[speaker001:] well uh does the company you work for test for drugs
[speaker002:] actually um they just recently started a policy of testing drugs which was kind of interesting because when when I went to work for them um they didn't do that but uh since then they've they've started a drug testing policy not because of their own um convictions but because the clients of our company are requesting 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 it's reasons for immediate dismissal it says use of narcotics on company premises
[speaker002:] uh-huh hum
[speaker001:] so that's pretty general but um I work for an environmental management firm 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:] okay yeah
[speaker001:] now people for our company that do operate machinery like drill rigs and things like that are under a a medical monitoring program because they're
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] 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 we have engineers who uh go out to the oil well 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:] huh
[speaker002:] the thing that's interesting is that I work 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 the all the engineers have to to well a little different actually but um 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 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 um we have a lot of parties and stuff where they serve alcohol and that they didn't find any problem with that you know but
[speaker001:] right we that's been an a an issue uh
[speaker002:] um
[speaker001:] in our company even though we don't have the random or even regular drug screening in fact they'll have these little parties and people will just get I mean I've my brother lives near where I work and I have many a time called him to come get me you know and um uh but you you know they don't think twice about serving beer by the keg you know but um I think drug testing and I I don't know
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] I guess I can 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 I think that's an interesting policy your company has about testing immediately after an on the job accident
[speaker002:] yeah yeah it's really it's really bizarre uh particularly like where we are you know 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 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 condition of employment in some sense and you know it's like you're I mean employments are contractual by nature anyway
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] but um I had an experience when I was interviewing for a job that where I had to um 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 um 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 in to 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 um actually because 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 they made me sit and wait for forty five minutes drink a whole ton of water before I went to any of the interviews
[speaker001:] oh right
[speaker002:] 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