Posted on 05/20/2008 4:50:32 AM PDT by TornadoAlley3
Sarasota, Florida —- Sarasota County Government has its no smoking sign up. Unfortunately if you're trying to get hired by them the sign is going to stay up for good. “We're not saying you can't smoke cigarettes, we're not going out and telling the public that you cannot smoke cigarettes, we're just saying that if you are a tobacco user, you are going to be disqualified in the application process of Sarasota County Government” says Steve Marckinko. It's that simple.
So in order to work for the man, you have to give up the Marlboro Man or any other pack of smokes. The move is legal but it's not being accepted well by the smokers in Sarasota County that Tampa Bay's 10 spoke to, “This is a wrong” says Francisco Paez while puffing away at an outdoor café. A few tables away, Staci Hall shared similar sentiments, “It's something that we are given a right to make that choice ourselves.” Some were discouraged, but not all. Alan Rains looked at the reality of the situation, “There is another place I can't get a job.” He then lit up.
The entire ban on potential future employees who smoke has been embraced well according to county officials. “It's been well receive, I think most people understand the detrimental effects that cigarette smoking that tobacco use has on health” says Marckinko. County officials admit that insurance rates probably won't go down, but the no-smoking ban will help keep them at their current rates for a longer period. They also believe that it will make the workplace healthier in the years to come. However during a tour of the county building, we did notice that the cafeteria snack machine did sell Texas cinnamon rolls and fried pork skins. For many they are healthier than cigarettes, but not by much.
To hear just how arrogant and myopic a government functionary can be, simply listen to one in Florida.
How would they know if you smoke? If you smoked at home, there doesn’t seem to be a way they would know unless they spied on you. I can see not allowing smoking inside the buildings, but not hiring someone just because they smoke on their own time is wrong. It’s the government trying to control how you run your life.
Marckinko. Nice Southern name. I wonder if he moved from say....Connecticut or Jersey?
I recall that, years ago, a (now suppressed) report from DHEW detailed the increased risk of an incredible range of diseases to which homosexual males were susceptible due to their “lifestyle.”
I can only imagine the screams of outrage if the same logic that is currently being applied against smokers (i.e., increased healthcare costs) was applied to the homosexual cohort.
And what if you don’t need their insurance?
They are doing a similar thing at my work. They know because they blood test you. They actually drew blood in the office. As office manager I told them in no uncertain terms that I was NOT going to clean or arrange the cleaning of anything if they dropped something.
This is satire, right?
It’s going to be a sad future for my grand kids children - a bunch of skinny people on bikes who eat flavored cardboard and whose only joy is that they can bugger anyone or anything they choose.
Upside is that they will have developed advanced ESP since it’ll be so hard to speak to each other with the CO2 collectors strapped to their faces(and butts)all day.
Fascists...
No kidding- that would be good watching.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-pipe-no-smoking-convention_0may03,0,5145620.story Here’s where it get’s totally ridiculous.
If it is so "well received" why am I reading a news article about this? If it is in the newspaper obviously there are differing opinions about how to "receive" it.
Due to higher insurance costs and the drain on productivity, many employers are now choosing not to hire tobacco users. Sarasota County has decided to adopt this tobacco-free policy to promote a healthier work force and responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars, the press release stated.
Simple. Urine test for nicotine.
Self righteous AND ignorant. Likely their next major decision will be the type and proper spacing of the vegetation around the county municipal building.
A couple of years ago the government instituted a smoke-free zone on all their facilities as well, including the State hospitals which house the psych patients. Schizophrenics are notorious smokers because it "stops the voices" for up to 8 minutes with each cigarette. (this has been proven to be true)
One of the Dr's at the hospital where I did my nursing rotation said, "I liked these patients better when they could smoke. Now they are mostly unmanageable."
Soooo.... for the sake of being PC, the gov't is willing to let a perfectly legitimate substance be banned from a population which benefits from it the most. I guess we can keep doping them more......It's less offensive, right?
>>“Barack Hussein Obama, May 2008: “We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times . . . and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK”<<
IT'S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE WITH BARRY.
Your freedom going, going gone.
http://transsylvaniaphoenix.blogspot.com/2008/05/british-called-they-want-their-guns.html
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Plaintiff, in order to comply with defendent's Non-Smoking Policy, relied on Nicorette™ chewing gum and nicotine patches, was unjustly terminated and subjected to peer ridicule and contempt, and the infliction of emotional distress.
Okay.
But did I post something on this thread (or anywhere on Free Republic for that matter) which indicated to you that I was going to stay home on election day and pout?
I don’t think I did.
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