Should You Hire a Stoner to Work at Your Company?
I recently read a short bit in the NY Post where someone asked “Greg” the author of the article a question. The question goes as follows;
“I recently interviewed a great bartender for a job, who came highly recommended. I would like to hire him but he smelled faintly of marijuana. Can I let him know that I would like to hire him, but if he comes to work smelling like pot I am going to fire him?”
Greg, who starts off with a bad cannabis pun – then continued to advise the person in question to essentially not hire the bartender due to the fact that he smelled like weed. He said, “Hire someone who has the good sense to show up professionally.”
He then issued a challenge to all those who are opposed to his assessment of the situation to “flood his email”, but I don’t flood his email because I think it’s far more important to have a public discussion of his position. There’s no way getting around this one Greg – you got Reginald here and he’s about to put some things into perspective for you.
Smoking cannabis doesn’t make you any less professional
The fact that someone “smelled like cannabis” could mean many different things. He could have some cannabis on his person – this could be because he needs this for medical reasons. Let’s say that he doesn’t need it for medical reasons – perhaps he [and I’m referring to the bartender here] uses it to unwind after a long shift, or perhaps he was nervous because Covid really fucked over his income and now he’s on the edge.
Irrespective of the reasoning, the mere presence of weed does not indicate that one is unprofessional. This idea of “unprofessionalism” comes from the prohibitionist era where they equated drug use with being “slothful”.
This was a smear campaign used by the government to justify an atrocious policy that directly infringed on your human rights. It seems that Greg – guzzled down the Kool-Aid and proceeded to hand it out to other cult members.
These days, cannabis is considered “something people do” and to equate it with unprofessionalism is not founded in any science whatsoever and is merely statist dogma.
Cannabis Smokers Tend to Take Fewer Sick Days
The idea that “smoking weed makes you unproductive” is a state sponsored lie. There is no evidence to suggest that people that smoke cannabis work any less than people who abstain. In fact, recent studies found that people who use medical cannabis to treat their conditions actually take fewer sick days. This means that they cost businesses less money to employ because – they are more productive.
Illness-related absence dropped between 8-15% where medical cannabis was legal. And so, when a person comes to work for you and has a faint smell of cannabis, and they seem to have everything else in order – it may be a better investment because odds are – they’ll come to work when their non-smoking counterparts take a sick day.
But my customers don’t like the smell of weed
This may be true for some businesses and there, you have complete right to tell the employee to not smell like weed. “You’re going to be on a cash register or selling on the floor”, these are viable places where “the smell of weed” could be detrimental to your bottom-line.
But in the case of a bartender – we’re talking about people who are drinking a drug to get shitfaced and forget their troubles a while. The smell of weed will have little to no impact on a bar’s bottom line. In fact, it may even be considered “better” considering the niche.
However, if your employee is going to sit behind a computer and never physically talk to a customer – the smell of weed is not an issue. If it bothers other workers around the employee, then you can address the issue – but until then, “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it!”
Overcoming Stereotypes
Greg, who has his column in the NY Posts seems to be a type of person who makes snap automated-judgements on topics like cannabis. I’m sure he’s also got his mind made up about euthanasia or prostitution – following the rhetoric of Good ol’ Uncle Sam.
If you don’t want to hire someone because they smell like weed, it’s your right to do so. However, if you don’t have a problem with the slight smell of weed, or even that someone else smokes weed during their own time – then it should have no influence on your hiring processes.
If a person does the job correctly and adds value to your business – what they do in their own time should be entirely their business. This idea that governments and businesses have the right to pry into the private lives of citizens is scary to be honest.
Perhaps we should apply the same level of scrutiny to people who suffer with weight issues. You know, they have a higher possibility of not showing up to work, they have a higher possibility of getting sick, they have lower capacity of production based purely on physical exertion. Oh – but talking about not hiring someone because they are obese offends you?
Well go fuck yourself because not hiring someone because they smell like pot is the exact same thing…Greg!
SOMEONE SMELLS LIKE WEED, READ MORE..
