Pot in the PC

Why is it that when someone brings up a customer who wants you to install illegal software on his/her PC everyone has a fit and gets on the moral high ground - man that's piracy - you could go to jail, etc, etc... and that's ok - but when it is an illegal substance suddenly it's - harsh man.... - illegal activities should never enter a place of business - even if it is accedental.


The question is not a moral debate about pot use - but a ethical debate of what an EMPLOYEE should do in ANY GIVEN SITUATION when on the clock - I for one have to stand beside you James - you did nothing wrong. The kid should have found a better hiding place - if it was at home - no prob - put it somewhere else and away you go - at MY PLACE OF BUSINESS - screw you - now that contraband is beginning to interfere with my livelyhood.

I'm also from the UK, you guys seem to be pretty strict on Pot use. I don't do pot anymore, but I have in the past, I wasn't a pot head, it didn't rule my life and I managed to go through Collage and hold a good job while smoking pot. Would you have done the same thing if you found a can of beer in his PC (assuming he's under age)?

EVERY techie I have ever met has copied software for personal use, should I report them to microsoft?

I agree you had to cover your back, in todays blame culture, but I'm sure a better solution could have been found.

I'm appalled at this, Some poor dude loses his stash due to his mom and then some self rightous tech calls the police, I am an advocate of god's green herb and see no fault in a casual user, first mom should have kept her hands off the pc second the tech should have kept his ideals to himself, be a tech not a self appointed vigilante, let the parent deal with the child, grrrr, if i go on I'll get banned from this site....in closing I say get a life coptech and deal with your own shortfalls.....

[quote]Originally posted by KingTiger:
<strong>.....Would you have done the same thing if you found a can of beer in his PC (assuming he's under age)?</strong><hr></blockquote>

I think some people are still missing the point here. It is not illegal for children to drink alcohol, only to purchase it. It IS illegal to buy/own/use Pot. I know these days, Cannabis is not much different to beer, however it's still a banned substance, the same as Cocaine, Heroin and any other drugs.

Like I stated in my last post, the drugs being hidden within the PC might not even belong to the child, but it was found in a Business environment, therefore different rule apply as more people are potentially involved.

Jobs are hard to come by these days, any job (in Britain anyhow), it's not going to look good to a potential future employer that you were fired for keeping illegal drugs at your workplace. The guy was only protecting his job, give him a break.

Im with james on this one, i think he did wot wos best for him, there wos this one time i found p0rn on one guys pc, whilst working for the local authourity, i lost my job because i didnt report it... sometimes u have to do wot is best for u and say tuff titty to everyone else..

:(

Things work a bit different in the states im sure, Pot is a natural substance, be it legal or not, several states are now defying the Govt' (finally thank god) and allowing medicinal use and growth, the Hemp movement is taking off as a alternative for tobbacco farmers, this incident is unforgivable at best the tech should have just trashed the bag, ruining someone elses life to enforce ones own ideals SUCKS!!!!! I would gladly bludgeon the worm should he show himself in my world, I truly hope that the tech in question suffers the tortures of the damned for his actions...you UK guys need to relax and get high...everyone has vices let he who is without sin cast the first stone, let the others roll their own...

Everyone seems to be coming down on James and doing so without all the facts. He shouldn't be personally attacked for "ruining" this kids life without knowing if he made the call to notify the police. All he said was "we of course reported it to the police" If James just happens to work at this shop then there is a good possibility that he alerted his boss/owner to the pot and he/she made the decision to call the police.

You all know, as well as I do, that this world is not ran on good intentions and second chances. Everyone has responsibilities and everyone must take care of themselves and their family.
No one should be faulted for looking out for their family. Not bringing this to the attention of his boss or the police would have been endangering his job and risking the welfare of his family. Who among you that have children would like to explain to your kids that they don't have anything to eat for dinner because you wanted to be cool. I really doubt James has ever gotten a raise because he was a "cool dude".

Without sounding too corny, this is a forum for techs and we should be a little more supportive of a fellow tech. We're not here to bash each other. We're here to bash the users that dream up a new way of making our lives difficult each and every day. At the very least he should have been asked for more information before the games began.

Dvingar has a nice point there, but my overall opinion of this situation (if i may be permitted to voice it here)is that turning a young kid in to the cops for weed ownership is morally disgusting.
Agreed that possibly telling mom would be acceptable; if the tech really felt this moral/religious need to do something, but like anything else we come across in this field (junior's asian goat sex jpegs on mom's computer)it should fall within the yech-client confidentiality zone. Don't ask/don't tell. (the ONE and only exception would be child pornography)
As for the pot, the only moral thing to do would be to put it back in the machine after completing the repair. (Maybe taking just a pinch for yourself if was good stuff- BENCH FEE!)

Respect the clients privacy!

[quote]Originally posted by dvingar:
<strong>Everyone seems to be coming down on James and doing so without all the facts. He shouldn't be personally attacked for "ruining" this kids life without knowing if he made the call to notify the police. All he said was "we of course reported it to the police" If James just happens to work at this shop then there is a good possibility that he alerted his boss/owner to the pot and he/she made the decision to call the police.

You all know, as well as I do, that this world is not ran on good intentions and second chances. Everyone has responsibilities and everyone must take care of themselves and their family.
No one should be faulted for looking out for their family. Not bringing this to the attention of his boss or the police would have been endangering his job and risking the welfare of his family. Who among you that have children would like to explain to your kids that they don't have anything to eat for dinner because you wanted to be cool. I really doubt James has ever gotten a raise because he was a "cool dude".

Without sounding too corny, this is a forum for techs and we should be a little more supportive of a fellow tech. We're not here to bash each other. We're here to bash the users that dream up a new way of making our lives difficult each and every day. At the very least he should have been asked for more information before the games began.</strong><hr></blockquote>

i agree with this, this thing has been blown way out of proportion, im just wondering wot u guys would be saying if james had found cocaine or some hard based drug in the machine, well thats all i got to say on it.

[quote]Originally posted by dvingar:
<strong>Everyone seems to be coming down on James and doing so without all the facts. He shouldn't be personally attacked for "ruining" this kids life without knowing if he made the call to notify the police. All he said was "we of course reported it to the police" If James just happens to work at this shop then there is a good possibility that he alerted his boss/owner to the pot and he/she made the decision to call the police.

You all know, as well as I do, that this world is not ran on good intentions and second chances. Everyone has responsibilities and everyone must take care of themselves and their family.
No one should be faulted for looking out for their family. Not bringing this to the attention of his boss or the police would have been endangering his job and risking the welfare of his family. Who among you that have children would like to explain to your kids that they don't have anything to eat for dinner because you wanted to be cool. I really doubt James has ever gotten a raise because he was a "cool dude".

Without sounding too corny, this is a forum for techs and we should be a little more supportive of a fellow tech. We're not here to bash each other. We're here to bash the users that dream up a new way of making our lives difficult each and every day. At the very least he should have been asked for more information before the games began.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Right on!

Well put man!

Very simple. We once had a traveler make a call on a pay phone and he left a VERY expensive 35MM camera sitting on the counter. When we looked in the case, there was a bag of pot in with the camera. He returned months later (brain cells must have regenerated) looking for the camera and we told him we had to turn it into the authorities because of what we found (we had flushed it). At that point, he was going to turn himself in and get arrested and was totally beside himself. When we handed him the camera (sans pot), we all burst out laughing and I'm sure he learned a lesson. This was 25 years ago!

[quote]Originally posted by dvingar:
<strong>Everyone seems to be coming down on James and doing so without all the facts. He shouldn't be personally attacked for "ruining" this kids life without knowing if he made the call to notify the police. All he said was "we of course reported it to the police" If James just happens to work at this shop then there is a good possibility that he alerted his boss/owner to the pot and he/she made the decision to call the police.

You all know, as well as I do, that this world is not ran on good intentions and second chances. Everyone has responsibilities and everyone must take care of themselves and their family.
No one should be faulted for looking out for their family. Not bringing this to the attention of his boss or the police would have been endangering his job and risking the welfare of his family. Who among you that have children would like to explain to your kids that they don't have anything to eat for dinner because you wanted to be cool. I really doubt James has ever gotten a raise because he was a "cool dude".

Without sounding too corny, this is a forum for techs and we should be a little more supportive of a fellow tech. We're not here to bash each other. We're here to bash the users that dream up a new way of making our lives difficult each and every day. At the very least he should have been asked for more information before the games began.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Well, we are in tech tales and this is the place for personal opinions. I don’t feel that I have personally bashed this person but I can see from some of the other posts where you could see this. Perhaps some of us have been a little over enthusiastic. It is the nature of a thread to mutate and take on a life of it’s own though and this sort of thing is typical. Drug laws are quite a controversial issue and given a historical perspective I personally feel that in 50 to 100 years people will look back at us and wonder what we were thinking just as we do today when we look back at prohibition and all of the lawlessness/death and destruction it caused. As for whether I would change my mind if this was a different drug, I might or might not given the situation. Most other drug users I would assume to not be forgetful enough to hide a stash somewhere easily found. Weed heads seem to have this odd habit of being forgetful and rather slow of wit at times.

As for looking out for A#1 all the time - I'm quite sure that the Germans felt the same way while others were lead into cattle cars. Of course my comparison of turning a kid in to the police is a far cry from the relocation and subsequent immolation of an entire group of people is rather extreme. It does, however, cry the point that we are responsible for the actions in our community and that we need to make decisions based upon what we believe in. Personally I would not have done the same and would have found a way around it if possible, but if I was under surveillance then I might have done the same thing. I’m not saying the guy should have grabbed the pot, started smoking it and shouted “F the man!” but he could have used a little discretion in this situation.

Don't do the crime if you can't do the time....

I would have turned him in.

I would not have turned him in, since I think the laws regarding marijuana possesion are archiac Republican law-n-order bull****, and I won't participate in the THAT farce. But I don't blame the tech that he did not want to take that risk, and for chosing the turn him in. Maybe next time he won't.

Better we teach people to store weed in the freezer, where it keeps well for years.

[quote]Originally posted by 86Camaro350:
<strong>

Possession is a violation not a crime. No one would get in trouble, nor would anyone care. when the cops search me and find my stash, they say "Do me a favor, break off a small peice, drop it on the floor and drive away. And dont drive when you finish it." pot is a BS drug, no one cares anymore except for ultra conservative hard a$$es. hell, the president is a recovering coke addict.</strong><hr></blockquote>

And that makes it right because.... ?!

Social acceptance doesn't make a thing legal. The fact that others are doing it doesn't improve your health (or mental capacity) if you imitate them.

The fact that political leaders have used drugs does not make them models. Do you agree with all his present policies? As Tuvok would say, "Your logic is flawed".

I'm not sure what the laws are in regards to this in the States, but if I come into knowledge of a crime, and I choose not to report it, I become an accomplice. All without inhaling. :rolleyes:

NB Please don't take offense at my response, 86Camaro350. It's not personal, even if I quoted you. I'm just arguing the reasoning behind it.