I have an employee who regularly comes to work smelling like she’s lost a fight with a skunk, Now, I’m pretty naive when it comes to these things, but isn’t that a fairly strong indication of pot smoking? Not sure where I heard that, so this is a serious question.
Just to stop the madness before it begins: we are a Government contractor in an area where even medical marijuana is illegal, and yes, if this is the case then what she’s doing on her own time is indeed my business, and it’s my job to act on it. If you strongly wish this weren’t the case, then please start your own thread to whinge about it.
If I’m right about the smell, then I need to put her on the testing schedule.
Am I right? Or do I just need to counsel her on a hygiene issue? Any medical issues I should know about which might result in this distinctive odor?
You mean she smells like a skunk? I don’t believe there is any connection between the smell of the animal and the smell of the strong weed. It’s just a coincidence that they bear the same name.
If she smells like she’s been in a fight with a skunk then she’s probably been in a fight with a skunk
Smoking pot is not going to make her smell skunky, it is the actual pot that smells like skunk. If she were carrying pot on her person in a loosely sealed container you might smell it that way.
Some strains of pot, particularly indica or indica blends do indeed smell quite skunky, even strongly skunky, and that is where the reference to skunk bud comes from.
Can we also get a cite for the claim that your job is to police your subordinates’ time away from work and ferret out any possible criminal activity? Just saying “Government Contractor!” isn’t exactly persuasive.
It could mean she’s got really good weed in her purse or pocket.
@Bozuit, yes, ‘good’ weed and skunk do smell surprisingly similar. Personally, I don’t mind the smell of skunk when it’s off at a distance (as opposed to say running one over with my car). Skunk also tends to be very over powering, but there are times where it’s hard to tell if you’re smelling skunk or the person in the car in front of you is getting high.
Yes some, but not all, marijuana has a smell very much like that of skunk. (My nose is my cite, but if you care to google it, it’s well known.) The *unburned *pot smells more like skunk than the smoke that clings to clothes and hair. If she smells skunky and it’s related to weed, she’s probably got the weed on her, not in her.
Sulfur based medications (including some antibiotics) and/or a diet high in onions and garlic can cause a decidedly skunky body odor. Many antidepressants can cause increased sweating, which will often indirectly worsen and/or alter body odor.
There’s a rare condition called trimethylaminuria that causes really foul body odor when people with it eat foods with choline. That odor is usually described as “fishy” rather than skunky, but it can vary.
Skunks also smell skunky, and if one lives under your porch, even if it’s not spraying, the odor can permeate your house and belongings.
So I’d say that if her work and behavior is adequate and safe, you don’t have enough information to act. Could it be weed? Yes. But it could be several other things as well.
I guess. I don’t really think it’s fair to preemptively say, “I’m going to ask advice about an ethically gray action and YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO QUESTION ME!” I don’t really care enough to start a new thread. The OP is allowed to ignore me.
This is a discussion board, not an answering service.
Pretend like the question was “if someone smells like skunk does it mean they smoke pot?” and ignore the rest of it.
I don’t think it’s ethically gray at all. There’s plenty of jobs where it’s strictly prohibited for the people they hire to use illegal drugs of any sort, that seems to be the OP’s case.
Pretend like next week a city bus crashed into a bus stop and you found out that one of the workers at the bus depot had mentioned that the driver ‘smelled like skunk and they were debating whether or not to drug test them’, is that ethically gray or would you still suggest that what that bus driver did at home is their business, even if they did come into work reeking of pot/skunk…and that’s another thing, whatever this person is doing at home, they’re bringing into work so it’s plausible, if they are smoking pot, they’re doing it on the way to work or on their break or in the bathroom. If you get high at home, you don’t smell like weed all day. Just like someone that smokes a few cigarettes in the morning only smells for the first hour or two.
If a skunk sprayed her car or house her clothes could be picking up the smell even weeks or months later. I’ve also noticed that sometimes male cat pee smells a bit skunky. And it, too, is a an odor that can linger for months and months. Skunk and cat pee smells can seem to go away and then resurface during humid or rainy weather.
Is there any correlation between what she’s wearing and when she smells skunky? A jacket? A pair of shoes?
Occasionally my dogs will get skunked in the morning. I bathe them (skunk-off shampoo) and I’ll smell spunky for a day. If my employer accused me of anything illicit, I’d talk to an attorney.
But if your contract allowed for your employer to drug test you, they wouldn’t have to accuse you, just tell you that you need to go to the testing facility on Tuesday morning before work for a random drug test.
If you’re in an At Will state (like Wisconsin) you can be fired for smelling like weed, or skunk, or having a dog that smells like skunk, or having a dog or having a kayak or liking kayaks for that matter so getting a lawyer because your employer said "we think you’re smokin’ weed’ is just going to be a waste of your money. If you’re clean, piss in a cup and prove them wrong, if you’re not, your probably better off walking away if smoking weed isn’t allowed based on your contract with the company.
Why not ask her if she hit a skunk with her car? If she says No,then go on with what you must do… You might make sure her name comes up in the next “random test”
Most importantly, if something was suspected at the customer site, all 156 of us could find ourselves out of work. The customer can’t manage my employees, but they can decide that this is the year to re-compete the contract. (We’re in the first of five Option Years.)
Erdosain, I’m sorry, but that’s as much explanation as you’re going to get on this one.
OK, so it sounds like there is a reasonable suspicion or concern, which is the standard I have to follow.
I read that and, because skunks are so universally distributed over here, I wondered, “Wow, what color is the sky on your world…” and then I noticed your location and got my answer: “Cloudy.”
A fresh skunk shot smells like burning rubber plus roofing tar plus rotting fruit - strong rotting fruit, like a bucket of old plums. When not fresh, it’s heavy on the burning rubber smell. We used to live in a place with a fairly large skunk population, including one little SOB who would come up under our porch and fire off a good shot for no identifiable reason. We’d scramble like a fire drill to close all the doors and windows.
Only occasionally get a whiff up here in the northeast, but there was a good road-splatter one a few days ago that made everyone remember our porch friend.
Crap. 