hi how you doing
good
do you do you have uh drug testing where you are
yes yes we do right here at the at the very building they have uh a nurse's office
uh-huh
and uh i haven't
my name hasn't come up yet how about you
uh yeah i have uh what i've found out out of curiosity was my name has uh has come up twice and we've only been involved with the program say about a year
right
and uh when i when i first heard about it i was very uh very defensive i didn't think it was something that that the companies ought to be doing
right
because i felt that i was losing something or taking something away from me
yes that's the the major issue i guess that uh
yeah but now um now that it's happening i
i feel comfortable with it i i don't feel as though i've lost anything and that i feel uh secure in that i know that everybody that works
around me um
is is drug free
i have a a similar opinion at first i
wasn't sure
but
then
i thought it was a good thing for the company as as well
how about how about where you
uh uh we had a couple of people in our group who wrote one who wrote a huge letter to the editors
um-hum
saying that it's a violation of my rights and this and that and the tests aren't accurate and
but i think they've got that testing down to a real science where you know they don't really you know
i'm i'm sure you saw the video on how they do the testing and it it's almost impossible i think to uh
to make a mistake
well i was involved in uh in the in the initial training program because i had to go out and teach or explain to other people
what we were doing why we were doing it so i i guess i had a little uh uh first hand knowledge of
right
of uh seeing the films i had more of extensive training in in uh background information of the reasons why they were doing it the cost that uh
right
uh that we projected that it that it actually cost companies by having people uh uh be involved with drugs
who were uh
right and that and that's a lot of money
oh yeah
and
how do you feel about other other uh things like public uh safety buses bus drivers and and uh airplane drivers or or
pilots rather
you
oh oh taking drug testing
yeah
oh sure i think that's that's
i feel that you know for certain cases that i that i am willing to give up my rights
to secure the rights of others i guess is what i'm saying
yeah
uh when the public whole is at stake
well i
then i'm willing to give you know personally i can't speak for others but for myself i'm willing to say okay you know
if i see this is a right to if to privacy i'm willing to give up that right
because i can see that it's uh
public good is at stake and the company good is at stake and
you know if they can get this thing under control you know it it's going to save us all money
as far as benefits and everything else you know insurance and and and everything else in this country
um
yeah the the uh i've always felt that public people who are involved with the safety of other people should be drug tested i've i have never said that i didn't want that the problem that i had was
right
whether my coworker is on drugs or not has does not have an influence on my safe well-being
right you don't work in an area where there's chemicals or machinery or or things like that but
no so i had uh
right
and um they don't have any of that up here but you know um
i guess it's just the productivity
and the the number of uh uh sick days i guess
and that they uh
that they accrue
well i'm sure that's still going to happen
right well well i i think they would you know someone on drugs probably misses more work
i guess that's why this smoking thing came out too
um you know i've gone to those classes uh unfortunately for me i'm i'm a smoker and um i i saw the statistics that came out on
uh smokers typically have more time out of work they're uh uh more prone to accidents and all of those other things and and uh
when they're drive and that's why why i guess the car insurance has no nonsmoker rates or whatever as well
for for automobile insurance i had no idea
yeah
that they were doing that i know that they originally talking about uh health
oh yeah
they
nonsmoker
at least down here in Texas they have nonsmoker
nonsmoker they call them discounts
uh-huh
they give you if you're a nonsmoker i i guess there is some kind of studies that show
but if you're smoking
you're not you're not as you know when you're lighting up or something you know your hands both hands aren't on the wheel or whatever
you're not as attentive
um
uh that's uh that's different i've never heard of that how about the um
the the smoking premium
out in Texas i understand they they started doing that
that yeah i guess that takes effect in uh
June July
when June July yeah
yeah that they from what i understand that uh notices went out to all of the sites
right there was a lot of uh controversy about that too i'm not a i'm not a smoker myself
yeah
well that's that's the problem that's you don't uh how about do you eat do you like French fries
i do
what would you what would you ever say if they said anybody who eats French fries has to pay a ten percent premium on their life insurance
yeah i'd probably get upset
uh then you would get upset it's it's uh what they're doing is they're nibbling at the population piece by piece
yeah yeah
right right
and uh and now they know that the number or percentage of smokers is is less than the the uh the people who do not smoke then they can go ahead and do that um
right
right
right if they i i i assume if they they
i guess they're saying with the cigarettes though that they've been able to show that it's the number one
leading cause of preventable
preventable
preventable death not yeah but
death in this country was a half a million people a year or so dying with smoke relating smoking related
yeah but isn't isn't the uh the insurance also for for uh Blue Cross
so they're not only saying preventable not preventable death they're also saying um
that you'll have uh less likelihood of being sick if you don't smoke
right right right right well that's all what i always felt if it if those studies were true about smokers having higher medical costs
uh-huh
and we do have one smoker in our area who and he
he seems to miss a lot of work
but um
is he an older person
um forty
well that
eight maybe
that's not too old
yeah forty five forty eight
yeah and he and he does miss a lot of work
yeah but then there's people you talk to and say i've never been sick a day in my life you know so i guess i guess you know the the studies show as an average
yeah
not specific cases and uh
yeah
i thought well with you know if that's really true then
then i guess i agreed with the extra premium
if it could i mean if they can come along and prove that French fries
were the same deal then they have a right to charge for that too i guess
well
what what do you mean if they can prove it there there's already
yeah that that it's a major cause of uh early
hardening of the arteries it's it's uh sure it is high cholesterol
right
well it depends if they're cooked in
see see one of the things that will determine whether they're able to do that or not is not their ability to prove that it is unhealthy because we all know that French fries are not healthy for you it's the capability it's the capability of detecting it
yeah
right
right
how do you prove someone has eaten French fries
right it it's the it's the honor system isn't it
it's the honor system i know it'll be an interesting experiment to see how
um but i think in time come you're going to see that happening you're going to see um where the high risk people pay a premium but they have to find a way to prove it
yeah
right
right well well i think the same way with alcohol too
personally it you know that that would probably be the next
yeah yeah
the next thing
uh
i mean
but you know there's there's the difference because uh they say you know
i guess they say tobacco is addictive i guess they say alcohol is addictive as well
but yeah there are more drinkers than smokers if you think about it
oh yeah that's
there is oh there is
and and drinking is still socially acceptable where smoking is socially unacceptable today and so that there's a big difference so that so that they really can't make a a change in in policy about drinking until
right
right
right
well it's part of the business world too when you make
deals you know a lot times it's uh
yeah yeah right right yeah
three martini lunch or whatever they say
so i guess you can you can classify alcohol as a drug so is a cigarette in my opinion um where it's not something i don't think people that are that are smoking are doing it voluntarily i think they're doing it involuntarily
right
i know i am um i don't know anybody in their right mind that says that that i'm doing it because i want to i
yeah
yeah
makes me feel better
well i i i do i do make that statement i say i do it because i like it but i can't say i'm i'm i'm doing it because i want to i'm doing it because i have to or because my desire is greater than uh
right
nicotine addiction yeah
yeah i have uh my in-laws are both smokers and uh they've tried to quit
numerous times and
uh-huh
and i think the longest they've made it is about three months and then they go to a a friend's house or something and there they're all smoking and
and they break yeah they just can't stand it you know all of a sudden they get it's overwhelming and then they break down and then they say i'm a failure and then they just give up you know
start up again
i uh i started when i was younger and uh
it was prior to the time that the the risks were uh were known
were known yeah
so
well i think we've probably talked long enough
okay nice talking to you
well i can tell you're from you've got that New England accent
and you've got that Southern accent
does that mean you're you're you're in uh uh New Hampshire what
i'm in the Attleboro
Attleboro Massachusetts plant
Massachusetts
yeah
yeah i have uh
my wife's uh grandparents are from Boston they're
oh no kidding
