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**95Batmobile** · 10-18-2004, 11:07 AM

I would sympathize with you, but smokers do smell bad after they smoke :(
Maybe the boss of that company is allergic, like my brother?

But yes, it is against the law... what if you went in for the job (if they didn't put "non-smokers only") and they somehow knew you smoked... could they not hire you because of that and never tell yoU?

**imported_admin** · 10-18-2004, 11:14 AM

Discrimination on just about any basis is illegal but it happens anyway, hiring managers are just really sneaky about it. Let's say if they knew I was a smoker they would use some other excuse... or if I was black and the hiring manager was a racist he would say I didn't have the right qualifications, or whatever.

I am personally planning on quitting soon but it is a matter of principle. If people want to smoke, they darn well have the right to smoke. That's no different from chewing gum or using make-up.

When I do quit (sometime before the wedding in April) I am going to miss taking smoke breaks from work though. That was the one thing that kept me sane--being able to leave the office and go stand quietly outside the back door of the building for ten minutes and calm down/decide how to fix whatever problem I was working on. I've concluded that its the smoke break that makes it so relaxing, not the cigarette itself.

Its no wonder people who work in high-stress situations get heart attacks, have high divorce rates, and have all sorts of stress-related emotional disorders; they never take the time to unwind during a busy day. (At my last company the smokers were the laid back people that didn't excessively worry or get fired up over stupid stuff.) But then they look at smokers and say "look at how much time they're wasting taking breaks in a day"... well, my response to that is my productivity is greatly boosted after a break and that more than cancels out the 10 minutes every hour and a half that I spend outside. Besides, I think of all of my best ideas on smoke breaks. That's when I have quiet time to myself to pick apart the problem and decide what needs to be done. That quiet thinking time doesn't happen when you're crammed in a 10' x 15' office with three other people who are constantly on the phone or running in and out of meetings.

[ October 18, 2004, 12:27 PM: Message edited by: Stefan ]

**'98 BlackBird** · 10-18-2004, 12:37 PM

Being an ex-smoker I can side with Stefan on this. I too was a courteous smoker when I did smoke.
The company that I work for now at one point allowed all of it's smoking employees to smoke outside the front and rear doors. Just a year ago, they made a new "smoking shack" which is outside, at the top of the parking garage inside of what resembles a bus stop which is about a five min walk from the main building. I understand not smoking around customers, but Jesus Christ, that was way overkill.

**speedy-v6-camaro** · 10-18-2004, 12:56 PM

How is that more of a discrimination than UPS requiring that you be able to lift more than 50 lbs? People who smoke at my work reek of it at all times. This is very distracting and I hate it. If this was some sort of service oriented industry I can see why they wouldn't want a smoker. Its not a racial or sexist discrimination just a life sytle one.

**epic** · 10-18-2004, 01:02 PM

Smokers complain because they're nicotine's *****. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I quit no problem, smoked for six years.

**mjparme** · 10-18-2004, 01:09 PM

Hiring only non-smokers is becoming more common because companies can get cheaper insurance this way (which passes on to the employees through cheaper premiums).

The legality of hiring only non-smokers is currently making its way through the courts and the legality of it probably varies greatly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Many companies are also testing for nicotine during pre-employment drug screenings and detecting nicotine disqualifies you.

Also, I find smokers to be quite unproductive as a large portion of them tend to take 10 min smoke breaks every 30 mins. I don't get a 10 min break every 30 minutes, why do they?

Starting Dec 1st my company is instituting a smoke free campus. There is absolutly no smoking anywhere on campus. Currently we have the smokers exiled to a little corner in the parking garage. That goes away dec 1st and I couldn't be happier.

I find that smokers tend to be the most disrepectful group around (there are a few exceptions).

Interesing thread:

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=39082

Excerpt:

Federal antidiscrimination statutes do not prohibit the practice since
smoking is a changeable behavior rather than "an immutable
characteristic," like race or gender. And saving as much as $ 5,000
per year per employee in medical care, disability, and other costs
clearly provides a "rational basis" for the policy."

[ October 18, 2004, 02:19 PM: Message edited by: mjparme ]

**speedy-v6-camaro** · 10-18-2004, 01:22 PM

Originally posted by mjparme:

Also, I find smokers to be quite unproductive as a large portion of them tend to take 10 min smoke breaks every 30 mins. I don't get a 10 min break every 30 minutes, why do they?

I find this too. Amazing that a company wouldn't want someone who will increase their insurance and have lower productivity. If I take a break from work I sit at my desk and usually get interupted and its really not a break. I think most of the smokers at my work take 30 minute breaks every 2 hours or so.

**12secondv6** · 10-18-2004, 01:25 PM

me ---> [img]graemlins/slap.gif[/img] <--- smokers

But, you do have a good point

So, quit already [img]tongue.gif[/img]

**ka50** · 10-18-2004, 01:53 PM

nicotine.... the master of puppets

I quit right after AIS3 and haven't smoked a single one since then and don't plan to for the rest of my life. www.whyquit.com

**majeskyb** · 10-18-2004, 02:08 PM

Originally posted by Stefan:
Discrimination on just about any basis is illegal but it happens anyway, hiring managers are just really sneaky about it. Let's say if they knew I was a smoker they would use some other excuse... or if I was black and the hiring manager was a racist he would say I didn't have the right qualifications, or whatever.

I am personally planning on quitting soon but it is a matter of principle. If people want to smoke, they darn well have the right to smoke. That's no different from chewing gum or using make-up.

When I do quit (sometime before the wedding in April) I am going to miss taking smoke breaks from work though. That was the one thing that kept me sane--being able to leave the office and go stand quietly outside the back door of the building for ten minutes and calm down/decide how to fix whatever problem I was working on. I've concluded that its the smoke break that makes it so relaxing, not the cigarette itself.

Its no wonder people who work in high-stress situations get heart attacks, have high divorce rates, and have all sorts of stress-related emotional disorders; they never take the time to unwind during a busy day. (At my last company the smokers were the laid back people that didn't excessively worry or get fired up over stupid stuff.) But then they look at smokers and say "look at how much time they're wasting taking breaks in a day"... well, my response to that is my productivity is greatly boosted after a break and that more than cancels out the 10 minutes every hour and a half that I spend outside. Besides, I think of all of my best ideas on smoke breaks. That's when I have quiet time to myself to pick apart the problem and decide what needs to be done. That quiet thinking time doesn't happen when you're crammed in a 10' x 15' office with three other people who are constantly on the phone or running in and out of meetings.

I have so many smokers in my shop, but they aren't "courteous smokers". Whenever we have something that needs to get done, they all file outside to smoke and watch us work. This happens almost everyday. So my non-smoking friends and I have created a "non-smokers break". whenever the smokers get back, we take off for a break of equal time. The smokers that I'm talking about seriously do it mostly to get out of work though. I knew them from before they smoked, and know how much time at work vs. at home they smoke. I don't have problems with smokers, just the ones that abuse the idea of smoke breaks.

**fbirdgt01** · 10-18-2004, 02:15 PM

I'm sorry stefan... but that is funny. I cannot believe they actually printed that in an AD.

As to myself, I smoke and so does my bf. But when we go to dinner, we sit in the non-smoking section, we don't smoke in our house and rarely smoke in the car. A lot like stefan, we are courteous smokers, and i honestly again cannot believe they let that be printed. GET EM STEFAN!!

PS. How goes the job search?

**Turbo V6 Camaro** · 10-18-2004, 02:26 PM

I can't stand smoke i am allergic to it, my mom cant even go bowling or any thing unless she wants to sick for next week. I hope all the states do what CA. and NY. did.

if i get around it my eye go blood shoot and my air way close up, after about 30min that goes away. Then as soon as i get home i have to take a shower, and the next day I have flu like sickness.

I have tried many times to just not let It bother me but when I was working bus-boy at perkins I was missing school 3 times a week do to the smoke, everyday I worked I would miss the next day of school.

**jc Kyle** · 10-18-2004, 02:39 PM

they are opening smokeless restaurants... get the hint yet?

**Turbo V6 Camaro** · 10-18-2004, 02:45 PM

Originally posted by jc Kyle:
they are opening smokeless restaurants... get the hint yet?

REALLY? where i been away to long

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