Big companies=stupid rules

[adamwarner]

I work for a certain company that has banned all tobacco products from the property. Also at the same time, they do not allow you to leave on break. These are two good rules on thier own, but together, your just asking employees to disobey you.

There is no designated smoking area, no nothing. I've met alot of people who have deals with thier shift manager and they are allowed to walk out past the property line and smoke. My manager is not as nice.

I still see people doing it on my shift, and i do it aswell. But it seems everytime another employee feels like complaining about something petty to get thier nose brown, smoking is what comes up, and i've almost lost my job over it.

Anyone else have stupid rules like this at thier job?

No one is getting hurt or harassed, my breaks are still the same amount, the company is loosing nothing from letting me smoke.

[chriswells78]

What company is it, please PM me if you don't want to mention it in public. I refuse to purchase products from a company that does this to thier employees.

A couple years ago, The Scotts company here in Ohio did the same thing, gave thier employees 2 years to quit completely. I have not purchased another Scotts product since.

[Inlet]

I work at a place similar to that...except it is not totally tobacco free. If you are a dipper, you can do that while working, and that is acceptable. Smoking isn't allowed, though. Smokers are required to go sit in their cars during breaks if they wish to do so.

[Burns]

Not to be the one to go against the crowd or anything but have you ever thought about following the rules for once. I mean come on...... If your habbit is that bad that you are risking your job then you need to put things into order.


I agree the rules are a bit strict. I like the no smoking rule and I 100% dissagree about the other but i dont own that company. So if i worked for them i would deal with it

[Rick]

Big business can do no wrong. They keep our country alive, so we have to do what they say without question.

If your boss asks you to work 48 hours straight on the production line, because they otherwise wouldn't meet their quarterly profit projections, do it. What's good for the company is good for America.

If your boss wants you to bring your children (15 and under) to work with you to help out for pennies an hour - or a day, do it. The boss knows best.

Any worker who stands up for "their rights" shall be deemed a Marxist, Anarchist, Socialist, or Communist.


The words in the attached photo translate to "Work Shall Set you Free" . The slogan was used at the entrance to German concentration camps...

[chriswells78]

... and all the white people in the country should give all of their money to every black citizen in this country because they were held as slaves. Then every non Native American person in the country should give all of their money to what is left of the Native Americans because we killed off thier ancestors...

History teaches society lessons, those lessons are written into laws and stay on the books until we need to learn the lesson again. Thanks to what you mention Rick, we have child labor laws, a federal minimum wage, OHSA Laws, etc.

I am in a union, and 95% of the greiviences I've seen filed in the last 4 years were by lazy ass people trying to get over for not doing their work. And in 100% of those cases, they won. There was even a moron here that was caught smoking pot on the roof of our building. This was a mail clerk with no business being on the roof of a 7 story building. He was fired on the spot by his supervisor. He filed a grievance with the union because he was not offered "counseling" before he was fired. He was given his job back and received full back pay for the 8 week vacation he got for smoking pot on the job in a restricted area. It's bullshit if you ask me.

[Rick]

So fix what's wrong and move on... Just because problems have grown into the system doesn't mean the system should disappear. I have mentioned complacency and apathy in other threads. It fits in here as well.

[adamwarner]

Originally Posted by Burns

Not to be the one to go against the crowd or anything but have you ever thought about following the rules for once. I mean come on...... If your habbit is that bad that you are risking your job then you need to put things into order.


I agree the rules are a bit strict. I like the no smoking rule and I 100% dissagree about the other but i dont own that company. So if i worked for them i would deal with it

Its human nature to go agaist the rules. If your not hurting anyone else by doing it, why shouldn't it be allowed?

Stupid Rules get made, Rules get broken, Crap goes down, Rules change= Democracy?

I personally don't like people smoking in public, i smoke, and i still think its gross. I support NY states laws not allowing people to smoke inside etc. but i think some laws should be put in place defending smokers. Like requiring a dedicated "Smoking Area".

[Rick]

Better make that a dedicated smoking area that's not next to the company dumpster. It looks really bad on a business to have their white shirt and tie employees out by the dumpster having a smoke... Real classy

[chriswells78]

Originally Posted by adamwarner

I personally don't like people smoking in public, i smoke, and i still think its gross. I support NY states laws not allowing people to smoke inside etc. but i think some laws should be put in place defending smokers. Like requiring a dedicated "Smoking Area".

Until smokers are all one color of skin or all one sexual orientation other than the the norm, we will not be protected

[Sojourner]

There are many companies that can't have the contamination of tobacco products mixed in with their own products for health reasons or for technical reasons. I worked for a company that made disc drives years ago and you could not smoke anywhere on the property because of the ventilation systems possibly picking up the contamination from smoke. However, they DID allow their employees to take smoke breaks as long as the did so at least 25 feet from the building. This was not an issue for those who smoked. I also noticed that many other companies (especially those in the healthcare industry) have taken to this type of policy. As far as not being allowed to leave while you are on break, if you are talking driving off to another place, I can understand that. If they allow you to leave the building, the sidewalk is a great place for a smoke break.

[Rick]

Arizona state law prohibits teachers, or anyone else from keeping tobacco products, lighters, or matches, in their vehicle while on campus. No tobacco, or "tobacco related products" allowed anywhere on campus. Thank you Arizona Republican legislature...

It's pretty sad when teachers have to park off campus and have a smoke across the street... That's what we used to have to do as students who wanted to smoke during the school day. I guess get backs are a bitch?? Or maybe just more ridiculous laws?

[Sojourner]

I believe we have the same laws here except for the having it in your car or on your person part. There's no smoking on campuses here, not even the colleges or universities.

[adamwarner]

The thing with where i work is that a while back i guess smoking was allowed, people complained and it became 25 ft. from the door, more people complained, it got pushed back, etc. Until smoking was banned from the property. This all happend before i was employeed and not being able to leave the property was always a rule. So now the smoking rule devoloped into a no tobbaco on property and we cant leave the property and nothings been done to give smokers anyware to smoke. I personally know people, older, heavy smokers, that take a lunch break and drive to the nearest parking lot of property and chain smoke for a half hour.

All because stuck up people needed something to complain about

[chriswells78]

The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

[Mountain Man]

Where I work there is a deck on the back of our building for smokers to use. My main beef is you could set your watch by these people going out for a smoke.

They don't use thier breaks they just go grab a smoke when the urge hits while non-smokers like me are busting our asses and working while the smokers are basically fucking off.

So yes I favor the complete tobaco ban adamwarner has where he works. It's called a "JOB" for a reason.

[Rick]

When I worked with smokers, I would take my own "smoke breaks" and just take the time off. Seemed fair to me

[adamwarner]

Originally Posted by Mountain Man

Where I work there is a deck on the back of our building for smokers to use. My main beef is you could set your watch by these people going out for a smoke.

They don't use thier breaks they just go grab a smoke when the urge hits while non-smokers like me are busting our asses and working while the smokers are basically fucking off.

So yes I favor the complete tobaco ban adamwarner has where he works. It's called a "JOB" for a reason.

Were given 15 minute breaks and it takes me about 10 to walk out to smoke and back, the other people i work with all go on break at the same time and eat in the break room, we get two a day, they always are gone a half hour for both of them.

[Sojourner]

I am an ex-smoker and never took more/longer breaks at work then what I was allowed to take. I knew only a couple of people who actually would make their own breaks but they were few and far between. If we worked overtime, the bosses were pretty liberal about breaks, especially on Saturdays and Sundays but there were only a couple of people who actually took advantage of the situation. Only those who are really heavy, chain-smoking types need to make their own breaks for a cigarette. I could never see it. We had one guy that came to work every morning smelling like an ashtray. After I quit smoking, I had to keep my distance from him because the smell really made me ill.

[chriswells78]

I take smoke breaks when I feel like because I am actually entitled to a 45 minute lunch and I generally eat my lunch at my desk and work. As for those non smoker who complain about us smokers at my work. These are the same people I hear in cube around me blabbing with their family and friends on the phone, forwarding stupid emails, talking to other co-workers in their cubes, taking bathroom breaks (especially the older women, I understand health issues but come on, 10 times a day?)

So therefore, I crank all my work out and then some. In return, my boss gives me no crap about being on a forum here and there and smoking as I please.