Thread: Should Smokers Be Fired?

Originally Posted by ChiangMai noon

It was always my dream to be a journalist Memock.

Do you have any jobs?
I'd prefer to cover cricket but would be willing to try anything.

i promise to quit smoking.

I'll keep in touch

^is that a polite way of saying "don't callus, we'll call you"

MM - you could always get him to cover the CM 7s, or whatever that stupid competition is they have there

^

Yeah with payment on printing (ie - we would never print it )

Originally Posted by RDN

Originally Posted by MeMock

I dont care about health I care about time wasting. If I am choosing between offering the job to a smoker to a non smoker then non smoker will get it every time. I get more work out of them, simple as that.

Totally agree. One of my managers, engineers and several other staff used to meet outside every hour or so for a 10 to 30 minute break. It was basically a "smokers" club - and whenever I happened to overhear what they were talking about, it usually was not work. Just a total waste of time.

MeMock, are you sure about that? There are a lot of employers who seem
to think that just because people are in the office that they're actually working.

In many of the places I've worked the "diligent" workers spend most of their
time looking at porn on the net, the managers are happy cos the
workers are glued to the screen and look like they're doing something productive. It's
a common fallacy that if people are in their place of work then they must
be working.

RDN, I find it hard to believe that people were allowed to take a 30 minute
smoke break every hour, that's just ridiculous. You didn't lose work
because they were smokers, you lost work because they were taking the piss.
That would count as gross misconduct and be a justification for dismissal.

5 minutes is enough time for a cig.

Originally Posted by DrB0b

...RDN, I find it hard to believe that people were allowed to take a 30 minute smoke break every hour, that's just ridiculous. You didn't lose work because they were smokers, you lost work because they were taking the piss.
That would count as gross misconduct and be a justification for dismissal.

5 minutes is enough time for a cig.

Sorry, I didn't make it clear- they were not allowed to take 30 minutes, but often, especially when a lot of people turned up at the same time for a smoke, nobody seemed to want to break up the meeting.

And 'yes', they were taking the piss out of the company's forgiving attitude to smokers.

One thing that really pissed me off about the ring leader, was that he actually encouraged another engineer to start smoking so he could join the club.

Originally Posted by Milkman

Smoke Breaks

I was at a company that finally wised up and reduced their lunch break by 50%.

It was voluntary.

If you want to take X amount of (maximum allowed) smoke breaks, that fine.

But only take half of the time off for your lunch...

Bl00dy good idea.

Originally Posted by MeMock

^

Yeah with payment on printing (ie - we would never print it )

thats a bit harsh when you havent even seen his work yet.

CMN - i promise when i own a newspaper i will let you be a sports writer for it. And you can have a weekly column where you rant about whatever is upsetting at the present time.

Don't be to sure, last year they wanted to pass a law to stop smoking in your own home,,

But down at the ice cream shop there is no smoking signs, and people smoke, and girl students are trading sex for phone bills and phone cards, and cops park the their motocys on the sidewalk and set there and drink beer and whiskey and play with their guns.

Funny place this Thailand..

Start smoking crack and get fired in style!

Originally Posted by blackgang

and girl students are trading sex for phone bills

Where, where? I'll happily shag a girl if she takes my phone bill off my hands. Especially a student.

No, I don't think smokers should be fired.

And I don't think they should be discriminated against in the hiring process.

This issue (as most of you know) isn't only about smoking.

It's about companies focusing on reducing health care costs: now some companies are encouraging and even rewarding employees to exercise at the gym facilities, and/or give them bonus incentives for say, keeping their cholesteral at normal of better levels, or reducing blood pressure.

Yes, nobody should be fired for smoking and no "Terms and Conditions" in employment contracts should say anything about smoking except for the provision of "smoking rooms" and "smoking breaks".

If those conditions are broken - e.g. by the employee taking too many "smoke breaks" - then the contractually specified procedures for warnings/dismissal should be invoked.

Can we merge this with the Dom Imus thread. Should a smoking Don Imus be fired. ?

Like many I don't think smokers should be fired. Their drug habit isn't entirely of their own making as in the past governments encouraged smoking to rake in the tax. Now those same governments are trying to welsh (sorry CMN) on paying back in medical benefits. Similar to a pension fund refusing to pay out.

Originally Posted by Frankenstein

A different angle: when smoking, you take natural breaks. Breaks you would not otherwise take. It has been proven conclusively that people are the most efficient and creative when they get 15 minutes off per hour. The rest period reinvigorates the brain and gives you a better perspective on your tasks. Still most workplaces do not encourage this type of work schedule.

This only applies to shelf stacking and the like. I was fired from my last position as a Brain Surgeon for taking 15 minute smoke breaks.

I smoke because I do enjoy it, thats the reason I can't quit, I have gave it a shot but I don't try to hard.
I have smoked for over 60 years, when I was a kid I would be riding after cattle or off checking for sick cows, checking fence and such ranch work since I was 5 years old, I always carried a sack of "BULL DURHAM" and papers in my saddle bag so Grandma wouldn't find it and would twist one up when ever I wanted as long as I was away from the house, I enjoyed it then and I enjoy it now, even tho it is killing me, but you can't live forever, just all your life, and I want to enjoy that as much as possible..

Originally Posted by mad_dog

Fat people must be as big a health insurance risks as smokers. Sack all the fat seppos too I say! Of course this would leave to unemployment rates of 80% or more but I really think Bush needs to use his last 18 months in office to completely fuck up domestic policy too.

Cute, Md....

But remember, the British are not far behind. And the Aussies are very close behind.

Obesity is a serious problem in the U.S - it's an epidemic.

And sadly, it's going to be one in the UK and Oz as well.

What we need to know is "why?"

The real "why?"

A gene or genes, processed food, sedentary lifestyle, excessive calories, and/or all of the above.

It's not normal.

That is a problem: the fatter the ass to carry around the bigger the engine needed and more gasoline required.

If all Americans weighed what they really should then I bet 50% of the daily consumption of gasoline would be eliminated.

What about sacking people who chew Mars bars? - shorttime boost to sugar levels, making them hyperactive, and extensive visits to the dentist in future, costing employers productive time and tax-payers inproportionate dentist's fees?
Or those addicts who can't get going without frequent cups of coffee, another health risk, specially for menopause women?
What about red-meat and trans-fat indulging anti-social elements in modern society?