Comments on: Comments on 7277

Post number 7277

CRS — Fri, 27 Apr 2001 06:41:03 -0800

What do you do when your news company decides to let you go? Why you post a revenge site to mock your former employer.

By: CRS

CRS — Fri, 27 Apr 2001 06:53:23 -0800

Oh, the troubles they have over there at CNN. Hiring an actress as a news anchor, then backing out just because she has a few nude pics floating about the net. [Caution: Last link includes pr0n - for those with the ability to overlook the obvious]

By: dogmatic

dogmatic — Fri, 27 Apr 2001 07:40:09 -0800

Shame shame shame. I bet CNN just backed out cause they figured that market was already covered--or not.

By: rodii

rodii — Fri, 27 Apr 2001 07:51:11 -0800

Turner Networks, CNN's parent company, has long held all of its employees to a "morals clause" which, among other limitations, restricted employees from smoking – whether they were at work or not. Wow. Can they do that?

By: Octaviuz

Octaviuz — Fri, 27 Apr 2001 09:14:47 -0800

I hate smoking as much as anyone else (well, I do hate it a little more than Skot does) but I was appalled to read that. Why hasn't anyone sued yet?

By: Skot

Skot — Fri, 27 Apr 2001 09:28:50 -0800

I love smoking. I'd just like it a whole lot more if I didn't know it was going to kill me someday. (Probably. I need to give these bloody things up.) When I was hired at my current job, they made me sign a hilarious document that said I couldn't smoke within two blocks of the building. I couldn't believe it--how could they legislate my behavior once I left the company grounds? But I obeyed. For one day. Then I thought, "Screw it," and sat there right around the corner from the front steps (no, not in the way of people coming and going) and smoked on my breaks. Along with all the other smokers who had claimed it as their area. The repercussions? Six months later, they put a sign up where we all gathered that read "Smoking Area." With an ashtray and a nice little bench that they installed. *Shrug* I guess they got tired of trying to beat back the tide. They also put up a sign that remains contextually one of my favorites. On a column that abuts the smoking area is a plaque that reads "No smoking on the other side of this column." The column is, of course, cylindrical. I shall do my best to obey this sign, and if I ever find myself on the inside of that column, I will try not to light up.

By: baylink

baylink — Fri, 27 Apr 2001 09:37:49 -0800

The bubble-headed bleach-blonde comes on at five. She can tell you 'bout the plane crash, with a gleam in her eye.

By: aaron

aaron — Fri, 27 Apr 2001 10:38:10 -0800

Wow. Can they do that?

Speaking here as an ex-CNNer: Yes, they can. And they do. But not in New York, where it is indeed illegal to force workers to adhere to certain restrictions off the job. So instead, upon hiring you have to sign a document stating that if New York ever repeals that law, you agree to quit smoking.

Then everyone goes to the neat little patio on top of the building (24 stories, woo!) and smokes their butts off.

By: aaron

aaron — Fri, 27 Apr 2001 10:42:11 -0800

By the way, there is a far more readable semi-revenge site out there.

By: webmutant

webmutant — Fri, 27 Apr 2001 10:58:28 -0800

I once worked for a company that does not hire people who smoke. So I started smoking while I was working there, of course, out of some sense of whimsical perversity.

By: jpoulos

jpoulos — Fri, 27 Apr 2001 11:13:37 -0800

webmutant: I'm pretty sure someone could file a discrimination suit (maybe as someone with a "disability"?) for that policy.

By: john

john — Fri, 27 Apr 2001 12:27:11 -0800

You are so dirty baylink. Dogmatic: The naked news market is covered. That comment warranted a rimshot.

By: dhartung

dhartung — Fri, 27 Apr 2001 15:08:57 -0800

Some states actively encourage employers to ban the hiring of smokers, through workplace-smoke protection laws, which only reinforces the effect of higher health-insurance costs. A few states protect workers from being discriminated against because they smoke. There have been one or two lawsuits by alcoholics who were fired for non-performance alleging violation of Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines, and alcholism per se is considered a protected disability, but so far smokers haven't been able to get the same consideration.