Smokers seem to be one minority of our society that it is still okay to discriminate against. Actually, discrimination against them appears to be encouraged. Now, some employers are going as far as to put out the unwelcome mat for smokers. That’s right – some of them have instituted policies of not hiring smokers.
Even though I have never smoked a single cigarette in my entire life, and don’t ever plan to, I am completely opposed to this kind of discrimination. As a show of solidarity, I would not consider working for any company that refuses to hire smokers. I think it’s more than a little ironic that, in this day in which every imaginable kind of minority and anomaly has been extended rights against discrimination, smokers have been thrown under the bus.
And the whole idea of employers discriminating against smokers is both hypocritical and inconsistent. They claim they are doing this because they want to have a healthy workforce and therefore want to weed out potential employees who have unhealthy habits. Fair enough. But if this is true, why don’t they also disqualify those who, for example, eat the wrong kinds of food, don’t exercise enough, or don’t see their doctor or dentist regularly? They either want healthy employees or they don’t.
Of course, I don’t want to give them any ideas. Lord help us if they start taking this health kick more seriously. We might all end up in the unemployment line.
Comments