# Clerk Clocks Deaf Man for Not Speaking **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 9, 2007, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clerk-clocks-deaf-man-for-not-speaking/422069 "2007-10-09T09:55:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clerk-clocks-deaf-man-for-not-speaking/422069/61 "2007-10-11T14:31:27Z")
The other thread on this > **[I hate my neighborhood](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=439292)** > > http://www.star-telegram.com/metro\_news/story/257747.html I was so hopeing when I saw this on the news it wasn’t the store around the corner…But I knew it was. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clerk-clocks-deaf-man-for-not-speaking/422069/62 "2007-10-11T15:39:33Z")
Well, that thread title & opening post aren’t exactly descriptive. If the mods wish, they can close this one and perhaps re-title the other one. Or they can just close this or leave things as they are. ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clerk-clocks-deaf-man-for-not-speaking/422069/63 "2007-10-11T16:05:45Z")
[QUOTE=Kricket] Wait a minute…my register didn’t come with a crowbar!\* Seriously what the heck was he doing with a crowbar at the register in the first place? [/QUOTE] I live in this neighborhood…that store is litterally within walking distance of my house…If i woked retail around here I would have at LEAST a crowbar by the register, in case I ran out of ammo. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clerk-clocks-deaf-man-for-not-speaking/422069/64 "2007-10-11T16:13:17Z")
[QUOTE=OneCentStamp] Or if that didn’t get the guy to talk, maybe a taser (low setting, of course). But a crowbar? Total overkill. [/QUOTE] What’s sign language for “Don’t tase me, bro”? :eek: But seriously, I heard not too long ago that deaf people occasionaly get beaten up when their sign language is mistaken for gang hand signals. ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clerk-clocks-deaf-man-for-not-speaking/422069/65 "2007-10-11T23:04:02Z")
[QUOTE=sqweels] What’s sign language for “Don’t tase me, bro”? :eek: But seriously, I heard not too long ago that deaf people occasionaly get beaten up when their sign language is mistaken for gang hand signals. [/QUOTE] I’ve heard that, but I’m still not sure if that’s an UL or not. The occasions that I’ve heard about an actual person as opposed to a FOAF are pretty vanishingly small. In fact, I can think of exactly one, at most two incidents in nearly thirty years that I personally have heard about straight from reputable online news sites. [Here](http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=local&id=3854425) is an incident from L.A. that happened last year. Oh, and here’s a listing that asks the same question. [From tafkac.org](http://tafkac.org/death/gangs_kill_sign_language_users_more.html), which seems to be a page collating cites from alt.folklore.urban. Given the newsgroup source, I’m leaning toward UL. Maybe I just hang out with the wrong people. I don’t know. But I tend to view that sort of thing with a lot of skepticism. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clerk-clocks-deaf-man-for-not-speaking/422069/66 "2007-10-12T00:50:41Z")
[QUOTE=danceswithcats] Never happen. Spreading stupid spooge is a fundamental right… [/QUOTE] And the base for an underseen and underrated [movie](http://imdb.com/title/tt0387808/). ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clerk-clocks-deaf-man-for-not-speaking/422069/67 "2007-10-12T00:58:36Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] And the base for an underseen and underrated [movie](http://imdb.com/title/tt0387808/). [/QUOTE] I love that underrated movie. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clerk-clocks-deaf-man-for-not-speaking/422069/68 "2007-10-12T01:59:02Z")
I’m with the person who’d like the rest of the timeline for this story. I’ll admit to laughing at this section: "Ricky Young, 20, told them he thought Goodnight was being rude by not talking to him and hit him in the head with a crowbar. " Not because someone getting hit with a crowbar is funny, but because it’s such a wild leap that it’s right out of a comedy sketch. [QUOTE=Justin\_Bailey] The college I went to is affiliated with the National Technical Institute for the Deaf and I remember seeing that shirt around campus a few times. [/QUOTE] RIT, eh? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clerk-clocks-deaf-man-for-not-speaking/422069/69 "2007-10-12T02:57:37Z")
[QUOTE=levdrakon] I love that underrated movie. [/QUOTE] I’m sure I’ve read a SciFi story, predating the movie, with a very similar plot. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clerk-clocks-deaf-man-for-not-speaking/422069/70 "2007-10-12T10:40:31Z")
The Marching Morons, C K Kornbluth. A true classic. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clerk-clocks-deaf-man-for-not-speaking/422069/71 "2007-10-12T14:02:59Z")
[QUOTE=featherlou] Now, THAT’S a cause I can get behind! [/QUOTE] I like this idea! ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clerk-clocks-deaf-man-for-not-speaking/422069/72 "2007-10-12T15:38:25Z")
[QUOTE=Omega Glory] I’m with the person who’d like the rest of the timeline for this story. I’ll admit to laughing at this section: "Ricky Young, 20, told them he thought Goodnight was being rude by not talking to him and hit him in the head with a crowbar. " Not because someone getting hit with a crowbar is funny, but because it’s such a wild leap that it’s right out of a comedy sketch. RIT, eh? [/QUOTE] My understanding is that it’s not so much of a leap in context of the ethos of some urban cultures, where showings of respect are the most revered rituals in the social canon. I seem to recall that, especially in gang cultures, the perception of disrespect is casus belli. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clerk-clocks-deaf-man-for-not-speaking/422069/73 "2007-10-12T15:52:43Z")
[QUOTE=slaphead] Competent Conceiver permits, rock on. [/QUOTE] I **know** this is a mostly tongue-in-cheek comment, but I can’t let it pass by. I do not trust the idea of a bureaucracy choosing who can and cannot have children. It is generally considered to have been a human rights violation when the Eugenics movement in the US supported sterilization of the mentally infirm, and I see no reason to take on faith that no one in such a bureaucracy wouldn’t use his or her position to do some backdoor eugenics work. I agree a whole shit-pot full of people are having kids who really shouldn’t be trusted with a guppy. I just think that this proposed cure is worse than the disease. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clerk-clocks-deaf-man-for-not-speaking/422069/74 "2007-10-12T16:44:07Z")
[QUOTE=OtakuLoki] It is generally considered to have been a human rights violation when the Eugenics movement in the US supported sterilization of the mentally infirm, [/QUOTE] IIRC, in at least one state in the US, the Deaf were included in the “must be sterilized” group. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clerk-clocks-deaf-man-for-not-speaking/422069/75 "2007-10-12T18:33:22Z")
[QUOTE=Monty] IIRC, in at least one state in the US, the Deaf were included in the “must be sterilized” group. [/QUOTE] I didn’t remember that, but Alexander Graham Bell did advocate just that. Even though he’d married a deaf woman, himself. [Cite](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Graham_Bell#Eugenics) . ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clerk-clocks-deaf-man-for-not-speaking/422069/76 "2007-10-12T18:34:07Z")
[QUOTE=OtakuLoki] I didn’t remember that, but Alexander Graham Bell did advocate just that. Even though he’d married a deaf woman, himself. [/QUOTE] …and if they sterilized her, that meant he wouldn’t have to wrap it up anymore. Devious, Bell. Devious. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clerk-clocks-deaf-man-for-not-speaking/422069/77 "2007-10-12T19:29:24Z")
[QUOTE=OtakuLoki] I agree a whole shit-pot full of people are having kids who really shouldn’t be trusted with a guppy. I just think that this proposed cure is worse than the disease. [/QUOTE] Yeah, but if you _could_ make it work… ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clerk-clocks-deaf-man-for-not-speaking/422069/78 "2007-10-12T20:17:37Z")
Maybe he was hoping that hitting him with a crow bar would make him hear again. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clerk-clocks-deaf-man-for-not-speaking/422069/79 "2007-10-12T20:54:34Z")
[QUOTE=OneCentStamp] …and if they sterilized her, that meant he wouldn’t have to wrap it up anymore. Devious, Bell. Devious. 🆒 [/QUOTE] Plus, he never had to worry about calling out the wrong woman’s name whilst in the throes of passion. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clerk-clocks-deaf-man-for-not-speaking/422069/80 "2007-10-13T02:02:20Z")
[QUOTE=danceswithcats] Plus, he never had to worry about calling out the wrong woman’s name whilst in the throes of passion. [/QUOTE] And she wouldn’t be on the phone all damn day. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clerk-clocks-deaf-man-for-not-speaking/422069.md?page=3)