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Job interview this week, but have to take urine test for NICOTINE!!!

Posted: Mar 3, 2014

No lectures or insults, please. I do not have time for them. I applied to this company. They are completely nicotine-free company, with urine test at hire. My interview was postponed to later this week due to snow. I have not smoked since Saturday. Does anyoe know how long nicotine shows up on a urine test after you quit? I have not smoked since Saturday. I have heard from 2 days to 30 days and anything in between. All guesses. I really need this job. A friend of mine works there and passed the urine test, but she had over a month to prepare, I don't. Anyone know?

;

That doesn't seem cool--what if a quitter is on replacement?= - ETOHPRN

[ In Reply To ..]
What a ridiculous barrier :( I'm so sorry you are being subjected to that.

I don't have an answer for you but I can't help but wonder--what if someone is actively in the process of quitting and is on patch, gum, or e-cig? Seems so petty but I'm sure it's a push from whoever their insurance carrier is.

Good luck with quitting! My husband has been a smoker since he was a teenager and he tries to quit every year--it is NOT easy!

I thought it was a year - said my policy

[ In Reply To ..]
I have a life insurance policy and it said you have to be a nonsmoker for a year and it can detect, but that was blood test.

Not about a life insurance policy - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
This is not for the insurance actually, I do not need it. This is about getting the job. No patches, E-cigs, or gum allowed to be hired. I do not even care about future testing. Concerned about right now. Someone said 1-2 days?? Really??? Could that be? This is urine test, not blood test, so maybe.

It may affect their overall ins rates - Also...

[ In Reply To ..]
It may affect their overall group insurance rates, as one poster said.

Also, a lot of smokers tend to find ways to smoke when they aren't supposed to. My husband is in retail management, and the smokers are always somehow figuring out a way to smoke, which takes time away from their duties. They might take 5 minutes to take a bag of garbage out back, 10 minutes to "check" on a display outdoors, 5 minutes because "I forgot something in my car that I need," etc. It all adds up to unproductive time, and it's also bad for morale for those who only take their alloted break time.

I am NOT saying you would do this. The odds just increase with a smoker.

Another point I just thought of: If it's a customer-oriented business,the company won't want you to smell of smoke. You WILL stink like smoke whether you smoke on their premises or not, even if you don't smoke in your home. It will be on your clothes (clean or not). If you smoke in your car, it's in the upholstery, now giving you a hint of stale smoke smell, whether you lit up in there before work or not. There is no way around it.

I feel for smokers. I used to be one. But I can smell a smoker a mile away now. Don't think that a spritz of last-minute fabric freshener or breath mints will help. You'll just smell like sea-breeze, minty smoke is all.

I googled - anony

[ In Reply To ..]
There's info about this on the internet. Without an extensive search, I found that in blood tests it can be 1-3 days.

I wonder if a non-smoker lives with a smoker, could the non-smoker still test positive from second-hand smoke?

Yes...google cotinine - nm

[ In Reply To ..]
No msg

You know they keep testing you after employment too, right? - Old MT

[ In Reply To ..]
The hospital I used to work for went to a completely tobacco free campus a couple of years ago. You can't get hired there if you smoke, and you can't stay there if you smoke. So don't think you can just pass the initial test and then you're okay; you're not. I think it's a good thing. I don't smoke and when I used to work at the hospital, there would be employees huddled outside the doors smoking. Tacky.

Last I checked... - emma

[ In Reply To ..]
cigarettes were still a legal substance and this was still a (supposedly) free country. I don't see how they can demand this, but plenty of places do.

I don't smoke and I don't really like being around cigarette smoke, but I also don't think it is right for a workplace to forbid you from smoking even on your own time. What will they forbid next? Alcohol? Fast food? Soda? Are they going to develop a test to detect what you ate for dinner last night and fire you if you consumed too many calories?

I wouldn't be surprised.

I wonder if it affects their health ins. group rates? (sm) - Rose

[ In Reply To ..]
Emma has a good point about what they will not allow next to get a job. If it is something done off the job it shouldn't be their business unless it affects their cost of health insurance. They should just charge smokers more and let them do what they choose. I find it strange that no one hesitates to eat a lot of sugar or fat at work, so it does seem discriminatory to smokers.

I think it does. So not only are smokers discriminated - against, but the overweight & senior, as well.

[ In Reply To ..]

I fit 2 out of the 3 you have named discriminated against but so - far no problem here

[ In Reply To ..]
Overweight and a senior. I have not seen anyone being discriminating towards me.

Smokers are the ones who discriminate - a2b2c2

[ In Reply To ..]
against those of us who need to breathe clean air (i.e., all of us). Smokers have no rights.

Maybe just not looking in the right places but - hardly see a smoker anymore

[ In Reply To ..]
anywhere like in times past. I heard the cost was outlandish now, really don't know as my smoking is in the past. I had no idea until I stopped just how much my clothing, hair, my entire house engulfed in the smell. I do not like to be around the smell now.

smokers - Molleycat

[ In Reply To ..]
If you don't like my smoke, don't come near me. I will smoke if I want to so nah nah nah nah

Here's the thing - see msg

[ In Reply To ..]
...We don't have to be near you to smell your smoke. Ever since I quit 27 years ago, I can smell it a mile away. I know when someone in a car next to me is smoking when their windows are open.

When someone comes to my door to ask if I want my trees trimmed, I know whether or not he smokes, whether he has a cig in his hand or not.

If you walk into a restaurant and breeze by me, I know you smoke.

It goes on and on. It stinks.

Here's the thing..... - HS

[ In Reply To ..]
I know a pulmonologist who wears a button that says "If you don't smoke, I won't throw up." Rightly said. When I see these "I will smoke if I want to, nah, nah, nah" kinds of tripe, it only confirms my belief that smoking kills brain cells. And yes, in my twenties, I smoked. But I had the fortitude to quit. And if I can do it, so can others.

Because they are all expensive. - nm

[ In Reply To ..]
.

Group rates - Nick

[ In Reply To ..]
I havn't smoked since the Marines, but I do MMA, which is extremely dangerous. (Yes, I have broken bones.) But here's the difference: My insurance has a clause in it that excludes accidents caused by such things as MMA, rock climbing, hang gliding, etc., any of the so-called "danger sports." But smokers have no such thing. Maybe this nicotine test DOES have something to do with keeping insurance down.

Totally agree - NJMT

[ In Reply To ..]
I don't understand how any employer can do this. I am a smoker. I have previously worked for hospitals that had policies of no smoking on the grounds, which is absolutely understandable. But I don't see how an employer can mandate what you do on your off time if it is legal and is not impacting your job performance.

It does impact your job performance - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Smokers have higher rates of all kinds of illnesses, higher absenteeism, spend more time away from their duties, send a message that negates the employer's emphasis on healthy behaviors, trigger migraines and asthma in susceptible persons (through the residue on themselves), trigger blood clots and heart attacks with secondhand smoke , and alienate customers with their sickening body odor. There is also evidence that nicotine addiction makes smokers more oppositional.

Job Performance and Smoking - see msg pls

[ In Reply To ..]
I wrote in one of these replies here that my husband is in retail management, and the smokers are always finding excuses to go outside.

To add to that is that it has a trickle-down effect on other employees. Not just morale because the smokers are taking more breaks, but the fact that now the non-smokers feel entitled to make more personal phone calls on company time, take longer in the restroom,take a longer break, etc., because the smokers appear to be getting extra priveleges.

So, smokers, yes it does affect work performance all the way around.

GOOD! if you have ever seen anyone die of a smoking related illness - you will be glad to see this implemented

[ In Reply To ..]
most heart wrenching way to go, struggling like a fish out of water. It may sound heartless but any incentive to push people in the right direction is fine by me, even if you hate me for saying so.

My mother died of CHF, caused by smoking - cigarettes for 70+ years. - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
It's hard to believe she didn't die of lung cancer, but she didn't have it. But her CHF caused her to have extreme difficulty breathing, and also sores on her extremities that surgery and leg stents only helped temporarily. Eventually she developed gangrene, and the doctors wanted to amputate both of her legs! As sick as she was, that would've been useless and cruel, and we (her children) all put our foot down and said no. She went into hospice care, and needed a LOT of pain medication before she died.

Once she passed, it was discovered that her house could not be sold in its original condition. 50 years of my mother's chain-smoking in there caused the place to positively reek. EVERYTHING had to be gutted, down to the sheet rock and the subfloors. The ceiling had trapped cigarette smoke for 50 years, and the air condition ducts and other air vents were all black with cigarette tar and soot. The place had to be gutted not by regular construction workers, but by a fully-suited Haz-Mat team. Her clothing - some of them expensive, nice things - had to be destroyed, as no thrift store would take them.

And the scariest part? My sibs and I get to guess and wonder what lies ahead for each of us, healthwise, after breathing that toxic smoke secondhand for the entire time we lived at home, and each time we came home to visit once we'd moved away. None of us is particularly optimistic.

Congrats on quitting! (sm) - Rose

[ In Reply To ..]
Just a warning, if you smoke, your coworkers will know, so I hope you quitting is successful. I smoked 30 years and was very addicted. I took a class on quitting which was very helpful. Good luck to you on quitting and getting the job!

I went cold turkey on smoking, my father also - some years back

[ In Reply To ..]
I thought was going to the ER Thanksgiving 1989 as outpatient, that extended to a 2 week stay. I was put on Theophylline, will never forget that drug. I was sped up like an 8 day clock, had the air down to 60 sometime, sweating, could not get clean, hair wet, bedding wet. I said dear Lord please let me go home and I will never smoke again. I was basically eating cigarettes prior, working from home smoked 2+ packs per day. After I got home I would light "phantom" cigarettes, did so often, put that "cigarette" to my mouth with my lighter. Never smoked another cigarette ever. As much as I loved the cigarettes at one time, hated the theophylline even more. Plus, gained over 20 lbs in 2 weeks in the hospital because on high steroids, went home looking like Puff the Magic Dragon, hated that.

I never ever talk down to anyone who smokes though. That would be the pot calling the kettle black, just don't do it. One thing, if you ever quit you definitely can smell a smoker anywhere around. Your clothing, your home, everything is smoky. You don't notice as much when you smoke but afterwards, yep.

Job Interview - No Smoking Plz!

[ In Reply To ..]
Wow, never heard of any company testing for that, but if this company does, they are definitely very sensitive to the smell of cigarettes as well; so you better buy some new clothes and put them on outside, if you smoke in your home. Also, if you do pass the test and get the job and you continue to smoke at home or whenever you aren't working, the smell will be on your person and they will notice it and probably test you right then and there. If you are a truly addicted smoker (no judgment), then you might reconsider even working for this place or quit altogether!

When I smoked... - Rose

[ In Reply To ..]
And was an IC, delivering printed reports to the doctor's offices I'd worked for one group for years and after quitting smoking they congratulated me. It wasn't until then that I realized that the printed reports smelled of smoke!

Since quitting 20 years ago I know when a smoker comes into a room, or passes by me, something I could never detect as a smoker.

Nicotine test - A non-smoker

[ In Reply To ..]
I don't know but I think nicotine stays in a person's system for quite a while. I always thought they did nasal/oral swabs to test for nicotine and urine to test for other drugs. If you are not planning to quit smoking and only are trying to pass the test in order to get hired, forget about it because tobacco-free means tobacco-free and you will eventually get caught smoking and someone will turn you in. I don't mean to be insulting or to lecture you, but that's how it is.

Congrats on quitting smoking, what I found - sm - XXX

[ In Reply To ..]
was this....."How Long Does Nicotine Stay in your Urine
When inhaled, nicotine is converted into cotinine, which together with the bodyâ��s wastes products is excreted in the urine. In detecting nicotine and its metabolites in the body, levels remain detectable in the urine only for 3 to 4 days.

However, this may be different for some cases. For passive smokers, urine nicotine test can be positive for as long as 15 to 20 days. Cotinine may also take longer to be excreted with wastes if menthol cigarettes are used."---------no idea what "passive smoker" means....why do you think they will test you on your interview day, is that their standard procedure? You could always mention that you have been making recent changes/improvements in your life(style) and recently quit smoking (say 2 weeks ago cold turkey). Possibly see if they could wait a couple more weeks on the test?
.
Also found......"How to Effectively Clear Nicotine From the Body
Nicotine is a stimulant and is highly addictive. But even in the presence of withdrawal symptoms, quitting can be feasible. The following are means with which nicotine can be cleared off from the body, and in the process, avoid nicotine withdrawal syndrome effectively:
Plenty of water must be consumed. The more water consumed, the more nicotine released from the body thru the urine.
Eat fruits and vegetables. They are antioxidants, with high fiber and water content. They can help metabolize the nicotine out of the system.
Exercise. It improves circulation and enables the body to release toxins thru sweat, making nicotine removal faster.
Eat foods such as garlic, onions and egg yolks. These increase bile production in the liver, helpful in toxin and nicotine removal. "------Good luck!

What "passive smoking" is - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Passive smoking is breathing in the smoke from other people's tobacco products and vapor from e-cigarettes, as well as the exhaled air containing those substances. It is very hazardous.

Sudden death from heart attack in nonsmokers dropped significantly when California banned smoking in restaurants. Turns out that passive smoking causes blood to clot, which triggers coronary occlusions. Smokers actually kill others, if not themselves.

Employers lose money because of smokers. The costs are much greater than you would think. Life and health insurance costs are far higher if smokers are in the pool. Smokers use more sick leave. There are productivity losses due to smoking. (We observed some smokers dashing out to smoke every hour for as long as 20 minutes each time.) The property damage due to smoking is unbelievable. (We have had to replace desks, chairs, computer keyboards and mice, carpet, and wall coverings after smokers' departures, just from the stench on their clothes, from their bodies, tar on their hands, horked-up mucus, and crap on their shoes from crushing out cigarettes and standing around in smoking areas. Our costs in replacing their vomit-smelling phones is astronomical.) They damage furniture and fixtures sneaking smokes in bathrooms, closets, stairways, and in offices. There is massive productivity loss every time they set off a fire alarm and we have to evacuate, along with actual fire damages and service from the fire department. Unlike individual homeowners, we have to pay them 40,000 to 60,000 minimum every time they show up, more if there is a fire. We have daily trash can, mulch, and doormat fires, with FD response about once every month. And then there is customer dissatisfaction with smokers hanging around outside, ruining outdoor areas for everyone else, fouling entrances, stinking up indoors, making patients nauseous, etc.

Employers are trying to avoid that extra cost. Healthcare employers are also trying to set a good health example for their clients... nicotine-abusing healthcare workers don't set a good example.

Nicotine free - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I smoke, yet I also work for a "Nicotine-free workplace". If you are a regular smoker, the nicotine will be out in around 12 hours.....lighter smoker around 7 hours, so you are good.

Nicotine free - sm Are you sure? - A little nervous

[ In Reply To ..]
Do you get tested often? I have smoked for years, but never at home, never in my car, and never around my kids. Closet smoker, LOL, mostly in bars and when family and friends would have cocktail hour every Sunday. I have not smoked in a week, but the cocktail friends and family are getting together this Sunday. 12 hours, huh? This is a urine test, which I may have to take next week some time.

My previous MT company's insurance made us give blood yearly. They were not just looking for nicotine or drugs. I was overweight and my cholesterol was high, so I had to pay more.

Why not just NOT SMOKE? - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
As I see it, you have two honest choices. One is to withdraw your application on the grounds that you do not qualify. They don't hire nicotine addicts and you are one. Just admit it and go on your way.

The other is to simply STOP SMOKING. Stop being a victim of the tobacco industry and your addict friends. Think for yourself. Make an adult decision that you want this job and a better life, and just don't smoke again. Ever.

It is dishonest and unethical to apply for a job when you know you don't qualify. You don't qualify for this one. Either correct that problem or go your merry way.

How can you live with yourself if you lie about this?

Nicotine has been shown to make people sociopathic. That is part of what employers want to avoid. Lying about this is sociopathic behavior.

Not the OP - But...

[ In Reply To ..]
Are you sure you didn't read that article (or whatever it was) backwards? Perhaps most sociopaths smoke, but it doesn't mean people who smoke turn into sociopaths. That makes no sense.

So, perhaps a sociopathic personality causes one to smoke, but we can't twist that around to say that smoking turns people into sociopaths.

It's possible, too, that you read that many smokers disobey some laws by smoking where they shouldn't, but disobeying some laws is not grounds for calling one a sociopath.

I'm all for no smokers in this world---I find it quite offensive and stinky, stinky, but let's not get carried away with this.

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