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Wednesday, July 25, 2012

"Cell Phone Free Zones"

I just thought of another item that is sometimes, ridiculously, banned on some property: cell phones.

I can understand if there is a real danger of the radio signals setting off explosives, like at a construction site, but that is a special case and is not common. The myth of the cell phone's ability to ignite gasoline fumes has been disproved enough times that the warnings have started disappearing from gas pumps- at least around here.

But, there are still places of business that forbid the employees from possessing cell phones while working. Not just forbid them from having the phones turned on or using them while "on the clock", but forbidding them from having it in their possession at all. Ridiculous.

This is just as stupid (and just as dangerous) as a prohibition on any other thing that stays totally concealed and doesn't harm anyone's property in any way. And I am just as opposed to this prohibition as any other.


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4 comments:

  1. Employers can require anything they please of their employees, as long as they don't violate their employment contract. If employees don't like it, they can find work elsewhere.

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  2. And I agree, but some requirements make you a bad person. They are wrong. That's all I'm saying.

    I can require that every female employee must have sex with me at least once a week, and that would be my right as an employer (in a free society), but making that a requirement makes me a bad guy. You shouldn't necessarily do everything you have a right to do.

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  3. Ah, OK. I agree then. However I tend not to be too critical of employers, who drive the economy and (let's face it) don't have much to work with, when it comes to employees. A true free market would tend to drive out stupid practices...

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  4. A former employer of mine complained loudly and continually about how "no one in this town wants to work"- yet he drove away (or fired) all the good hard-working employees because of his ridiculous working conditions. And got a reputation that kept people from applying, even though he advertised for employees constantly. The economy was not good, and some employees would come back- even after having been fired. But he could have solved his self-created problem by treating his employees with a bit more respect.

    And, yes, a free market would give everyone- employers and employees- a lot more choices and eliminate a lot of the problems that a government-choked economy causes.

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