Hospital Receptionist Claims She Was Fired for Smelling Like Cigarette Smoke

KSTP.com ^ | 07/26/2012 | Mark Saxenmeyer

[Daffynition]

A Fridley woman named Stephanie Cannon believes she's the victim of discrimination -- fired because she smelled like cigarette smoke.

Cannon, a smoker for 18 years, says she smokes almost a pack a day of Camel Menthols. But when she landed a job in June as a medical receptionist at Park Nicollet Health Services, in the Frauenshuh Cancer Center, she says she followed the hospital's clearly-stated "no smoking" policy. (There is no smoking allowed at any time on the premises.)

"There were never any performance issues at all," Cannon insists.

[Durus]

I'm a nonsmoker and I don't find the smell unpleasant. 98.3% of people are heterosexual and find the idea of homosexuality repellent but companies that fire people for being homosexual are typically sued within an inch of bankruptcy. The health risks associated with being a practicing homosexual are probably higher than that of a heterosexual smoker...can a company have a no-homosexual policy to decrease their insurance rates? While we are on the topic of unhealthy lifestyles can companies also start firing fat people? How about women? They generally use health insurance more than men. Maybe companies can start DNA screening for genetic markers that indicate a predisposition to certain diseases and not hire those people as well. Companies could stop hiring people with bad eye sight, balding people are obviously out as that is unsightly. They would need to start getting rid of workers past 50 as that is when the insurance bills really start to add up. But then young people are more prone to be engaged in risky activity so they might want to consider only hiring those above the age of 30. Then of course they need to aggressively weed out those who seem unhealthy...sunken eyes, being too skinny...for that matter just being ugly indicates some genetic flaws, so get rid of ugly people too.

When everyone is unemployed in this new utopia...who is going to pay for unemployment and welfare?

[Pure Country]

Dog odors are just as bad. People think that they don’t have smells with their dogs..........whew.........couldn’t be more wrong. I don’t care how they try to clean it up, it’s in their clothes, in the air in their homes...and quite disgusting. It’s amazing what odors we can become accustomed to.

[cartan]

Well said, Sir.

[righttackle44]

I grew up in a home where both my parents smoked. I can tell you without apology that I stand with the hospital and it's no smoking policy. Besides having to put up with the smell of cigarettes while trying to eat breakfast, or having mom and dad light up at the dinner table, I also have lived all my life with lung problems--susceptibility to bronchitis, asthma and similar conditions, could very well be related to my parents' smoking habit, according to virtually ever doctor I've ever had.

By the way, Daffynition, I suspect from your Don't Tread On Me snake insignia, that you side with the smoking receptionist?

[TXnMA]

In high school, I dated one (1) girl who smoked. After we parted ways, even dry cleaning wouldn't get the stench out of my clothes. They had to be treated in an "ozone chamber" that is used to recover smoke-damaged clothes from house fires. But the stink never went completely away...

I vowed, "Never again!" -- and I've stood by it nearly 60 years. Disgusting stuff, cigarette smoke...

[MrEdd]

actually, poorly said.

Batshit crazy stupid, in fact.

This is a cancer center.
They have patients receiving chemo, and radiation treatments.
The patients are subject to nausea.

She would have been just as fired if she kept coming to work with strong perfume.

When you clean these places you have to use odorless neutral cleaners, and wax with no ammonia.

Contrary to your sh!t for brains rants, there is a medical reason for the policy here.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I quit cold turkey in March of 1986.
My employer furnished me a new Chevy Caprice company car and I didn’t want to stink it up.

[autumnraine]

As a smoker who worked for a boss who clearly hired me with the announcement that he hated the smell of ashtray...

Washing your hands after every cig, listerine strips... that will do it.

I worked at a different place after that and got in the habit of it. MOst people there didn’t even know I smoked! The hands are the foulest smelling part of a smoker.

[chainsaw]

Hospital Receptionist Claims She Was Fired for Smelling Like Cigarette Smoke

A quick first glance led me to read it as smelling like [fish].

[chainsaw]

Hospital Receptionist Claims She Was Fired for Smelling Like Cigarette Smoke

A quick first glance led me to read it as smelling like [fish].

[markoman]

My dad smoked three packs of Chesterfields a day.(none of those sissy filtered cigarettes for my dad.)
He had permanent nicotine stains on his fingers.
There were even stains on the arm of his favorite chair.

[Sans-Culotte]

I was a 2-pack a day smoker for about 10 years before quitting. I never knew how bad cigarettes smelled until I quit. However, I have to question this receptionist’s hygeine habits. If she is not smoking during working hours, she should not smell that bad. I have sales reps who call on me that smoke, and I have even ridden in their cars at lunch; but I never smell smoke on them or their vehicles. They use those Febreze things in their cars, and I never smell cigarettes.

[TruthWillWin]

...balding people are obviously out as that is unsightly...

Now you've gone to far (from someone that has N/A on my drivers license for hair color).

[ErnBatavia]

http://www.vapor4life.com/

[Durus]

I’m losing it too, but it doesn’t bother me. :)

[Daffynition]

I’m so sick of the nanny state intrusion into our privacy. What if *they* didn’t like her perfume/deodorant...color of her lipstick...her ear rings...piercings? Where does it end.

I don’t think, in a public setting...that I have *ever* got so close to an employee to *smell* them. Geez.

[Daffynition]

SF moved to ban cig sales in Walgreen pharmacies

It never ends with these people.

[Daffynition]

I object to the intrusion of what you/one does in private...on their own time. What if the employee is a few pounds overweight...or high cholesterol numbers ...wrong BMI...doesn’t turn right on red....has red wine with fish??

Where does this end?

[Durus]

How many people have been disciplined there for wearing strong perfume? How many for smelling of their pets? How many for just smelling bad in general? If it's true that working there required individuals to be "smell neutral" they must have a track record of prior disciplinary actions, and you of course must know of these to be so sure in your assertions. I await your evidence of direct knowledge.

Further, again you might have some source of direct knowledge, according to the information given there isn't a policy on the way people smell, just a "no smoking on company property" policy. If there were a smell policy that included strong perfume, smoking, pets, and whatever else it would be a very different case don't you think? If smells were in fact such an important issue for the health of the patients and the work environment was that sensitive, why don't they have a written policy concerning smells?

Of course you could just be one of those folks that think that grade school insults are a replacement for logical discourse. If that is the case don't bother to respond. If I wanted a insult laden discussion free from logic and reason I would talk to a liberal.

[Graybeard58]

I smoked a pack a day for 35 years. Quit cold turkey in 2007

I quit in August '08 after 50 years, I was at 2 packs a day. If I'm close to cigarette smoke, it stinks but sometimes, at a distance, like in a parking lot, it can smell quite good to me. I have no idea why.