Don’t Let Your Customers and Profits Go Up in Smoke

The 1971 film “Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster “may not be a production that comes to mind when contemplating the great works of cinematic history.  The film is notable for it’s time as it promoted an environmental agenda.  The Smog Monster evolved out of polluted waters.  It literally fed on pollution, inhaling from smokestacks and other poisonous waste, growing larger and more powerful with each puff. The monster seemed destined to destroy all of mankind.   But of course, Godzilla came to the rescue and defeated him.

 

I saw the film on the big screen as a child and it did make an impression.  Yet, it is a film I rarely think about until I go into the front entranceways of some large retailers.   Store employees on their short breaks appear as sentinels on either side of the entryway vaping or smoking.  In doing so they exhale and spew clouds of fumes into the air.  They pose formidable obstacles to customers entering and leaving the establishment.   One must either hold their breath or inhale the fumes to make it through.

 

Ours is a free society and people have the right to smoke and vape in many places.  Indeed, many enjoy smoking and that is their choice.  But in today’s America, smokers are the minority. Only about 15% of Americans engage in the activity.     Smoking is forbidden by government regulations in many places and by corporate policy in others.  In order to accommodate employees that smoke, employers should document and implement polices on the practice.  Importantly they should also designate a place for such activities that are AWAY from the ingress and egress areas where their customers transit.

 

Lawyers can assist employers in this regard.  Employee handbooks, corporate policies and agreements on conduct required of employees among other documents are things in a lawyer’s tool kit that can help address this issue.  Failure to address the issue and allow employees to cloud the entrance to their establishment is not good business.  Some customers who do not like to inhale fumes or are allergic to them may simply quit visiting and take their business elsewhere.   Don’t let your customers and your profits go up in smoke!  And when you need help to think through a variety of corporate policies, call the one you can trust.  Contact Chris today … click here.