« More baseball | Main | Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? »
May 15, 2007
That's pretty sick, Chubbs
Behold the "drop box" at Quest Diagnostics on Halsted. Apologies for the fuzziness of my picture, but it says "No drugs or money kept in box. Blood and urine specimens only."
Oh dear Lord! Now, I understand the need for a drop box, seeing as sometimes people need a drug test but don't have the time to come in during actual business hours for a test.
To me, this raises several questions. First, how confident can you be in the accuracy of a sample left in a box overnight? You can't even know if the sample is from the person who claims it his sample, since nobody's even around to watch it. I mean, maybe these are for samples where people WANT to get accurate results, but I can always seen an enterprising fellow dropping off the sample of a 60 year old lady to avoid a marijuana bust. I guess they should remember the story of Elaine Benes, but if not, they could be in trouble.
Second, couldn't they make the drop box more secure? Why not make something like a mail slot, where the stuff can't possibly reached from the outside? I'm guessing there was a problem with people breaking into the box, otherwise they wouldn't have the sign.
I'm also wondering what poor schlub has to pick up the samples in the morning. Is it the new guy? Or maybe the worst worker of the week or something? Whatever you have to do to get that job, I hope I never find out.
On another note, I am avoiding that side of Halsted from now on. I don't want to be that near a concentration of blood and pee unless I have to be. Yes, I know there's probably pee all over the sidewalk anyway, but that is at least diluted.
entry no. 852
Posted by oz115 at May 15, 2007 10:43 PM
Comments
The dropbox is probably for couriers to pick up samples for shipment to the lab, not for testees to drop off. I recently had a drug test for my new job, and the clinic where I gave my sample had just such a dropbox outside the door, most likely for after-hours pickups. These testing companies are pretty diligent about making sure the donor corresponds to the sample, so I really doubt if they'd allow dropoffs like you suggest. Doing so would really compromise the integrity of the testing process.
Posted by: Pete at May 16, 2007 06:58 AM
Gee, that's a far more reasonable and likely idea than what I said. Thanks for ruining it!
Posted by: tim at May 16, 2007 09:38 AM
Ruination of strongly held beliefs is my specialty. On a related note, I also strongly suspect that it isn't a bunny that brings candy on Easter Sunday.
Posted by: Pete at May 17, 2007 08:32 AM