One of the many flaws that I have is not being able to keep my mouth shut. At dinner tonight with a couple guys I work with along with my boss and his boss I was asked if I smoked by my boss’ boss. I told him I smoke cigars and I knew what was coming. We started on the whole employee smoking issue. The company turned away a qualified candidate for a position because he smoked (cigs). I guess the productivity of smokers is not as high because of “smoke breaks”. They already have a 75 foot rule for Vegas employees. We also have a rule that does not let field employees smoke in company vehicles. In any case he was talking about the direction the company was moving in regards with smokers. This is when I could not sit by and take it. I got into a debate with him that turning down employment because the person smoked was ridiculous, that if smoke breaks were an issue then the people taking advantage of them should be disciplined. Then he brought up the health insurance. I asked him what if that person got insurance through his wife? He could not really answer that question. Then I let him know the difference between cigs and cigars and that I do not take smoke breaks, I might have a cigar in my room at night. I think he understands and knows this policy will not be in place overnight. I think they are just working for it with new employees. I don’t think I pissed him off but you never know.So bad idea to speak your mind on this issue?
on Sep 25th, 2007 at 9:44 am
As long as you kept it civil and good discussion with a higher up usually isn’t a bad thing. They want people that are not afraid to speak their mind and voice their opinions in a clear way. Granted if you went off the deep end and called him an anti-smoking Nazi you best start job hunting.
on Sep 25th, 2007 at 11:26 pm
Cigar Jack is right on the mark. As long as it was a pleasant exchange, no big deal. It’s just a shame you didn’t offer him a cigar! He might have seen things differently. A lot of people who view cigarette smokers in a bad light have no problem lighting up a cigar from time to time.
My policy in general is to avoid bringing up smoking cigars, unless I encounter another BOTL. Most smoking policies target cigarette smokers anyway. Since I generally don’t smoke during working hours when I’m on site, it’s not very hard to keep it under wraps. I’m not being a coward, it’s just more unnecessary corporate B.S. that I prefer to avoid.
on Sep 26th, 2007 at 7:53 am
That’s about how I feel. I didn’t want to say no I don’t smoke because when we end up having some drinks one night I’m sure I will have cigar in hand (if this has not happened already). I would never go off the deep end with any boss, that is just unprofessional.
Like you I never smoke while on site even when I have a two hour down time waiting on the State to come do testing. I don’t think he ever thought about cigarette versus cigar smoking but I think I planted the seed.
I think he was OK with it, during our meeting he even gave me a service award