...
How long does it take nicotine to get out of the bloodstream?
3 days I think...
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(Note: The three dashes --- should clearly indicate a separation in the post as this rather long rant is not directed in any way shape or form at the person I quoted above the dashes. IE, Rant not directed at Norfolk)
RANT
Employment is an agreement between two parties. Each party has Rights. The limits of those Rights END where the Rights of the other party BEGINS. The Agreement that is settled on by the two parties is what establishes a clear definition of what those Rights are, and what the Limits of those Rights are as well.
So here is the problem. Employers are no longer behaving as if they no longer have to enter into an agreement. Many think of it as they have Unlimited Power, and Employees have NONE. We "demand" this. We "demand" that. We are gonna cut your pay. You have no say so. They have say so only as far as the Agreement defines their say so. Giving them Unlimited Power that they also "demand" to have will result in Employers claiming to have valid authority to watch their employees while not performing any functions not related to the job itself. IE: put a camera in their house. The problem isnt the Power Grab by Employers, the problem is that people are so desperate for any sort of jobs that if an Employer claimed they had the Right to give an Employee an Anal Cavity Search before and after leaving a jobsite, people would take those jobs, and unfortunately, because an Agreement was made between the two parties despite the offensiveness of constant Anal Cavity Searches, it would also be legal.
This is what happens when people are made Desperate and Dependant. It opens the door for abuse due to one party having an excess of power over another. Employees are human beings, not Property, but it seems like too many companies, especially the Mega Corporations treat Employees as Dehumanized Property that has no Rights at all. The Bill of Rights is still valid at work. We could all probably go back and forth on this on what the extents of each of those Rights are, but without that Agreement that both parties entered into, those Rights are not as clearly defined for both parties as they need to be, which seems to be the greatest source of debate and disagreement, here on the forums at least.
Reasonable is Vague
One employer may legally and rightfully be able to make a demand that "you may NOT get pregnant" with reasons supporting their demands. The rest of the world might call that discrimination, but if it is part of the Agreement, then unfortunately it is Legal by a Specific Definition, even if it is Unreasonable by an Broad Definition. Pregnancy may apply for an Actress playing a specific role for a specific time for a specific job, but when applied to Crew (those who dont go in front of the camera), that same employer could give two shits less. Most people wont care when there is a valid reason and it was mutually agreed on. Unfortuantely, most people also wont care when the same pregnancy rule is applied without valid reason or mutually agreed on, but Dictated and Demanded. Boobus Men wont care, and others who dont work for that employer also wont care. They wont care until their own employer (if they even have one) makes such a Dictate, and by then, it will be way too late to do anything about it.
There have already been a couple of claims that Employers should be able to fire anyone for any reason they want. You need to be extremely careful with that, as that is
exactly what is coming. But instead of trying to make you pull back, Im gonna push you further down this road that you seem to want to travel. Very soon, Employers will start discriminating against people who refuse to be CHIPPED so much like Cattle. You'll refuse the Govt CHIP, but support and defend Employee CHIPPING. And Chipping is going to advance as well. After the CHIP, you'll want the power to monitor the Employee at any time, any where, even off the job. You'll want to know what they read at home, what TV shows they watch, and know if they are expressing any patterns of going to another employer, or any behavior that even so much as offends the employer. Employers will demand total access to EVERYTHING. You will end up bringing back SLAVERY in the most literal sense of the word. If you had the technological ability to monitor the very thoughts of the people you employ, you would demand to have that unlimited power as well. You will turn whats left of your human employees into soulless corporate robots. And people will be so desperate for work that they would even accept Genital Mutilation as a condition of Emplolyment, again, making it by its specific definition so it can be considered Legal, but the broad definition as Unreasonable. Such a power is obtained by Coersion and Desperation of your applicants. It is exploitative and flat out fucking Tyrannical.
Employees are NOT your Property
Employers do not get to do literally anything they want with any Employee for any reason they want. And Employers want the same as Govt, more Power. Always more power. They need more Power to control more aspects of the Employees behavior until it is the Employees entire life that is completely controlled. Unfortunately, only the most extreme of violations is considered as Unlawful Termination of an Employee. Those things started off with Law trying to put a clear definiton of what is Reasonable. Terminated for Race or Gender is one. Then to Pregnancy. Disability / Injury / Age, etc. There is some further definition but it only mucks up everything else. Your Valid Authority includes the actions the Employee does while on the site of the actions to be performed, and extended by the terms of the agreement in most cases. This means your Authority ENDS when a person is off the job. You do NOT get to dictate to the people what they will watch on TV when they go home, or whether or not they will have sex with their significant other, or whether or not they are "permitted" to use contraceptives that the Employee pays for out of their own pocket. This of course is the Broad Definition of what is Reasonable. And what is considered Reasonable is being replaced by Desparation. Desparation to the point where applicants are willing and stupid enough to enter into an agreement with you (you meaning the Unlimited Power Employer, not any specific forum member) and you can demand damn near anything, including things normally as Unreasonable but Legal. This is Contract Law vs Govt Law, and the two are very very different.
This is NOT a Balance of Power. You give me some money and I'll perform a certain series of tasks. Thats reasonable. Some unusual jobs need a more clearly stated definition of expectations and limits. In the Employment world, what an Employer dictates may as well be Law. And Laws can be just as unbalanced, biased, misapplied and destructive as they are to Govt. Its shameful to think that all these people proclaiming Limit the Power of Govt but do not care of Employers usurp that same Unlimited Authority as a corrput Govt claims to have over you. Companies can be just as destructive as ANY Government, and it is Desperation that fuels your fire, just as Dependancy on Govt only promotes ever bigger and more pervasive Govt. More Welfare, Less Work. Thats Govt in a nutshell. But when applied to a Business, that Power also needs to be in balance. A business cant survive by paying employees to do literally nothing. Thats the business equivilant of Welfare where the people have too much power that it destroys the business. The other side is HUMAN OWNERSHIP, and pretty much what is coming, especially with Chips and Implants. Once you buy a Human Being, you own them and only have to meet their minimum needs of survival to keep them. Since were talking SLAVERY, lets cut the horseshit, you want SLAVES. You want Employees that you do not have to pay but are expected to OBEY every dictate you utter.
Ive been an Employer and I have never treated a single employee with the power so many claim Employers should have. Employees should be treated as what they are, willing participants in an agreement that creates a mutually beneficial relationship. What is being demanded that Employers should have is nothing short of fucking SLAVERY. I refuse to even think that I had the power to fire someone for something they did while not on the clock. If job performance is suffering, that is on the clock, but not mine as to ask why it suffers. All that I cared was that they took enough self responsibility while off the clock to do their jobs on the clock. I didnt give them homework. I didnt give them drug tests. All I asked is they did not do anything that could jeopardize the business. Like smoking a bowl in the main office, duh. Do it on your own time. Come to work smashed or completely stoned, hell no. However, having a beer at lunch, which Ive done with many employees, I could care less. One beer does not mean drunk, one beer means one beer, at lunch. A fair and reasonable limit. The things so many of you claim to have Valid Authority are so far beyond Unreasonable that I dont know how the fuck you have a functional business at all, because it sure as shit is not based on Honesty or Mutual Cooperation, but Exploitation. You are participating in the very same Human Farming as your Govt is doing, but somehow it is okay for you to do it, but not okay for Govt?
And this is an easy fix, at least until refusing a job becomes illegal. I dont enter into that agreement with you because I dont agree with you being able to tell me I can or can not smoke. I will not give you that power. Go make that agreement with someone else, that is within your power. Legal, but absolutely and wildly Unreasonable. I would hate to see any of the REAL Powermongers who make such statements in ANY Govt Office. Im not naming names, but you folks know who you are. You are the very people who end up shooting dogs, old men, and children and claiming to have Valid Authority to do what ever the hell they want and not be held accountable. Many can spot Power Mongers a mile away, but oddly can not spot them when they look in the Mirror.
More Govt is NOT a solution to this. You might think that I want even more Govt to come down and tell you what you (as employers) can and can not do to your employees. What I am asking you to do is to use your damn brains and make sure you limit your own power, lest that same power that corrupted our Govt corrupts you as well. Stop demanding Unlimited Authority, not because someone made you do it, but because you recognize that Unlimited Authority is flat out wrong and just as evil as Nazi Germany. Every advance you want in your Authority over your Employees only furthers your own corruption. Stop fucking doing it. You do not deserve such Unlimited Power regardless of your perspective. It is beyond my power to force you, but push too far and I will push back. However, if you back off, then I will also consider backing off. Funny how that works.
Govt has caused more problems than it has solved. I get two applicants. One is a hispanic illegal immigrant that cant speak english, and the other is a white guy that has the skills I need. I would hire the white guy because of the skills, but Govt will come in and Dictate to me that I must hire the hispanic illegal because of Anti Discrimination laws. That ended up contributing to the reason why my business went under. This is not any different than a Corporation trying to Dictate to you that you can not smoke, or some of the other obscene demands that employers make today. And things are only going to get worse.
As usual, this has NOTHING to do with SMOKING. It has EVERYTHING to do with more and more POWER. This is Corporations now being able to Dictate the Law directly to the people. And Corporate Law can go get fucked. If you allow Unlimited Corporate and Govt Power to the extent demanded, expect to be Chipped, then completely surveilled, and make sure your children have an even worse future than you have right now or in the next decade or century.
Facism is often described as a merger between Corporate and Government. Our current view seems to be that Govt Bad, Business Good. But what if both are completely fucking evil? The solution isnt to let Corporations make Dicates to anyone they do business with, nor is it to surrender even more Self Authority to the Govt who cares absolutely nothing for the individual. Both Corporations and Government have WAY too much power. Sure, there are some good companies out there that actually take care of their human employees, but they are quickly being wrecked by Govt laws intended to do good, and end up causing more harm. The other side is if some business pisses you off bad enough, you dont go back. Same rules dont seem to apply to the Mega Corporations. Dont like AT&T as your cell carrier? Go to Cingular. Oops, they got bought out by, you guessed it, AT&T. Have DirecTV? Also soon to be owned by AT&T. Sound familiar? AT&T is notorious for treating both its employees and its customers like shit because they have a stranglehold on the market. And they could only achieve such financial power through Facism. It is these businesses that I point the scolding finger at, not the mom and pop shops that built the foundations of this country.
Yin and Yang. Light and Dark. Good and Evil. Balance. So many cry for Balance, then turn right back around and want that same power for themselves. We come to Agreements and have Cooperation. We do not need Dicates and Obedience. We put out fires before they burn themselves out of control, we sure as fuck dont start them. We do not take advantage of the unfortuante, or find ways to disparage them even further. We learn from our mistakes and quit repeating the old ones. We stop moving backward and start moving forward. Our goal should not be to become the Top Corporation who has more Slaves than your competitor. Our goal needs to embrace and apply Liberty, and Balance in all aspects of Life in general.
Liberty is just as critical to Employment as it is to any Nation. If you expect to outlaw Liberty, then expect only Slavery in its place. And that is not a world I want to live in.
END RANT
(Complete and Total
Troll Bait: Now, lets see who values Freedom and Cooperation, and who values Corporate Power and Obedience.)
*cracks knuckles ready for a fight*
