Even if this woman is actually so unstable and crazy that a knock on her door terrifies her into the hospital, you would think that once she found out it was NEIGBORHOOD GIRLS BEARING COOKIES, she would fucking get over it and not try to find a way to get paid from it.
If I was still a teenager and I lived in that neighborhood I might be tempted to start playing a little “Ding Dong Ditch” on a semi-nightly basis. I’m not saying that would be right, I’m just saying…
Do you know anything about anxiety disorders and unreasonable fear? I am in no way saying that Young was in the right here for suing, but an unreasoning fear is an unreasoning fear - if her phobia was people ringing her doorbell at night, then that’s her phobia, whether it makes sense to us or not. When my anxiety disorder flared up, I had a hard time driving in a car with my husband. Somebody telling me to “fucking get over it” probably wouldn’t have helped, since I knew it wasn’t logical, but I felt it anyway.
Now this is the sort of spurious and frivolous lawsuit that some of us are completely against. Trying to give someone cookies is not mental anguish or anxiety. I know people like to champion the idea that the courts should not be allowed to decide whether a lawsuit is valid or not, and “process” them all, but this is really “out there”.
Did your husband ignore it? Every time? Did you avoid getting in the car for a while, or did you go merrilly along your way, despite knowing you were going to have an attack?
If she’s got that kind of problem, she can disable the effing door bell, or get a dog.
Unreasoning fear is a real problem. It is also her problem, and not the kids’. The judge that ruled in this case ought to be forced to eat his copies of the legal code. Every volume. Without ketchup.
“Poor judgment?” WTF? They showed poor judgment because they wanted to do something nice? This bitch needs to crawl back under her rock.
It’s irrelevant whether or not her fear/anxiety/phobia is understandable, in and of itself. Sure, I get it. A late-night doorbell ringing with no answer can be scary, perhaps even so scary that one might freak out and have to go to the hospital.
But the girls apologized for having unintentionally scared the woman, and the families offered to pay the woman’s medical bills, which was more than the right thing to do. The bitch refused to accept the apologies (saying she didn’t think they “rang true”), declined their reasonable offer, and then sued them. That’s what’s fucked up about this bitch.
Sounds like she’s got a habit of not being very neighborly…
The only consolation for the girls is that at least the judgment wasn’t any greater than what they’d offered to pay in the first place.
Even if the girls knew of the woman’s phobia, they had in no acted in a malicious, or negligent way.
This is telling:
Your right…lawsuits like this are bad. Way to strengthen your local community. Maybe when you’re in real need of a neighbor’s help, there will be nobody there to help you in your time of need. You should have just accepted their apology and let them know next time that they should call before they come and then let them know about your medical condition.
Young reminds of the vindictive Rabbit (in Winnie the Pooh cartoons) that usually eats crow in the end. (I’m enduring the Pooh cartoons now for the third time with my 3rd son now.)
Would you have tried to sue somebody else over your phobia?
I am not pitting the woman for being phobic I am pitting her for blaming her anxiety attack on a couple of teenage girls who were just trying to be nice and who had no way of knowing that knocking on this lady’s door would send her over the edge. Her condition is unfortunate but it’s not the fault of those kids. They had no reason to believe that their actions could cause anybody any distress. They did nothing mailicious or negligent. I can’t see how they owe this woman a cent.
“They wouldn’t even knock on the door to offer to pay my medical bills after I was hospitalized when they knocked on my door to offer me cookies. They insensitively sent a letter! Can you imagine?”
I’m not sure what I’d hate more – living somewhere where you can be successfully sued for a cookie-drop, or living somewhere where having an anxiety attack can cost you $900 in medical bills.
No, but it was rather ill-advised to be ringing and running at that hour, even if you were leaving cookies behind when doing so. I wouldn’t appreciate hearing my doorbell at 10:30PM and not getting an answer when I called out, either. In fact, I have a strict policy of never opening my door to anyone after dark, unless I know them – and in order to know that, they will have had to identify themselves when asked.
The girls tried to do a nice thing and went about it a little wrongly. When they realized the unintended consequences of their actions, they did the right thing by apologizing and offering to reimburse the woman for her expenses. Everything that happened after that is reprehensible, and…
“Excuse me, ma’am, we’re your friendly neighborhood burglars. We were wondering, if it’s not terribly inconvenient, if you’d mind letting us in so that we may burgle your fine home. Oh, and I love what you’ve done with the place! No? We can’t come in? OK, well, if for some reason you change your mind, gives us a call. Here’s my card. Toodles!”
Perhaps happiness eludes her because it doesn’t want to tread too close for fear she will sue it.
I have a feeling that since the story was made public, Young’s nightly frights have only just begun. I mean, reading this makes me want to go t.p. her house and I’m a 38 year old mother.
