You Can't Smoke On Our Campus, Unless You Are In Your Car....

First up, let me say that I'm not a smoker.  I'd also like to point out that I'm all for getting folks off nicotine.  You have a patch on?  I'm going to encourage you, not make fun of you... That's just how I roll....

But here's the deal - companies are starting to get as aggressive as they can on smoking, to the point where they are crafting policies that don't make a lot of sense.  Consider the following policy I received from a friend at a Fortune 500 company:

"It is ABC Corporation's desire to provide a "tobacco-free" work environment for its associates. Therefore, it is ABC's policy to prohibit the use of all forms of tobacco products on the ABC world headquarters campus in Atlanta, GA and on any other ABC owned or leased property ("ABC Property"). This restriction applies to all outside or open areas on owned ABC Property and also to the inside of the facilities/offices on leased ABC Property. The only permissible place to use tobacco products on owned ABC Property is while inside a privately (non-ABC) owned vehicle."

So the concept of the smoking pit has been taken away at this company, if you happen to work for ABC at a facility/real estate they own.  No more designated smoking areas.  Unless we're leasing the building, where we can't mandate something like this.  You can smoke anywhere outside there...

Oh yeah, we really can't tell you what to do (as long as it's legal) in your own car, so if you work in a facility/real estate we own, you can go to your car and smoke.   

The crazy thing?  I guarentee you when drafting this policy the question came up whether an employee smoking in their own car had to do so with the windows rolled up, and also questioned was whether they could run the engine while they sat in their car smoking (heat and air conditioning)...

Alas, the voice of reason (legal) came down on the side of caution - let's make them sit in their cars and not cover the "windows up" or "engine running" provisions at this time.  Maybe the shame of smoking in their cars will rattle them enough to stop.

Here's to the employees of ABC Corporation - smoke 'em if you got 'em, just do it in your car. 

Only in America...