The boss not approving is one thing, the difference between drinking alcohol and having a job is entirely another. I have financial responsibilities and obligations that are much more important than alcohol. That's not being a slave, that's being an adult.
I disagree. Allowing others to exert an unreasonable amount of control over your personal life simply because you can't think of a single other way to get by without bending over and giving them dominion over you is pretty much the opposite of being an adult. Being an adult is taking on responsibilities, but not at the cost of loss of your absolute personal freedom. Having to explain to your boss why you slipped up and ordered that beer at the football game a week before the surprise test when it has nothing to do with your job performance or ability to fulfill your end of the contract is just being a bitch. Entering into a contract which has a stipulation stating you're not to drink (think oil rigs and dry camps), is an entirely different story as there is rhyme and reason to it. Testing a stock broker is just exerting control, and if you've left yourself in a position where you're either not willing or able to fight for your right to make choices as a functioning adult, then you've made some bad choices. Choosing to not drink for financial, health, whatever, reasons is free will. Being forced because you've become dependent upon a single employer and have no other way to possibly make that car payment isn't.
It's been my experience that you're not tested unless you're providing them with a reason or valid suspicion to do so. And it's not a stretch to think that a habitual drug user's job performance will be significantly less productive than someone who does not use drugs, which means it becomes a problem.
And as such, you should be disciplined or punished based on performance, not the reason behind it. If some financial planner can get away with doing blow off the back of hookers every Saturday night and still fulfill his part of the agreement, what is it to his boss how he spends his free time? If he isn't performing, then that's the problem and it should be dealt with the same way regardless of the cause. Your employer doesn't need to know why you're a fuck up, just that you are a fuck up and they can deal with that as they choose.
I think most of what you listed there are valid reasons to discipline someone. Maybe not at first, give them the chance to improve upon their problem. But to put up with it continually as an employer? Hell no.
Same as above, it should be a case of being judged upon performance and whether or not you maintain the output agreed upon. There's no need for tests or intrusions into your private life, no need to estimate how someone's performance might be affected by certain variables because they eat meat, don't drink enough water, or bought a pickup with a high-interest loan. Look at the output, and if it isn't satisfactory, base the actions upon that, not the fact that they're too poor to afford a car, catch the bus, and as a result might get the flu and spread it around the office.
People whine about rights in this country all the time, yet so many are just fucking scumbags who contribute nothing and spend their days draining in any way they can. He said a lot of stuff I would more or less just parrot here... so while I understand the wrongness of certain specifics, I've also spent many years working around pathetic slackers who don't deserve any of the money they're paid. I'm far from the epitome of career-mindset, but I pull my own weight and have a pretty firm work ethic, and it bugs me when other people don't. Obviously that doesn't *directly* relate to some dude who smokes the occasional joint, as he might be a perfectly good worker, and the bridge here is a little thin, but people get away with so much it's hard to blame employers for trying to find ways to ferret out as many douchebags as they can.
Yeah, I agree that you can't blame the employers, but as an employee you certainly shouldn't support it or anything else that diminishes your rights and gives your employer more control. The only reason to do so would be if it directly benefited you, and I have a hard time believing anyone here is really in direct competition for a promotion with the crack head over cubicle 13. People are going to try to take as much as they can from you, it's pretty much the nature of life, but you certainly shouldn't just let them for no reason.
