Let’s say that you’ve gone through all of the steps of applying for a job (application, interview, etc.). Then the boss hands you a cup and tells you to go pee. You know you’re going to fail. What do you do?
a) Take the test and fail, and let them be out the money they pay the lab. Because fuck employers that drug test.
b) Tell the boss, “Thanks, but I’ll save you some money. I won’t pass.”
c) Some other option.
This is mostly hypothetical; I’m self-employed right now but thinking of picking up a couple of shifts at Pizza Hut. The internet yields conflicting information about whether or not they drug test, and I’m curious what I should do if I’m given a cup.* I will fail it.
From my experience, you’re unlikely to find a pizza delivery guy who doesn’t smoke pot.
There’s something called Dr. Green’s Synthetic Urine, which you can sometimes find in the store, and also order online. It is for novelty purposes, so it is not illegal. It also includes the ingredients necessary for a test to register real pee. It can be heated before hand and then stashed in one’s undergarments; presuming it is not a monitored piss, it can be easily used to provide a sample.
Or, yeah, just take a gamble that many pizza delivery people would not be able to get the job if pot was a no-go.
If you can’t stop smoking weed for six weeks in order to get a job, you’re probably not going to be a stellar employee.
If, in the unlikely event I found myself in that situation, I would just ask if I could come back in a month. (Or hire me on probation until I take the test)
I work for that internet giant of retail whose name starts with A; they do the new-hire events in our breakroom where we get to watch – and so the company can remind us how easily we’re replaced. What many do not know is that the drug test is done at the time you apply. Surprise! About 50% or better fail but I have only seen one just basically walk out. And the dude was so clearly stoned that the hiring team just let him go through everything else for giggles. We use the cheek swab unless there is some reason for something more intense; like running over someone with a PIT. What I am told (I have no vested interested in the subject) is that they are not that terribly sensitive; unless you were smoking pot that morning you probably won’t trip it. And still the high failure rate.
I don’t think I’ve ever had a job I didn’t have to pee in a cup to get. It’s just part of the process in the Gov’t Contracting world. I’m also subject to random testing.
If you are so dedicated to your drug use that you can’t stop long enough to get/keep a job,maybe you should evaluate how else it is affecting your life. It’s one thing if you have chronic pain or some other issue - in which case I’d say explain it to the employer, and talk through how you can assure that you’ll be sober on the job.
Kitchen are dangerous places. And the person who suffers for your inattention might not be you. As employers, they are responsible to keep everybody safe. Not to mention that their liability insurance costs would go through the roof if they didn’t ensure that their employees were sober.
I’ve only ever had one prospective employer ask for this, and I did it, and I thought it was the most humiliating thing I’d ever gone through. So when they called and said, “You can start Monday,” I told them I had changed my mind and would never work for someone who made me go through that.
Now I was in the enviable position of not really really needing that job. I needed a job, but not that job, and I figured something better would come along. And something better did come along. Something much better. So fuck them.
I have no idea if it changed their policy but it doesn’t matter, and now I have a policy. And for the record, I would always have passed in those days. Now that certain things are legal in Colorado maybe, maybe not. But at any rate I’m not taking their drug test.
Really, it’s not something I’ve ever come across here. Generally it’s not a common practice in Britain,
*Despite claims from drugs-testing companies, there is no real evidence that drug-testing is becoming common-place in British workplaces. It is mainly used, often with union agreement, in safety critical areas such as transport and energy generation or after an incident. There is also increased usage in the construction industry. However generally where wide-scale drug testing has been considered it has been rejected either because of cost, union objections, or doubts over the effectiveness.
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*There is nevertheless a very aggressive marketing campaign by a number of US-based drugs-testing companies and many union representatives are going to find themselves confronted with proposals for drug testing in the workplace. This briefing seeks to help union representatives to respond to any such proposals.
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An employer must have good reason to request a test.
Ms Cooper explained: “Drug testing at work often creates a conflict between an employee’s right to privacy against the employer’s need to ensure that s/he is capable of doing the job they are paid to do, safely. Drug testing is an intrusive process – some tests highlight traces of recreational and medical drugs taken in the last 30 days.”
Employee needs to give consent
If an employer wants to go ahead and have an employee tested for drugs they will have needed to have asked for consent.
“Regardless of any policy, employees cannot be forced to undergo testing. Their consent must be obtained every time. Employees may have agreed to testing under their employment contracts,” said Mr Phillips.**
Why can’t anyone understand that people that smoke weed do it multiple times a day everyday. Quit for six weeks? Are you kidding me? That’s only happening to me right now because I can’t find any to get. That’s why I want to move to a state where it’s legal.
He needs to move to Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Washington DC, Maine or any other state I’m not mentioning where it’s legal. In California it’s legal in January. Then there are 26 states or so where medical is legal which is pretty much the same thing as recreational, all you have to do is go to a doctor and say that you have back pain and you can get a prescription written.
