# Ban meat from office? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 7, 2014, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-meat-from-office/692535 "2014-07-07T12:47:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-meat-from-office/692535/21 "2014-07-09T01:33:09Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > It was a bit too outrageous to be believed but incidents like this are not without precedent. Henry Ford supposedly used to closely monitor his workers both on and off the job to make sure they weren’t doing things like drinking alcohol or even listening to jazz. If one of Ford’s company spies saw you take a sip of beer or listen to a Louie Armstrong record, you were immediately canned. I knew about the monitoring with respect to alcohol, but not jazz consumption. Of course, given that recording and playback technology was still rather primitive at the time, if you were listening to jazz there was a good chance you were hanging out in places where alcohol was being illegally sold. ---
**Author:** ![mpescatori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/848f3c/32.png) [@mpescatori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mpescatori)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-meat-from-office/692535/22 "2014-07-09T15:23:56Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > My company bans tobacco from the premises (not just _using it_, but you can’t even leave your smokes in the car), all of our customer’s premises, and has a rule saying you can’t smell like tobacco while working either. You also can’t be a smoker on your own time, even if you follow all those rules. > > Not a problem for me, and I’m sure it is impossible to enforce, but they certainly have the legal right to make those rules. I don’t see why meat would be any different. There is a fine line between expecting “corporate behavior” out of employees, and infringing their individual rights in their private life. Of course, I can’t be a “good cop” in daytime and “pusher” at night, but… …If my employer has a tobacco ban onsite, OK… it’s on their site… …If my employer has a tobacco ban which includes privately owned vehicles… on what grounds ? …If my employer has a tobacco ban 24/7 which covers the private life of employees… I see myself winning a lawsuit here and a 50 year holiday in Bali! 😃 Strong as an employer’s motivation may be on enforcing a policy, any policy, it cannot go against the individual’s right to a private life, as long as it doesn’t break the Law (as passed by the Lawmakers and enforced by te Judicial System). A real life example: world renown Ducati motorcycles. If you are a Ducati employee, you are welcome to drive to work in any car of your choice. If you are a Ducati employee, you are welcome to ride a motorcycle to work, but… … if you ride a Ducati, or any bike made by the Ducati Group, you get to park in the “proper” motorcycle lot. … if you ride anything English, German, American or (God forbid!:eek:) Japanese, you will leave the bike parked in another lot, behind the main building, out of sight… But nobody in his right mind would ever think of firing a Ducati employee simply because they bought a Honda! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-meat-from-office/692535/23 "2014-07-09T17:08:53Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > 24/7 tobacco bans are very easy to enforce because nicotine can be detected by the right drug screen. Meat, not so much. Of course they can detect it, we’re all made of meat! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-meat-from-office/692535/24 "2014-07-09T18:09:57Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > My company bans tobacco from the premises (not just _using it_, but you can’t even leave your smokes in the car), all of our customer’s premises, and has a rule saying you can’t smell like tobacco while working either. You also can’t be a smoker on your own time, even if you follow all those rules. > > Not a problem for me, and I’m sure it is impossible to enforce, but they certainly have the legal right to make those rules. I don’t see why meat would be any different. What state is this in? About 30 states have laws that prohibit employers from banning employees from engaging in legal activities off the clock. In the states that don’t employers can be real jerks about this. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-meat-from-office/692535/25 "2014-07-13T05:12:40Z")
Well, if Google can ban [Microsoft Windows…](http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-google-dumping-microsoft-windows-company-wide-blames-windows-for-china-hacking-attack-2010-5) ---
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-meat-from-office/692535/26 "2014-07-13T05:51:08Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > We have had an employee object to other employees “polluting” the refrigerator by storing pork in there. He was told to basically go to hell. He HAD to bring his lunch in because he couldn’t eat in the cafeteria or any nearby restaurants, because they were all similarly polluted. > > The proposed remedy was for him to be allowed a personal mini fridge in his cube. Normally these are forbidden, but an exception was made. I though this was a reasonable accommodation. > > We had the guy over for a party at our house. He wouldn’t eat anything either prepared in our house or served in our dishes. I guess they were all polluted by pork as well. He wouldn’t even eat a cheese pizza that was delivered, because Papa Gino’s kitchen was polluted. He ate chips out of a wooden bowl and nibbled on a fruit tray. The fruit tray was prepared at a caterer who also prepared the ham, turkey, prosciutto, and cheese tray. But I guess you have to draw the line somewhere. I guess a wooden bowl would not have ever been used for storing pork. > > He also took off for a few minutes. He said his prayers in his car. Our whole house was polluted by a dog, apparently. > > I found none of this too strange, having grown up in Pakistan. My wife (who is Chinese) was ready to kick him out of the party. She took the idea of someone thinking our house was unclean very personally. This guy sounds like the old time Hindus(except for the pork bit) you read about in books from the early 19th century but never actually meet. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-meat-from-office/692535/27 "2014-07-13T14:14:06Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Ever hear of random drug tests? They work for nicotine too. Wouldn’t they also catch someone who was trying to quit smoking by using a nicotine patch? ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-meat-from-office/692535/28 "2014-07-13T14:22:11Z")
Our drug tests don’t screen for nicotine, fortunately. They do screen for alcohol though. What are they trying to check? Drinking on the job? We have a fair amount of warning for these drug tests, if you can get sober for a drug test with a day’s notice, I guess you do have problems. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-meat-from-office/692535/29 "2014-07-13T18:25:16Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > Wouldn’t they also catch someone who was trying to quit smoking by using a nicotine patch? Presumably you’d have to get a note from your doctor just like you would if your were taking prescription opioids? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-meat-from-office/692535.md?page=1)