do you feel that uh drug testing is necessary at the workplace
um i have mixed feelings about it um i don't particularly care for people who take drugs and uh it's a possibility of having accidents in the workplace but um i also feel like it's an invasion of privacy
yeah i have some basic concerns about it as well uh not just the invasion of privacy but the the chance of uh false positive being being reported
right right
uh i have been drug tested in the past and it's not really a pleasant experience at work
um-hum um-hum
and uh it gives you the uh impression the uh impression that the company really doesn't trust the people that work for them
right
and you're pretty much uh assumed to be guilty until proven innocent by the test results
right yeah yeah i have a lot of problems with it um i um i have been tested also several times and uh in fact it has always come up negative i mean but that's no problem with it
yeah
coming up negative but i do take prescription drugs and i'm always been afraid that those were going to come up and show something on any of the tests
yeah well they make uh allowances for that if you report that at the time that you take the test
yeah
but there's always a chance that you forget and have to justify it later
right
or if the prescription say ran out or if you're using something that's uh older than older than the date uh on the package or whatever
um-hum
right right yeah but i agree with you though they uh they're trying to uh you know they're they're saying that you are guilty until proven innocent and uh and i don't really appreciate that at all
yeah
yeah if they do come up with a positive regardless of what uh what it was they detected
uh we're required to go attend a uh a counseling session
um-hum
and uh that gets put in your permanent uh files on your record
right
it's just not not a real good uh thing to have on your uh employment uh records
no no because this can follow you um at other places too
i was reading uh this morning in the newspaper where it was talking about um they have companies or or organizations out now who will go and do background searches on uh employees before they ever hire them
sure
and if you get one of those false negative reportings and and you're fired from your job that's going to carryover into other jobs um no matter um you know if it's truth or not so yeah it can stick with you for a long time
yeah uh according to uh to the way that that our test is set up apparently everyone is supposed to be tested within a five year period
right
and uh they they do it on a random basis i'm not sure how they can guarantee that everybody is going to be tested within five years if it really is random
um-hum um-hum
so i'm not sure exactly what they base that on
well uh cause you work for TI also right yeah because uh i think what they say what they would uh take your name out of the hopper
yeah um-hum sure
so that whatever is left in the hopper you know it's it's um uh that's when you'd be tested and then when you were tested then it'd be taken out of there so that's that's how they said they would uh do it over a five year period
okay
well i'm not sure exactly if that's true though because i know people that have been tested more than one time
um-hum
and many have not been tested yet
um well it's only been what a year two years
uh couple of years yeah
um-hum um-hum yeah it hadn't been i know i was called up right away it didn't no i was called up let's see yeah we started testing in January and i was called up right away in January
okay it took them awhile to find me
oh no well they they did all the all the top level managers
uh-huh
uh at first
uh-huh
and uh everybody else uh gets to take their turn
right right
so they called me in uh just a few months ago
um-hum yeah but yeah you're right that wasn't a very pleasant experience
right
especially i felt like there was a camera watching
oh no i never thought about that i i had some questions for the for the the nurse who was uh conducting the test in the health center though
uh-huh
asked her if she enjoyed her job
what'd she say
she thought it was different you get to meet a lot of people
yeah on a continuing basis too
so i try i try to introduce some levity there
you know that was uh that was a really interesting because it was a great big room the bathroom it was it was a great big room and uh and i remember the the vents you know just right over the top of the toilet
uh-huh
yeah
and and i just just knew i was being photographed you know i just i'm glad i don't have to go through that experience again
yeah
yeah well there are a lot of people who express uh much stronger feelings about it than i have
yeah
and in fact i know some people that uh probably will quit before being tested even though there's nothing to uh to worry about as far as i know from the test results just a matter of principle
right
yeah
yeah
well um i guess growing up in the sixties and uh i don't know that particular era and generation i think about it though whether i have some friends who are occasional uh marijuana smokers and
oh yeah
you know it's just a hangover i guess from uh from that particular generation
and uh but yeah they're they're just adamant that they're not going to be you know tested and they're going to fight it and um you know try and um see what they can do that it's an invasion of privacy
but i don't particularly care to uh you know to uh to get into drugs or anything else so it's not a problem for me but i uh i can kind of understand from the other point of view
yeah well i know some people that i suspect are casual users of uh marijuana as well and i expect that they probably uh mended their ways uh in uh
um-hum
in response to this uh drug testing that they no longer uh even use anything like that on a casual basis
right
yeah yeah
because it is a matter of of losing your job if you get caught say a second time
um-hum
and even the first time uh for these people are uh oh well on their way in on on the technical ladder or management and they're jeopardizing their positions
yeah
oh yeah yeah i i could really see t hat uh so yeah they'll just have to find other means of uh relaxing and
yeah yeah
but the one thing too that that i have a problem with is that well if marijuana and cocaine and the other those so-called uh illegal drugs you know what about alcohol
well some companies have gone that far uh TI has not
um-hum
um-hum
but others have and they're setting themselves up for uh more lawsuits i think than uh
i think so yeah yeah but you know alcohol destroys you know so many families so now
than we are
so that's that's what i thought was interesting that uh there are still drugs out there and then there are those socially acceptable drugs
yeah
right i don't mind so much the fact that they test people but uh not questioning the validity of the results is is a problem because uh
you know
um-hum
uh
i i i fully expect that that any test results that comeback for me would be negative that in in the event that one would be positive there's no recourse other than get yourself a lawyer or go to this counseling session and admit guilt uh they won't accept anything else
um-hum
oh yeah yeah yeah because you'd be strongly into denial it's just like well we know you take it we've got the positive test results and you're going i don't i don't
right
yeah well if if you turn down the counseling they they will fire you
right
that's uh condition of employment
right
right yeah i think there's some flaws in it i i think their main objective is is good you know to make sure they have a drug free workplace but i do think that there are a lot of flaws in there
sure
and i understand that the government will not use that particular drug testing agency that that TI is using
is that right
um yeah because they're not as reliable as the government wants them to be
i thought that's the only one that the government does use so
oh well i heard just the opposite
i'm not sure
so i don't know it could just be rumors that spread around you know when they
okay yeah there aren't just too many places uh that do testing like that where the government uh uh gives well
gives them full reign uh trust the results because they have to prove on a continual basis that uh that they are meeting um their standards for false positives and whatnot
um-hum
yeah
right
um-hum
they claim uh zero false positives ever and i find that very hard to believe
oh
yeah that that to me yeah it'd be very hard to believe too
okay well uh hum
is our five minutes up okay well it was nice talking to you okay bye
i think yeah i'm sure it is i think that about covers what we want to talk about
i enjoyed it okay sure bye
