’t like it. happily, those days are coming to an end. The sooner U.S. tobacco companies are out of business the better.
By Kein Rachar
May 1, 2006 12:50 PM | Link to this
Amen, Filster!
Linda, if you were an employee of mine you can rest assured that if you weren’t fired for smoking (I do not employ smokers) then you’d be fired for that attitude.
By Kevin
May 1, 2006 12:50 PM | Link to this
How many of you folks responding are at work? Wasting valuable company time? Smokers have paid tax’s on every pack they smoked. The states received large settlements from the cig. companies as well as the state cig. tax….where’s all that money gone? How about taxing/banning chocolate because it makes people fat. Then again let’s just fire all fat people because they are fat and cost the health care additional monies to keep them alive…that’s it, turn your attention towards the over weight people, not smokers!
By Sheri
May 1, 2006 01:05 PM | Link to this
To all you saying that smokers stink, have yellow teeth, etc., Sorry, but I’ve worked with SEVERAL people who haven’t smoked a day in their lives but breath BE KICKING! And when they get stressed out, their B.O. smells worse than any cigarette smell ever could. WHAT’S THEIR EXCUSE FOR SMELLING FOUL? Yes, I’m a smoker and I keep gum and a strong-smelling Bath & Bodyworks lotion at my desk. People walk by my desk and say, Um, what smells so good? ME, THE SMOKER!
By SherD
May 1, 2006 01:08 PM | Link to this
To Bob the manager (I figure on a daily basis they waist almost 2 hours per day with their ritual)(Waisting company time is an everyday thing) It’s waste not waist…and if you have people who are abusing their time by fixing their hair, breakfast, etc…then why don’t you just get rid of them…??? Maybe it’s the ‘smoker’ mentality…you run puff…they abuse the company’s time…all the same…and smokers are smelly, rude, vile & ignorant..ignorant to the fact that smoking KILLS! Waste is to make poor use of something..waist is the area between one’s chest and hips.
By Roger
May 1, 2006 01:24 PM | Link to this
Hey Bob,
What about the employee that comes to work fixes his/her breakfast and hair, goes for a smoke, comes back shoots off some email jokes to buddies, goes for a smoke, cahts to his wife about what’s for dinner, then goes for a smoke, etc.etc.
You make it seem as if smoking and other time wasting endeavors are mutually exclusive - when in fact they probably go hand-in-hand making the smoker even more UNPRODUCTIVE than the average time waster, because you can now add four smoke breaks at about twenty minutes a pop to their other time wasting activities (like blogging).
Time for a smoke.
See ya.
By A non-smoker
May 1, 2006 01:34 PM | Link to this
It has now been proven that smoking will kill you. I can understand people who started smoking when they were older but to people less than 60…Shame on you. You knew it was bad for you when you started. I see many folks comparing smoking to drinking. I might have a drink or two every once in a while. Neither of which is taken during work hours and it does not effect my overall health. If you compare it on a drink to cigarette basis, how many people do you know who have 5,10, 20 drinks a day. You’re killing yourself and raising EVERYONE’s insurance premiums. If you make the selfish decision to smoke I don’t think it should effect your hirability but keep breaks to within your lunch hour and 2 fifteen minute breaks, clean up after yourselves, and spray some febreeze because well… you smell bad. There are people I work with that actually smell so awful you have to hold your breath when they pass by. How would you feel if non smokers didn’t bathe. It smells that bad. Smokers don’t realize how their selfish habit affects others around them.
By Dennis
May 1, 2006 01:40 PM | Link to this
I read a study (but I cannot remember where) that said smokers actually save insurance companies money. Every body dies eventually but smokers die sooner. Also, assisted living is very expensive and smokers have a much less likely hood of needing it.
By wayne
May 1, 2006 01:46 PM | Link to this
Smokers are low IQ losers and they typically get into the habit due to their spineless inability to say ‘no’ to friends when they were younger.
I used to go to concerts at the Tabernacle, etc. and was always amazed at the amount of kids desperately trying to look cool while ‘puffing’ (but not inhaling) on their cigarettes.
Losers! Why any company would hire such self-loathing people I have no idea.
By D.Landry
May 1, 2006 01:54 PM | Link to this
I think it’s well within a company’s rights to terminate an employee for smoking. Besides the increased healthcare costs, they are the most unproductive group of people at work. PERIOD!
By Concerned
May 1, 2006 02:11 PM | Link to this
To Ray, while skydiving, bungee jumping, etc. are dangerous activities, I would not associate them with smoking, they don’t endanger the lives and well being of those around them.
By Concerned
May 1, 2006 02:15 PM | Link to this
I would love for someone to give me a couple of good reasons to smoke.
By Prootwadl
May 1, 2006 02:33 PM | Link to this
@John - smoking is singled out because it can adversely affect people other than the smoker (something which isn’t true of the various other activities you cite except drinking, and many businesses forbid drinking during work hours).
@Kevin - we’re free to surf online during lunch. Explicitly. Also, while smokers have paid taxes (and a lot of them), they’ve also derived benefits from those taxes in terms of the continued tolerance for their disgusting habit.
@Justin - I’d personally rather that neither illegal aliens nor smokers were hired, but at least illegal aliens don’t adversely affect my health with their actions (unless they also smoke).
@Pat - Yes, smoking tobacco is legal. Feel free to continue to do so as long as your usage is within the law (and follows the work guidelines set up by your employer). I have no problems at all with responsible smokers.
By Rosa
May 1, 2006 02:35 PM | Link to this
The government taxes cigarettes just like gas, even more so. I never smoked and noticed the gals that didn’t smoke had to have 6-8 bathroom trips a day. They would be in their, with curling irons in huge purses, complete makeup and then be SELLING one brand or another and writing up invoices.
Likewise, the men had to get stock, one pencil at a time, or lots of water.
I noticed the smokers were at their stations more that the nons and they weren’t out sick for migranes and flu as often as those nons. They seem more conscienctious of their minutes away from their position.
Keeping smoking out of the office is excellent, family restaurants and public places. Bars should have a special area for smokers.
What next? Chewing gum, mints, coffee?
Rosa
By Prootwadl
May 1, 2006 02:36 PM | Link to this
Whoever thought up the forum syntax which assumes that parenthesis will always delineate a “link” is technically incompetent or has very little experience with online forum software and conventions.
Parenthesis or brackets are part of common conversational English in most online forums.
A less common convention should be used to delineate a link.
This is the only forum software I’ve used in over a decade which makes such a silly assumption.
Please change it!
By Bill
May 1, 2006 02:49 PM | Link to this
Any compassion toward smoking and smokers is completely erased by their filth in public.
Just look at any traffic intersection or outside the entrance to any public access building and you’ll see the piles upon piles of cigarette butts.
You’ll see the mess there for years and years since the filters don’t break down.
By john
May 1, 2006 02:57 PM | Link to this
Responding to Kevin:
“How many of you folks responding are at work?”
Not me.
“Smokers have paid tax’s on every pack they smoked.”
Which is proof that smokers have a strong pattern of making self-destructive decisions, i.e. they waste even more of their money on something that has NO redeeming qualities.
“How about taxing/banning chocolate because it makes people fat.”
Chocolate doesn’t make people fat any more than any other food that contains calories. I can gain weight on nothing but fat- free milk and bananas if I eat too much and do too little physical activity. There is also evidence that chocolate contains healthy flavonoids
” Then again let’s just fire all fat people because they are fat and cost the health care additional monies to keep them alive…that’s it, turn your attention towards the over weight people, not smokers!”
I agree that obesity is a real risk, but Dr. Kenneth Cooper has stated that his research has shown that a person would have to gain 100 lbs. to give the same risk as starting a pack-a-day habit. Plus, fatties don’t pollute the air and throw butts and empty packs everywhere, unless they smoke that is.
By pat
May 1, 2006 03:09 PM | Link to this
I think people should be fired for being fat and eating unhealthy foods. They should also be fired for drinking. I think we should let others control our lives, we are to stupid to think for ourselves. Besides, if a company is nice enough to give you a job, they should be able to make you behave anyway they want to in or out of work. If you don’t like it, don’t work.
By David
May 1, 2006 03:14 PM | Link to this
Ridiculous policy. As long as smokers pay for the differential in their health insurance costs, and as long as my workload is not effected by the increased sick days that smokers take, I think it should be ‘live and let live’ (or in this case, perhaps ‘live and let die’.)
Additionally, allowing smoking should reduce the number of inter-office romances - a very good thing.
By ACH
May 1, 2006 03:18 PM | Link to this
Just make a pack of cigarettes $50 nationwide, that’ll teach them.
By Barb
May 1, 2006 03:18 PM | Link to this
I am a smoker. I do not smoke during the 8 hours I am at work, or while on campus there. I should not be fired for my habit any more than someone who drinks alcohol or uses the phone for personnal reasons, or uses email for the same…provided they too do it off work time.
By Phil
May 1, 2006 03:25 PM | Link to this
I find it humorous that all of these people call smokers “stupid” and that they all are going to die, how can they be so blind, etc. I myself am a non smoker but the reason I am laughing at all this is because I bet 90% of the people in this thread drink Alcohol on a regular basis and some of them are probably a lot worse off than that. Last time I checked I had not heard of too many people getting “blasted” on nicotine and causing an 8 car pileup. The point is we are all probably doing things to ourselves that are not good. Heck, smog season starts today, breathing in the air could probably kill us. They way I see it, if people want to go to the bar and have a few drinks on their lunch, good for them. If they want to go to Hardees and eat a Monster Burger, go for it. And if you want to have a smoke and not bother anyone then why not? People just need to mind their own business and worry about what they are doing and not what some stranger likes to do in his spare time.
By Kevin
May 1, 2006 03:32 PM | Link to this
John….you like controling other peoples lives….have an answer for everything…today we pick on smokers, tomorrow we pick on people who over eat…surprising you don’t know where all the tax money went from the sale of tobacco products. Peace brother!
By Kuskha
May 1, 2006 03:54 PM | Link to this
Employees who smoke will be fired because they are involved in an activity that risks their health which may cause them to have to use their medical insurance.
Employees who drank will be fired because they are involved in a risk activity that which may cause them to have to use their medical insurance.
Employees who play any contact sport will be fired because they are involved in an activity that risks their health which may cause them to have to use their medical insurance.
Employees who ride bicycles along city streets will be fired because they are involved in an activity that risks their health which may cause them to have to use their medical insurance.
Employees who drive and use cell phones will be fired because they are involved in an activity that risks their health which may cause them to have to use their medical insurance.
Employees who eat too many polyunsaturated fats will be fired because they are involved in an activity that risks their health which may cause them to have to use their medical insurance.
Employees who get pregnant will be fired because they are involved in an activity that risks their health which may cause them to have to use their medical insurance.
Employees who have sex without a condom will be fired because they are involved in an activity that risks their health which may cause them to have to use their medical insurance.
Employees who eat too many polyunsaturated fats will be fired because they are involved in an activity that risks their health which may cause them to have to use their medical insurance.
Employees who are caught walking in certain neighborhoods in Atlanta fats will be fired because they are involved in a activity that risk their health which may cause them to have to use their medical insurance.
Employees who live walking in certain neighborhoods in Atlanta fats will be fired because they are involved in a activity that risk their health which may cause them to have to use their medical insurance.
Employees who belong to the Army reserves will be fired because they are involved in an activity that risks their health which may cause them to have to use their medical insurance.
Employees who drive on Atlanta’s interstates will be fired because they are involved in an activity that risks their health which may cause them to have to use their medical insurance.
Employees who are caught breathing Atlanta polluted air will be fired because they are involved in an activity that risks their health which may cause them to have to use their medical insurance.
Employees who drive a vehicle that burns fossil base fuels will be fired because they are involved in a activity that risk their health and the heath of others and they may cause them and others to have to use their medical insurance.
By Cody
May 1, 2006 03:58 PM | Link to this
Lose your job because you smoked at home? I don’t agree with that, but you smokers should be socially ostracized. I think also you could lose your job because your odor is so offensive no one can work near you. I mean some of you smokers really stink…and if you are wearing crappy perfume or cologne you just stink more. And why do you think the earth is your private ashtray?..use your car’s ashtray. I saw a guy standing right by a cigarette trash cannister and he still threw his cigarette butt on the ground. Why are you smoker’s so self-centered?
By Tom
May 1, 2006 04:18 PM | Link to this
An extra 15 minute break every hour … leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
By Disgusted
May 1, 2006 04:51 PM | Link to this
Bunch of mean-spirited pugs. What makes you so great? So you don’t smoke, hallelujah. Aren’t you just the smartest person that ever-lived. So you hate smokers, think they are stupid, good for you. You are hateful. You are making assumptions about someone you don’t know based on what, cigarettes? You are the problem. People who choose to smoke, but stay away from others while they do it are not hurting anyone. What a bunch crying ninnies. Mark me “DISGUSTED!”
By Jean
May 1, 2006 05:25 PM | Link to this
I don’t mind the smoke, as long as I am not forced to be any where near it. I don’t force you to do anything that I do, so why do you think you have a right to force me to partake of your stinky habit?
And what about you smokers who can’t walk 2 feet to put your buts in the ash tray that is provided by your company in your smoking area? There is absolutly no reason for that, I hope your employers get tired of cleaning up after you and ban smoking on company property.
But the thing that about smokers that has really been bugging me a lot lately, is the irresponsible ones who through their LIT buts out their car windows. Because of this nasty, dangerous habit, I’ve seen smoldering fires alongside the road and in the median of the road. And the few times I haven’t seen the smoke, I’ve seen a fire truck putting out the fire. When it gets as dry as it does in Atlanta, I see this 2-3 times a week. Talk about stupid, selfish people! If you smoke, use your car ashtray, and use the ash trays provided outside the doors of businesses and stop throwing your buts and ashes on the ground.
By Nancy
May 2, 2006 09:04 AM | Link to this
I don’t smoke and I really can’t stand the smell of a person who has just smoked a pack before coming in to work but if we are going to ridicule them for their smell then lets also fire the people who put on too much cologne and perfume. Lets also fire the people who can’t walk 2 feet to throw away their styrofoam cups (also bad for the environment). While we are at it, fire the people who bring in donuts and other junk foods for everyone because they are contributing to the obesity of others.
Grow up people, we don’t need others to dictate our life. We are adults aren’t we?
By
May 2, 2006 09:43 AM | Link to this
Breaking the bands of any addictive behavior is a lifelong process. Like anything else, you have to initiate and maintain. I believe we walk in deceptions that justify our self-inflicting harmful addictions. Nicotine obviously has more harmful ramifications than it does beneficial. So what lie have we taken that would make us habitual smokers? “Its fun”. “It relaxes me and takes the edge off”. “I’ve been doing it for so long”. Think about it, every reason you would have to continue smoking, you can find 100 more healthier ways to fulfill them. Smoking is a lie that over powers the will of man, leaving him subject to its call. So if its powerful to do this then it will gradually pull you from the production of your work. That’s the Truth!
By Steve
May 2, 2006 09:56 AM | Link to this
It’s amusing to me to listen to smokers talk about their addiction. Certainly, good people make bad decisions. But with all the facts in, how can anyone continue to smoke? The answer is that tobacco use is addictive. Addictions cloud judgment. I wonder if smokers, because of the level of denial required to continue smoking, read about the health effects of their habit. Several people near to me have died as a result of smoking related disease. In each case, they were shocked at their diagnosis. Every time I wondered how they could be. Have smokers not heard? Tobacco use is the number one cause of preventable disease on the planet today. Stop it! If you don’t care enough about yourself to stop. Then think about the people around you that love you. All of the diseases related to tobacco use are horrible. Many of them don’t kill you quickly. Are you so self involved that you would subject your loved ones to watching you die a protracted and horrible death?
By Laurie
May 2, 2006 10:19 AM | Link to this
Non-smokers beware! The employer who will not hire an applicant or promote an employee who smokes is a control freak who will treat all employees like children, indentured servants or machines. Reducing a person with unique abilities, experience, and character traits to an anonymous, one-dimensional label, “smoker,” dehumanizes her or him and makes it easy to treat them inhumanely and unjustly. And where any employee is dehumanized based on a single characteristic, you can be sure others are also. So if you are a non-smoker applying to a company, ask if they hire smokers. If they say No, run, unless of course you’re a masochist. Secondly, employers who won’t hire smokers do not value and reward merit. If they would pass over an excellent worker who smokes for a second-best worker who doesn’t, then they will not reward employees on the basis of merit. If you want to advance in your career by virtue of hard work, initiative, creativity, teamwork, continuing education and personal and professional integrity, choose a company with smokers in high positions. That’s a company that’s all about getting the job done right and growing profits, and your contributions will be rewarded.
By The Grinch
May 2, 2006 10:28 AM | Link to this
Pssst Sandy, you’re perfume stinks more than anyy cigarette….
By jack
May 2, 2006 10:30 AM | Link to this
God Are you all adults here or kindergardners .wa wa wa Smokers smell !!!smokers are ignorant .SHUT UP!!!Look here I smoke I love it .Im so tired of people saying smoking kills !!! the fact is so does drinking, over eating and driving a car. should we all stop doing that .To all of you calling smokers ignorant and stupid. grow up!!! .WE all do things that are harful to our body .The fact is over eighty million people in the US are overwight So maybe we should start calling fat people stupid and ignorant and maybe we should fire them if they over eat because weight effects your health and is raising my health care costs .The fact is all humans have something they are addicted to .It is in our nature .its who we are .Some are addicted to alcohol some are addicted to food ,some TV. We all have addictions that are not good for us .So I guess we all are stupid and ignorant huh. I smoke Like a Chimney and I run five miles a day not including a 20 minute run up 30 flights of stares .I challange any of you who are criticizing smokers to a marathon or a weight lifting compition. Not only will I out perform you little kindergardners.Ill embarres you because I will run a mile backwards and smoke a ciggerette the whole way . Im a smoker and proud of it its my right as an american to smoke SO to all you smokers PUFF PUFF AWAY and TO sherd picking on bob the manager “ITS WAISTE AND NOT WAISTE” WA WA WA SHut UP!!Correcting people .does that make you feel inteligent because you just corrected him. Do you feel superior .well your not you make yourself look ignorant with comments like smokers are smelly, rude, vile & ignorant..ignorant to the fact that smoking KILLS! Waste is to make poor use of something..waist is the area between one’s chest and hips. Blah blah blah well a brain is something between your ears something you dont have .And your WAISTING (HA HA)your comapnies time on this blog when you should be working if I was your boss I would fire you .BOB lets take a break and go outside and smoke
By The Grinch
May 2, 2006 10:30 AM | Link to this
pssst Nancy, you’re perfume stinks worse….but i guess thats OK.
By Jeanette
May 2, 2006 10:34 AM | Link to this
I am a 57 year old smoker and have smoked since age 14 (you do the math). I am also a recovering drug addict. I am here to tell you it is easier to quit using drugs than it is to quit smoking! I feel things are getting ridulous when you have to choose between a job or a cigarette - the scared straight tactics don’t always work. As long as I’m not sitting at my desk smoking and respect the parameters set by my boss (ie, don’t smoke in front of the building, etc.), I should be given the same respect as a nonsmoker. It can not be about “making” someone do what you want. It should be the smoker’s choice. I have to be the one to stop because I want to as that will be the only way I can stop successfully.
By A Smoker
May 2, 2006 10:52 AM | Link to this
The negative, rude comments I have read are the reason I have not told my coworkers that I am a smoker. I have been at my present job for about a year and only a couple of coworkers know that I smoke, only because they saw me smoking in my car. They were shocked. They both said that I don’t look like a smoker, whatever that means. I smoke on my way to and from work and on my lunch hour. I don’t take breaks at work. My teeth aren’t yellow and I don’t stink. In fact, I am always complimented on my beautiful smile. Although I understand your concern for a smoker, please don’t judge. The negative comments, especially the name-calling is appalling. Instead, why don’t you wish us well and hope that we are delivered from the addiction?
By Laurie
May 2, 2006 11:02 AM | Link to this
Non-smokers beware! Employers who will not hire applicants or promote employees who smoke are employers who treat all employees like children, indentured servants or machines. Applying the label, “smoker,” to an individual with unique abilities, experience and character traits is a means of dehumanizing a person and making it easier to treat him or her inhumanely or unjustly. If it’s done to one group of workers, it’s being done to others. When interviewing for a job, ask the employer if s/he hires smokers. If s/he says No, run, unless you’re a masochist. Secondly, employers who discriminate against smokers do not value and reward merit. If you want to advance in your career by virtue of hard work, initiative, creativity, continuing education, reliability, teamwork and professional integrity, choose a company with smokers in high positions. You will know it’s a company with its priorities straight: get the job done right and grow profits. Note to Employers: Take advantage of your competition’s myopia. Outstanding employees of anti-smoker companies are fed up and looking for employers who value their abilities and accomplishments. Hire them and reap the benefits of their productivity and loyalty.
By A Realist
May 2, 2006 11:08 AM | Link to this
Should a company be able to fire you because you smoke? No.
Should a company be able to fire you because you allow smoking or it’s side effects interfere with your work? Yes
Most companies no longer offer paid “break” times or are willing to pay for your lunch hour (hence the 8a-5p day). In these companies, if you take three 20 min smoke breaks a day you’ve wasted an hour of the company’s time when non-smokers (or at least more restrained smokers) are being productive.
Then there is the smell. I don’t mean the damp stench of old nicotine that hangs around most smoking areas - I am speaking of the acrid reek that hangs around most smokers. Work is often difficult enough without having to be in close proximity to individuals whose body odor makes you want to retch. If your job has you interfacing with the public (ie clients) then your stench is casting your whole company in a negative light.
By jen
May 2, 2006 11:09 AM | Link to this
I really don’t care what people do on their off time. It is their business; however, I am working in a job right now where one of my co-workers is a smoker. He stands IN the doorway smoking or next to the intake for the air conditioning system smoking. It makes me sick. Literally. The smoke is pumped into the office and he does this about 5-7 times a day. My boss will not deal with it so it is left up to me to bring it up to him; which I resent because I feel that it should NOT be an issue. So for all of you nonsmokers having to deal with the after effects of a co-worker’s smoke break, feel relieved that you don’t have to smell the actual SMOKE all day long. Guess it’s time to do some research on smoking laws in the state of Georgia…
By Melissa
May 8, 2006 11:03 AM | Link to this
To be honest I smoke. I do not think that it is fair that you all can put us in all one catagory and call us stupid. I am not proud that I smoke, I know that a lot of smokers are, but not me. I agree that smoke stinks and it is a very unhealthy habit. I am trying to quit but I do enjoy smoking. If it came down to loosing my job, I would quit smoking at work, but no one can make me quit in my private life that has to happen on my own time. I do not disagree that smokers should pay more in health care costs, but smokers have to support their families too. So to not hire someone just because they smoke is plain unjust. I am not stupid I know what I am doing to my body, and it isn’t right, but we all assume risk with our lives one way or another. My only real point is please don’t put us all into a nasty catagory and assume that we are all the same way. Because we are not.