[speaker001:] Well, uh, does the company you work for test for drugs?
[speaker002:] Actually, uh, they just recently started a policy of testing drugs, which was kind of interesting, because w-, when I went to work for them, uh, they didn't do that, but, uh, since then they've, they've started a drug testing policy, not because of their own, uh, convictions, but because the clients of our company are requests that we do that.
[speaker001:] Huh.
[speaker002:] How about you?
[speaker001:] Uh, no, we're not being tested for drugs at all, uh, our policies and procedures manual, uh, the furthest it goes about drugs is in the, kind of the miscellaneous section, or
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] it's reasons for immediate dismissal, it says, use of narcotics on company premises.
[speaker002:] Um.
[speaker001:] So that's pretty general, but, uh, I work for an environmental management firm
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER] Okay.
[speaker001:] and I'm an engineer there, but I do go on a lot of hazardous waste sites, but I don't operate any machinery.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] Now, people for our company that do operate machinery like drill rigs and things like that
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] are under a, a medical monitoring program, because they're at a higher risk of exposure and blood screening is part of that and I, I think that drugs, they do test for drugs in that capacity, but it's not their exclusive, it's just part, it's just something that turns up in the other parameters that they test for.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] But I think it's got a little more relevance since they are around dangerous equipment and things like that and do have to exercise some quick judgment in the field. What is the nature of your company's business?
[speaker002:] Well, it's actually, uh, we do oil well services. So, a lot of our clients are oil companies, big oil companies, and they go out to, [inhaling] we have engineers who, uh, go out to the oil well, [thumping] to the, to the client's oil well, and, and work with a lot of heavy equipment and put tools down the oil well and stuff, so the clients are very concerned that, you know, the engineers who go out there are adhering to their drug policy, because they're on their, their, you know, territory and everything, but
[speaker001:] Um.
[speaker002:] the thing that's interesting is that I w-, I'm an engineer and, a software engineer and I work in the software, uh, house, and everybody there, you know, are all software engineers. They've never, you know, they never go out to the, the oil rigs or anything, and yet, we're getting, we're subjected to this policy, you know, the same one that, uh, th-, all the engineers have to, to, well, a little different, actually, but, uh, you know, we have to go through the same thing, and it's, but it's, uh, it's a little different, I guess than [NOISE], than a lot of drug policies. In our case, it's like, when you hire on, they'll test you, and then if you get injured on the job, if you like trip and fall or something, uh, they give you a drug test right away.
[speaker001:] Oh, really?
[speaker002:] Other than that they don't have random testing or anything like that, but, a lot of people were really upset with the policy at first. Particularly, like [LAUGHTER], uh, we have a lot of parties and stuff where they serve alcohol, and tha-, they didn't find any problem with that, you know, but,
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] Uh,
[speaker001:] We, that's been an, a, an issue, uh, in our company even though we don't have the random or even regular drug screening. In fact, they'll [LAUGHTER] have these little parties, and people will just get, I mean, I've, my brother lives where I work, and I have many a time called him to come get me, you know. And, uh, uh, but, y-, you know, they don't think twice about serving beer by the keg.
[speaker002:] Yeah [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] You know, but, uh, I think drug testing, and I, I don't know, I guess I k-, I think it's got some relevance, but I think its relevance is pretty limited. I mean, I think, you know, in your case, I don't think that you should necessarily be subjected to drug testing.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] I think that's an interesting policy your company has about testing immediately after an on the job accident.
[speaker002:] Yeah, it's really, it's really bizarre. Uh, particularly, like where we are, you know. I, I, there was a story of a woman last year who, who actually did slip on the ice and, and like sprained her ankle and she, she was a personnel secretary and she [LAUGHTER] had to get tested and, I don't know I'm ambivalent about the whole thing. I, you know, I have a lot of mixed feelings about on the one hand, it's like if, you know, they're, they should be able to make it as a continue of employment in some sense and, you know, it's like you're, I mean, employments are contractual by nature anyway
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] but, uh, I had an experience when I was interviewing for a job that, where I had to, uh, uh, do a drug test and, and it's, it was kind of a long story, but it was, it was just an incredibly humiliating experience what I went through, and it amounted to, uh, going in, uh, before any of these interviews, I'm not even working for this company, I'm going in for, like, interviews and they flew me out to Chicago and, and, uh, before I went into any of the interviews, uh, they took me to the doctor to give me a physical. They said it was going to be a physical, you know, and, uh, actually bec-, beforehand they told me they were going to, uh, do drug screening, but I had forgotten about that, and so, basically, I'd already peed off in that morning and, and when I got in there, I didn't, I wasn't, like, able to give a full sample, and so
[speaker001:] Oh.
[speaker002:] they made me sit and wait for forty-five minutes, drink a whole ton of water
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] before [LAUGHTER] I went to any of the interviews and go in there again, and the, and the, the procedure is utterly humiliating. You go in there with the doctor, he makes you take off all your clothes and then he examines you.