You know the big giant inflatable rat that protesters always have at their picket lines? Well, they do in New York—I assume other cities have them too.
Anyway, there’s a protest going on near my office, and the Big Giant Rat has Christmas lights bedecking it—it’s sofestive! This is why I always carry a disposable camera.
I just get a warm fuzzy feeling at this time of year, when the Christmas Rat makes its appearance . . .
what does the christmas rat bring the good people of nyc?
i don’t remember seeing a giant rat in philly… i think i would remember such a sight.
and a scanner, and a way to post pics on the net right… right? Many Dopers out the sticks rely on native New Yorkers like yourself, to SHOW us what’s going on in the big apple. Gushing on about this “so festive” giant inflatable rat, and how you took pics etc. etc. is the equivalent of mental cock tease of the most staggering proportions. Post pics dammit!
That article doesn’t mention the Giant Inflatable Gorilla, who also makes appearances on picket lines sometimes. I was walking down 5th once and saw the Gorilla. Momentarily confused, I asked a picketer, “Where’s the rat?” “Oh, he’s busy,” I was told.
I always assumed there was more than one rat…But come to think of it, I’ve never seen it in two places on the same day.
We had the Halloween Rat @ an abandoned hospital on Hicksville Rd - a block north of my house. A week or so later, after his disappearance, I saw the Thanksgiving Rat on Bronx River Rd at a new constuction site.
If it wasn’t for the ear-piercing whistle blowing, my curiousity would require me to inspect the rat a little more closely - just to make certain there’s a “MADE IN THE U.S.A.” label on it.
I guess a 15’ tall rat gets the point across, but I still think a giant inflatable scab would do a better job. If China is the only place that manufactures them, I’m sure there’s a local unionized bakery that could make them an oversized cookie like this one.
NY Post 12/19/2003 Page 19.
Cars Slams Into Union Crowd - Rat Unscathed
I had no idea that rat was so expensive. I googled our beloved union mascot after reading the Post story because I was curious as to how much it would have cost to replace him had that Camry been a few feet more to the right.
$7,700 for a 30’ rat with ‘big fangs’ and ‘festering nipples’. Makes you really appreciate the annual investment Macy’s makes for its Thanksgiving Day Parade.
I think the Rat should be in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Buuuuuurp
Oh, I’ve definitely seen more than one rat on the same day - one was on 6th & 17th in front of the Lyla building (by Splash) and the other on 5th & 20th. Isn’t it nice to know that union dues go to giant inflatable rodentiae?
How sad Rat sightings make me!
You see, for many years, I mistakingly believed that the Rat was unique to the protesters who protested my own place of employ. Then one day, I was driving around midtown, and saw the Rat at some other random company, who obviously didn’t deserve him! Well, I have no idea if they deserved the scorn of the union or not, but darn it, that was MY SPECIAL RAT! I felt very betrayed.
Now I hear he’s out at the office holiday party, wearing Christmas lights on his head, next thing you know it will be a lampshade and he’ll be making passes at girls in the mailroom. And here I am, alone, Rat-less. Isn’t that always the way?
Hey, how come we don’t have any of those? The grocery strike has been going on for months now and I haven’t seen Rat One.
I bet a big festering-nippled rat would really take the strikers’ minds off the fact that their health insurance is running out.
My dad told me a story of seeing tenants protesting a landlord, holding picket signs that said “Rats as big as Cats.”
The rat was not in attendance. [sigh] I miss NY.
~M
I’m sure I remember pogoing to the ‘festering nipples’ at the Marquee in '78
