"Oh, BTW billsco, before you leave work for the day, I just remembered you've been selected for a random drug test. Just stop on the way home."

The boss hands me a piece of paper that shows I'm the lucky lottery winner. Before I'm done testing at the clinic, he'll be on his 4th highball.

The tester is a female just out of school, who hands me a cup and instructs me to hand her the specimen when done. She stands outside the door to listen for anything unusual.

She at least doesn't follow me in, but Uncle Sam is standing right there next to me. And I resent it very much.

And it's only going to get worse:


http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/liv...th/7712969.htm

 

time to shave my head.

 

Billsco, without being to specific, what line of work are you in? Do you drive for a living, are you a pilot, does your job have safety implications for the general public?? You probably know where I'm going with this.

 

There's a school near me that's started to do mandatory drug testing on kids who drive to school or play a school sport, and random testing throughout the year. Also, at my former high school, they did a drug search of EVERY student. Not the lockers, but the students themselves. Girls purses were dumped out in front of the whole class, and kids were patted down, again in front of the whole class. I got the real story from my g/f, not from the paper that said no students were physically searced (they used drug dogs). I'd like to know how they got a probably cause for every student in the school. Yeah, I'm sure the class nerds have ties to a drug ring. I'm infuriated over the whole thing, and I wasn't even involved. To top it off, the "cop" who dumped my g/f's purse was the school cop, who I'm not exactly on good terms with. Sorry for the rant, but I'm just mad cause no one else seemed to give two &*%*^s about the whole thing.

 

P.S. Where I work, a place that makes pre-cast concrete products, they do a lottery drug test once a month, but I think this is ok, because theres a lot of heavy machinery and stuff to get hurt on. If it were an office job type thing, then I'd have a problem with it.

 

Man...if they did that at my school...I would have to walk out. I dont have anything to hide from them (most of the time), but I think its just wrong to do that. Yes, I can see them searching lockers with the dogs, but not going through your personal property. Our principal wanders the halls between classes with a cop and randomly chooses people to search for cell phones. If found, he keeps them until the beginning of the next school year. ...*******....he aint getting mine...I'll fight him for it

 

You gotta be kidding me. That has to be so illegal. And if he does take yours, tell him he can make the monthly payments on it.

 

If you know that UAs are a condition of continued employment, and you take the job, then you accept it. If you don't want the UAs then go find a job that doesn't require them. Freedom of choice right? Choose to go some where else.

 

You ever wonder if cops have to take drug tests? I can't speak for any other agency, but I can tell about my experiences.
I did it for 4 years, never had the first, the office didn't even have a lottery. The S.O. employeed 55 full time and had around 100 part time/ Special Deputies, again, no tests.

During my time with them, 2 Deputies were fired for stealing narcotics from the jail med cabinet, plus another was fired after being charged with posession (off duty).

And to this day...
Still none:-staun

 

Hi just_brian,

And if I don't like an aspect of this country just leave, right?

Attitudes like that are part of the reason our rights and freedoms continually erode. And we're not going to say a peep about Big Brother equipping himself with new tools to probe and poke into every orifice of our bodies.

A Wal-Mart stockboy has to take a drug test in order to become employed. How does that tend to our safety?

regards

 

The company I worked for would do random test and also test after any on the job accident in an attempt to get out of workmans comp.

I took the test two times- once random and once after slicing my hand open while falling off a ladder.

There was nothing to worry about in my case cause I don't even drink.


But the whole process seems like a joke- co workers were sending in others with their drivers licenses. The testing place must not of cared cause the picture on the drivers license in one case was a black guy and the guy getting tested was white.

 

This is not a flame, nor is it intended to be a flame magnet. Just a point that might be getting overlooked.
Just like an application is a filter, so are drug tests, not to demean drug users or anything like that, but when you look for responsibility in an employee, you generally don't look to a pot smoker or drunk.

In todays business climate, even at Walmart, there are at least 5 others who would work the job with the ability to pass a test at any time.

If the owner or manager or anyone in a higher up position hits the bottle at lunch, He is being unresponsible in HIS job,which unless it affects the employee in an adverse way, is his business. I understand that different businesses have different structures and procedures that may not make a boss take a test. But in the end, take/pass the test and keep your job.

As far as schools go, my boys get a code and conduct book at the begining of the year that outlines what isn't allowed and the measures that will be taken to enforce those rules. They have a security warning posted on the front doors, listing metal detectors, drug dogs, and spot searches, that anybody entering the building is subject to.

The sad reality is that children are selling drugs in the schools at younger and younger ages. I know that in my area last year there was a third grader that was caught. Now, after 9/11/01,
Columbine and other events, safety of the masses takes precident over the rights or percieved rights of the few.

Get used to it, the Patriot Act is here to stay for a long time, and under the auspices of terror prevention, they will go after drugs also/indirectly.

Again, not a flame job, just the view from where I stand.

 

This may sound unfair, but I support drug testing for occupations that affect the safety of others, (pilots, truck drivers, bus drivers, cab drivers, just to name a few.) As far as testing at the middle and high school level, I wish they didn't have to do it. The fact is, drugs are in the schools and the parents aren't able to control the kids, so what other choices are there?

 

Lets see. That stock boy is high, drives a forklift, runs over other employees, or shoppers; uses the same forklift to place some palets of stock up high, not properly stacked, falls over onto someone; drives the same forklift, carrying heavy load, has forks up too high, turns a corner, tips over, maybe even kills himself this time..... I know I used the forklift as an example a lot, but I have seen all of these things happen at places I have worked. Can't say any of these drivers were stoned or drunk, but the possibilities multiply with impaired judgement.

No, it isn't the same as "Love it or Leave It" in regards to living in the U.S. That employer has responsibilities to all the other employees to provide a safe work place. You make the choice to work there, with the same responsibilities to your fellow employees. You must consider the SUE SUE SUE attitude these days as well. The costs to employers is enormous. They ae just covering their 6 O'clocks.

As for schools, I lived in Denver when Columbine went down, and personally know a few of the parents that had kids injured. All of you that are in school, or recently out, look at it this way, it is YOUR peers that have done the deeds that brought this kind of personal invasion on. What can students do, in a positive manner to turn this around? Something to think about. Won't change soon, that is for certain regardless of what is done.

 

I think UAs for law enforcement makes a lot of sense. They carry guns, the sometimes have to drive in an emergency response, they have to make snap life-n-death decisions...heck yeah they should have random UAs.