Heartland

My work is away to introduce random drug and alcohol testing from the first of December and I have a feeling that "I can Identify any powder or pill" is gonna be the wrong answer!

Now, I have never shown up at my work under the influence of drugs (okay, I left once, but it was my birthday) and it's at least eighteen months since I showed up for work still a little merry from the night before.
As I spend most of my work in front of a PC, operate no machinery, and make no life threatening decisions, I reckon this is a bit of an abuse of the old civil liberties!

Some facts to scare you - current urine analysis can detect as little as 50ng/ml of cannabinoids in your urine anywhere between five and thirty days from last use.

That's right, you deviant pothead scum, you smoked a joint four weeks ago and now you're sacked!

MDMA and Amphetamine is 500ng and 1000ng respectively for three - five days.

As for hair analysis - f*ck, over three years of the odd recreational indulgence. I might as well let the bank repossess my home now or shave my head and have a total body wax!

Guess I'm just gonna have to pay for supporting organised crime!"

Winners don't do drugs.

Clucking Belle wrote:Winners don't do drugs.

Reality is for people who can't handle drugs!

Jail is for people who handle drugs.

I walked out of a job interview when they told me I'd have to be drug tested. I don't do drugs per se I'd rather have a drink, but my personal opinion is it's a violation of privacy.

Sorry to hear that E.

I agree. Whilst I don't condone their use, and I'm generally against drugs, I don't think it is right to discriminate on the basis of people who do or don't use drugs (obviously with certain exceptions) and working in such an environment would make me feel uncomfortable.

Jail is also a convenient way of disenfranchising predominantly young black people in America.

Presumably you neither smoke nor drink and spend your nights in devotional prayer?

If so, that's fine by me. Each to their own.

Don't ever presume to make value judgements on me.

Trust me, my sense of morality in better than many, and I never attempt to project my beliefs on others.

I try my best to live by the law "And it harm none do what you will."

PS
I cast many shadows, some of which are mistaken for fact.

Chill out.

Clucking Belle wrote:...working in such an environment would make me feel uncomfortable.

Unfortunately, lots of big companies over here require potential employees to be tested. I worked for such a company a couple of years ago; had I not been desperate for a job, I probably would have walked away, despite the fact that I don't use drugs...

Had I known they had that policy I never would have gone for the interview. As I sat there filling out the paperwork I just realized there was no way I was going to take a drug test. The receptionist looked at me like I was crazy when I said I can't do this and handed it all back to her.

The other thing I will never do again, is polygraph. I had one years ago, and it was the worst experience of my life. When they offered me the job I said NO.

I don't believe people should be made to compromise their values for the sake of employment.

Clucking Belle wrote:I agree. Whilst I don't condone their use, and I'm generally against drugs, I don't think it is right to discriminate on the basis of people who do or don't use drugs (obviously with certain exceptions) and working in such an environment would make me feel uncomfortable.

Sorry CB, I'm just not quick enough on the replies.

Funnily enough, I never touch cannabis, now I'm faced with having to leave the room/party/club when people I know are having a smoke in case I get sacked for something I actually didn't do.
As much as I love irony, that's just taking it too far.

There obviously is a place for drug testing - hospitals/machinery/police, where people's lives are at risk. Then there is criminalising people for nothing.
It's just silly.

Well there is a solution Erudite, to your dilemma. Polish up your resume and find a better employer to work for. One that does not require drug testing.

It's what I would do.

Good luck.

[quote="Erudite"][quote="Clucking Belle"]I agree. Whilst I don't condone their use, and I'm generally against drugs, I don't think it is right to discriminate on the basis of people who do or don't use drugs (obviously with certain exceptions) and working in such an environment would make me feel uncomfortable.[/quote]

Sorry CB, I'm just not quick enough on the replies.

[/quote]

np

Black Planet wrote:Well there is a solution Erudite, to your dilemma. Polish up your resume and find a better employer to work for. One that does not require drug testing.

It's what I would do.

Good luck.

Possibly, but I don't feel inclined to leave:

a) Because the chance of me testing positve on a blood or urine sample is next to nil. I rarely indulge in anything other than a nice wine these days.

b) It's what the b*stard's want.

"Random Drugs Tests"

So, do they put them in a bag and you just pull one out at random

Paddy.

Padstar wrote:"Random Drugs Tests"

So, do they put them in a bag and you just pull one out at random

Paddy.

I suspect not...
m8

Padstar wrote:"Random Drugs Tests"

So, do they put them in a bag and you just pull one out at random

Paddy.

Pads, dear, you kill me.

My job has driven me to drink, no, this is not a flippant or jokey comment. I am hampered by small minded middle managers on all sides. As a designer who once cared, my creative output is now next to nil.

Brave New World... It'll End In Tears

I too have middle managers who seem to exist for no reason except to be an overhead and interfere with my job.

The revolution will be held in China - it's the only place with a wall long enough!

No hope in dope!

E.

thought cannabis was legal nowerdays

in my case i guess it would just confirm what they already knew.

would they get rid of me, i do a good job. i doubt it?

fair point though,

I do a good job too kep, but in British local government it don't matter. It's more about looking the part and joining in the girl's nights out. If this seems a tad misogynistic, I am sorry but it's the place I work in. Us decent, homeloving, good fathers and husbands type guys are fair game and therefore 'pussywhipped'

Sometimes I wish I was a bast*rd!

Erudite wrote:I too have middle managers who seem to exist for no reason except to be an overhead and interfere with my job.

The revolution will be held in China - it's the only place with a wall long enough!

Can I have some of the people I work with in there being shot as well please Erudite?
My gaffer is allright it's just some of the prats I work with, more in particular carrying the can for skivers.. but that's always the way.
As someone once said how do the guilty ones get away with murder and the innocent get it in the neck everytime?

BTW I think Random Testing sucks.It is an invasion of privacy

Sober? Me?

Aye right!

For what it's worth, & at the risk of coming across as a *right* humourless bastard...

I do my job to the best of my abilities & if I *do* go in disgustingly hungover I invariably wish I hadn't...& if I do, for sake of argument, take the odd recreational substance...& a symptom of impending middle age is that I tend not to because there just ain't enough hours in the day to waste all of Sunday recovering from Saturday night...then I do so on my own terms & my own time, & it's my choice to spend my weekend however I see fit, & indulging in whatever I choose...just so long as I'm bright eyed & bushy tailed come Monday morning.

I'd object very strenuously indeed to any workplace-related drug testing. If I turned up for work in no fit state, then I'd be answerable for that, & quite rightly too. Outside of work, my life's my own.

That said...cannabis doesn't half make teenagers useless when it comes to appreciating the finer points of English Literature. There's a none too libertarian side of me would test the buggers every afternoon registration if it meant I didn't have to tolerate my bottom set Year 11 being cabbaged out of their (already) tiny minds every Thursday afternoon...

Carrie, I think you have turned into your Dad