What’s the deal with excessive drug addiction in major North American cities?

[JManc]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

Drinking at work has gone way down in my lifetime but people show up high all the time. They show up high and then smoke in their cars on break. Many workplaces have huge turnover because people fail drug tests 4 days after they get hired (they had to pass a drug test to get hired, but then immediately resume and hit a pole with machinery and...away they go).

I'll never forget pulling up to get gas right next door to the Tesla plant in Fremont and a couple of workers were hot boxing it in the car next to me. Probably explains why those cars have such poor QC.

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by JManc

I'll never forget pulling up to get gas right next door to the Tesla plant in Fremont and a couple of workers were hot boxing it in the car next to me. Probably explains why those cars have such poor QC.

Yeah things in the U.S. workplace used to be completely wild. The lawsuits changed everything - it's what forced the creation of HR departments. In the past you used to have felons in many factories and warehouses but those people aren't part of the equation anymore. The lawsuits that started back in the 70s eventually led to today's workplaces, which are much safer than they used to be. Booting the drug/alcohol violators right away is a big part of that.

[mhays]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

Drinking at work has gone way down in my lifetime but people show up high all the time. They show up high and then smoke in their cars on break. Many workplaces have huge turnover because people fail drug tests 4 days after they get hired (they had to pass a drug test to get hired, but then immediately resume and hit a pole with machinery and...away they go).

I don't know where you work, but in the commercial general contractor world it's not like that at all. Not in the corporate office and not on the union jobsites.

The exceptions would be drinking a beer at 4:00 on an occasional afternoon. Sometimes I'd also have a beer at lunch but that was rare. Jobsites are on energy drinks.

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by mhays

I don't know where you work, but in the commercial general contractor world it's not like that at all. Not in the corporate office and not on the union jobsites.

When I was a kid I collected aluminum beer cans off of homes u/c and my grandfather took them to a recycling place. I got like $4 for a garbage bag full of crushed beer cans. There were still some steel cans being sold and the recycling place had a magnet that pulled them out.

The construction guys were drinking a six pack or more each day while framing/roofing (and of course smoking/dipping). They were still hand nailing everything. If nail guns existed they didn't have them.

There weren't any Mexicans doing this work in my area at the time, it was all hillbilly guys who looked like they'd done a few years in the state pen. By the 90s a lot of Mexicans appeared and started playing Spanish-language accordion music instead of Ozzy and Judas Priest.