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During the application process for an hourly sales position at a local fine jewelry store chain, I was told that I would have to take a urinalysis drug test before I would be hired.
I refused and ended the application process right then and there.
I never have used any drugs -- I'm a complete and total square in that respect. However, I refused to pee in a cup for a position like fine jewelry sales, because I believe that a drug test in this instance is an invasion of my privacy.
I had worked for a competing jewelry store for five years prior and was never required to take a urinalysis. Additionally, I worked for two and half years in a bank -- and NEVER was subjected to a urinalysis. I received bonding on these jobs and left these positions under very favorable conditions.
My position is that either everyone in the company takes a urine test -- or no one does. And I'll bet that the CEO of this company and other top management don't subject themselves to a urinalysis. Trust me when I say that management is just as likely to be thieves as are rank-and-file workers.
That being said, my best friend works for a local railroad, and he is subject to random drug testing. I have no problem with him being tested, because people's lives could be at risk if he is uses drugs (which he does not do -- he's as square as me.)
Being that drug tests are pretty common, as far as males, and if I wanted or needed the job I would. I have nothing to hide, like yourself, and it would be painless.
I know where I work now the females DO NOT take drug tests, nor do they at the agency that my co-worker and myself went through. That part is kind of sad, but I'm not going to make a stink about why women don't and I have to. Who knows though, they may do it by judging your looks.
I agree that is should be for everyone, but unfortunately that is not reality.
Considering your reasons, as stated in your post, it seems that you didn't have a strong enough reason to Want to work at this jewelry store.
Employers, including me, are more and more required to jump thru hoops just to be able to afford insurance that covers our business, let alone the cost to provide a comprehensive MM and Health Insurance plan for our employees.
Did you consider that many of the companies you will apply to in the future are facing these same issues and are being required to pay these additional expenses, testing, etc. just to qualify for the insurance plans available to them?
You may want to rethink your attitude in this regard. It's just business. You may not like it or you may, like you indicate, take offense at the idea because it makes you less in your own eyes but please do consider why a potential employee may need to prove to a prospective employer that they are truly drug free.
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I took a pre-employment drug test 20 years ago. I am also subject to Federally mandated drug and alcohol tests. If I test positive for drugs, or .02 for alcohol, I lose my job, license, and the ability to ever work on another airplane. My career would be over. I wouldn't even be allowed to work for another company.
Most companies will tell you that the hardest part about hiring people, is finding someone that can pass the drug test. That's a sad statement on the part of our nation.
I have taken pre-employment drug tests for every job I have ever had. I have also been subject to random testing. Insurance companies give discounts to companies who are drug free. I have never been offended when asked to take a drug test.
I've never had to take a drug test for any job; I'm not sure I'd refuse or not. I agree that it's an invasion of privacy but at the same time, I need my job.
In Florida, workers comp rates are lower if they do pre-employment drug testing. It's become a routine part of the hiring process, just like checking references.
Considering your reasons, as stated in your post, it seems that you didn't have a strong enough reason to Want to work at this jewelry store.
You're right. It wasn't worth it for me to schelp out to wherever the urinalysis was to take place, and try to squeeze out a sufficient quantity of urine for the test. I guess my complaint was that the drug test made me feel like I was 'guilty until proven innocent'.
That I had been successfully bonded on my prior jobs -- at the bank and the competing jewelry store -- should have been sufficient 'proof' that I'm not a thief.
The truth is, retailers are dying for an employee like me: reliable, honest, presentable, personable, articulate. It's this company's loss, not mine.
I do not understand how "proving" you do not use drugs is an "invasion of privacy." They will ask for your SS Number. Now if they spy on you at your home, that would be invasion...
You may know you are drug free, but an employer -- with a whole lot to lose -- does not. There are too many places which do not drug test and you can probably imagine the accidents and theft (druggies will steal from their own families for the fix.) It's really not fair to subject honest workers to such risk anyway. So why not "narrow things down", so to speak, with this testing?
These are the times we live in.
If you have nothing to hide, flaunt it :>)
They have to do it to everyone, not just people who may look like they're high.
If they don't drug test, what if somebody hooked is hired to work alongside you?
Ok...so why isn't EVERYONE subject to drug testing? From the CEO on down? I'd pee in a cup if I knew that EVERYONE working there had to do the same.
As someone who has worked in management, I can attest that some of the biggest potheads and cocaine users I've run across were in managment.
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