Another first in hiring practices.

[BDK]

funny thing about cigarettes...not really but....

I had an employee whose father came to see her at the restaurant....
come to find out, he was a "Cigarette Designer" for RJR...

He said to me,
"I see that you smoke, I used to smoke until I went to work for RJR designing cigarettes. I quit within a couple of month's of being hired. You really shouldn't smoke those things"....

It is a vice that I have and I will quit, but when people tell me not to smoke it makes me want to smoke even more...
Sucks...
It kills me when people call it vile and nasty...
next time you brew a cup of coffee look at the grounds in the basket, then think of an ash tray....
they look and smell very similar...

I don't smoke in my house,
I don't smoke in my car with the AC/heat on and if I do smoke in the car all windows are down...
I don't like the sight of an ashtray and can not eat with one within eye sight...

We had a business neighbor that had a coffee shop and when he roasted beans it smelled like really bad burnt toast...
The entire town smelled like it when he was roasting...
Now that is nasty...
your clothes would smell like burnt toast...
Nasty, Nasty stuff Java is...

Fla now has a $1+ tax on cigarettes, I wish they would add that dollar tax to McD's, twinkies etc because obesity is the next taxing thing on healthcare...

[David Hunt]

Ban the damned things. Shitty, tainted tobacco, DESIGNED to screw you over, and keep you screwed until you die.
I hate to walk down the street and look at the dozens, sometimes hundreds of butts blowing around, stuck in the cracks, and in the landscaping.
I despise the companies that profit from other people's ruin.
Cancer is only one problem exacerbated by cigarettes. Poor health and vitality suffer long before cancer becomes the problem.
If I never smell it in any way, nor look at the mess, nor be forced to pay in higher premiums, then fine. Smoke away.
I have never met a smoker who was not willing to trample on others' right to a clean environment so that they can have their habit.
Ever had to deal with someone in a tight situation who was having a nicotine "fit"? Many times I was the one to take care of a situation because my smoking co-worker did not come back in time, or they were out smoking, so I got the job.
A complete total waste, cigarettes.

[Tammer in Philly]

I hate to walk down the street and look at the dozens, sometimes hundreds of butts blowing around, stuck in the cracks, and in the landscaping.

This point in particular pisses me off. Why do smokers universally think it's just fine to litter? I would love, absolutely LOVE to see an urban police department start fining every smoker who tosses a butt on the sidewalk the max littering fine. Hell, they increase speeding tickets and red light tickets when the city coffers are running dry; why don't they dip into the huge pool of potential income from littering smokers?

It's disgusting and inconsiderate.

-tammer

[joegreen]

I gotta say I find this just as rediculous as possible. I smoke. But not at work, and when you work for me you don't smoke at work either period. I smoke a pack every 3-4 days mostly just socially. I kind of feel like this is the same as if they where to say "we will not hire you if you are a registered gun owner" ill also add that if the people of the us were not so deluted, brain washed fastfood junkie idiots. We might have already had free health care, I mean seriously. The canadian's have been enjoying it for a long time now. Matter of fact so does lybia...hmmm 3rd world country has free health care neighbors to the north have free health care hell well over half the world has socialized or some other sort of supported health care system. That may be a bit ot but just got me thinkin about it...

[David Hunt]

Sorry, Joegreen, universal healthcare is just not profitable, and that isn't good for anyone, right?

[desmofan]

the company i worked for during college had that policy. it got them lower premiums on the company supplied health care plan. i (essentially) don't smoke, but found it ridiculous. i think the restrictions on smokers are out of control. yeah it's bad for you, but they get singled out so much.

The lower premiums are the reason companies put restrictions on employees smoking. If the company is fairly small, even having hundreds of employees, a small percentage of smokers can raise everyone's premiums significantly. If they get improved efficiency because of no smoke breaks, even better.

I'm not a fan of government intervention, but this is a similar concept to States requiring motorcycle riders to wear helmets, or auto drivers to wear seat belts. I think if some idiot wants to ride a motorcycle without a helmet (I never would), that's fine, because most times it simply helps keep the shallow end of the gene pool from getting overcrowded. But, a LOT of times the rider doesn't die, they simply are a vegetable, AND when their health insurance runs out we are responsible for paying their bills through our higher insurance premiums.

[David Hunt]

I am just flabbergasted about the whole smoking concept. Why do people PAY some company to kill their livelihood, yellow their teeth, make them stink, and then pretend that it is a personal choice. Maybe the first few packs are choice, but then the nicotine trick-fucks your brain to say "screw it, it just doesn't matter." After you are hooked, for many people, there is no choosing.
I can understand cigars and even pipes. This is not the same tobacco as in cigarettes. It is low grade shit that they treat with "adjuvants", I will call it, to make the nicotine work harder.
It is a trap that snares more of the people that really can't afford it.

[C.R. Krieger]

but wait,
Now the heavy people come in and say,
"Hey, you're helping the smoker's quit, I want you to pay to help me lose weight"....
and it snowballs into helping everyone with their addictions/vices....

Many of the more enlightened employers around the country do exactly that; and it isn't just because they want to feel good about it. It's because they get a more motivated and healthier workforce and they save/make more money as a result of that.

total time lossed?
more than all smoke breaks taken all day by a smoking employee...
and this is just the start of the day,
you have morning break, lunch and afternoon break too...

Fwiw, I smoke a cigarette quicker than you can drink a cup of coffee, I do it for the nicotine not the break...

FWIW, I'm more productive sitting at my desk sipping from a cup of coffee than you are off taking a smoke break ...

The argument can go eitherway but to use the loss of time at work is pretty weak...
I bet coffee drinkers use the same amount of time...
Heavy Eaters the same...

It's a well-known fact that smokers also take more time off for respiratory, coronary, and other ailments, whether cancer-related or not. The productivity losses are real and measurable, regardless of your personal feelings (or your 'speed smoking') on the matter.

[funfunfer]