# The Most Disgraceful Thing You've Ever Seen (Especially in Public) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 18, 2013, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disgraceful-thing-youve-ever-seen-especially-in-public/653297 "2013-03-18T21:01:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disgraceful-thing-youve-ever-seen-especially-in-public/653297/201 "2013-12-05T18:33:59Z")
I saw an old guy shit himself in the lobby of a hotel. And when I say shit himself, I mean like he’d been constipated for weeks. Middle aged couple with kids and grandpa get off the elevator. The family sits in the lobby while hubby goes to retrieve the car. Suddenly gramps stands up and shits diarrhea for like a minute straight. It’s running all down his pant legs. It’s making a Frisbee-sized pile on the floor, and he’s just staring straight ahead almost oblivious. The family is mortified: absolutely mortified. They whisk gramps away as he’s leaving a trail from the sitting area to the front door, just in time to get pushed into the car and then zoomed away. I’m sure he had dementia and/or Alzheimer’s and couldn’t grasp what he had done, so this isn’t so much disgraceful as it is humiliating for the family involved. Poor guy. The bellhop wasn’t too thrilled when he returned either. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disgraceful-thing-youve-ever-seen-especially-in-public/653297/202 "2013-12-05T19:01:33Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I witnessed the reelection of Richard Nixon. Hmmm… In the years I lived in DC, I saw several homeless people lower their pants and take shits on the sidewalk or street. I’m not sure how to compare that with Nixon. Suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disgraceful-thing-youve-ever-seen-especially-in-public/653297/203 "2013-12-05T19:08:27Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Hmmm… In the years I lived in DC, I saw several homeless people lower their pants and take shits on the sidewalk or street. I’m not sure how to compare that with Nixon. > > Suggestions? In DC in the bad old days, the hookers on 14th street would go to the parking lot in front of Garvin’s at 13 and L to take shits. It was a good spot because there was this long wall that they could lean against while taking a leisurely dump. Sometimes more than one would be there and they’d chat and smoke while crapping. Still doesn’t beat the George W. Bush’s second term. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disgraceful-thing-youve-ever-seen-especially-in-public/653297/204 "2013-12-05T20:00:57Z")
In an odd coincidence, I witnessed all these episodes around Thomas Circle. Do you recall Robert, the Mayor of 14th Street? Or maybe Scott Circle? Not sure, it’s been so long… It was on 14th St. where Mass ave. went under the circle. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disgraceful-thing-youve-ever-seen-especially-in-public/653297/205 "2013-12-05T20:22:11Z")
I vaguely remember the mayor of 14th. That used to be a crazy stretch. As soon as you crossed the 14th st. bridge from VA there were strip clubs, hookers and peepshows. I don’t know if you’re still in the area, but the city has really changed. The younger me kinds of misses it. ETA: the DC homeowner me does not miss it one bit and I see you are in Madison now. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disgraceful-thing-youve-ever-seen-especially-in-public/653297/206 "2013-12-05T20:37:02Z")
No, I left in the early 90s. I lived on Columbia Rd. just off 16th St., but I worked on 14th St., just north of O St. I saw the hookers every day and for the first few weeks there I was constantly being asked if I was interested in a “date” until they got to recognize my face and ignored me. This would have been from 80-85. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disgraceful-thing-youve-ever-seen-especially-in-public/653297/207 "2013-12-05T20:40:34Z")
And as I remember it, 14th St. didn’t get er, questionable until you got north of K St., but it qot questionable really fast after that. The Logan Circle area just just in the opening days of gentrification, and the residents and cops were starting to engage the hookers and dealers in what was locally called the “Logan Circle War”. Though I never heard of anyone being shot during it. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disgraceful-thing-youve-ever-seen-especially-in-public/653297/208 "2013-12-06T01:08:51Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Hmmm… In the years I lived in DC, I saw several homeless people lower their pants and take shits on the sidewalk or street. I’m not sure how to compare that with Nixon. > > Suggestions? At least the former could be construed as performance art. ---
**Author:** ![Doggo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/87869e/32.png) [@Doggo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doggo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disgraceful-thing-youve-ever-seen-especially-in-public/653297/209 "2013-12-06T03:53:21Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > My top two: > > Coming around the corner at dusk and seeing three burly cops who had taped a man’s mouth shut and were taking turns punching him in the stomach. > > A young male who felt that a middle-aged man had cut in front of him and taken his parking slot (in a large public parking lot with plenty of other spaces). When the older man, a soft, flabby, gentle looking guy, got out of his car with his young son, the first guy jumped out of his own car and started screaming obscenities at him and challenging him to fight. The father drooped and said nothing and slunk away looking extremely ashamed, son in tow. At the hospital I worked at, parking was a major problem, but one day I was lucky enough to be able to get a park when the previous occupant was pulling out. To my surprise, a man got out of of his car on the side of the road and started screaming abuse at me, as he had been waiting for a space to open up ( I had no idea he was waiting ). I knew that there was no q system because I worked there. I could have walked off, but I was worried he would damage my car, so I moved. Pity of it was, he didn’t show where I worked, or I could have mentioned the maniac that screamed at me in the car park in passing conversation, LOL. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disgraceful-thing-youve-ever-seen-especially-in-public/653297/210 "2013-12-06T04:36:14Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > At least the former could be construed as performance art. GG Allin did that. DO NOT Google him on a work computer; trust me on that. In the summer of 1993, I worked with a man who said he saw Allin, “because I just wanted to find out if the guy was for real”. Our co-workers did not believe the stories he told about Allin’s onstage stunts. He got another job, and the day after he quit, I read in Rolling Stone that Allin was dead - and no, he didn’t blow himself up onstage like he always said he would do. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disgraceful-thing-youve-ever-seen-especially-in-public/653297/211 "2013-12-06T05:56:30Z")
Regarding peeing in public: I saw a well-dressed businessman in mid-town Manhattan whip it out and pee into the gutter…in the middle of a crowd of people. didn’t seem the least embarrassed. ---
**Author:** ![keeganst94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a6a055/32.png) [@keeganst94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keeganst94)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disgraceful-thing-youve-ever-seen-especially-in-public/653297/212 "2013-12-06T06:22:02Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Anaamika > > Huh. I would argue that leaving any creature out in the cold all day long - and I’m sorry, but freezing weather IS cold - is cruelty. I mean, sure, it depends on the dog, but even my Samoyed doggie wanted to eventually come in and curl up by the heater. Dogs are creatures of comfort, too, and I’d never leave a dog out all day in freezing weather. I guess maybe it depends on the dog, but our dog (a mix of god-knows-what) is quite content staying outside all day. She’ll often come in briefly to eat, then bark to be let back out. She gets uncomfortable (and we let her stay inside) at about -30C. Most people let there dogs in before that (our dog has extremely thick fur and seems to handle the cold better than most), but most of the people I know also leave there dogs out for most of the day below -20C. I guess there are certain dogs that probably shouldn’t be outside in that kind of weather though. And sorry, but freezing weather is definitely not cold. I wear shorts and a t-shirt in freezing weather, and I’m outside for hours at a time. Cold is -25C. Really cold is -40C. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disgraceful-thing-youve-ever-seen-especially-in-public/653297/213 "2013-12-06T14:25:29Z")
> [@keeganst94](#): > > I guess maybe it depends on the dog, but our dog (a mix of god-knows-what) is quite content staying outside all day. She’ll often come in briefly to eat, then bark to be let back out. She gets uncomfortable (and we let her stay inside) at about -30C. Most people let there dogs in before that (our dog has extremely thick fur and seems to handle the cold better than most), but most of the people I know also leave there dogs out for most of the day below -20C. I guess there are certain dogs that probably shouldn’t be outside in that kind of weather though. > > And sorry, but freezing weather is definitely not cold. I wear shorts and a t-shirt in freezing weather, and I’m outside for hours at a time. Cold is -25C. Really cold is -40C. Must be a dry cold. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disgraceful-thing-youve-ever-seen-especially-in-public/653297/214 "2013-12-06T16:47:24Z")
Actually it’s ‘not windy’ cold. You can stand a lot of cold weather if it’s not windy. ---
**Author:** ![scratch\_llll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@scratch\_llll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch_llll)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2013, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disgraceful-thing-youve-ever-seen-especially-in-public/653297/215 "2013-12-08T18:58:17Z")
I wouldn’t mention this except it happens nearly every day where I gas up and the cummulative effect is depressing. People leave music blaring, often with windows down and doors open, spouting MFer and graphic sex acts while children walk past going to school and inside they buy a quart of beer and scratch off tickets at 8 in the morn. I often put money in the childrens hospital donation jar and make a point to say that it is a better payoff than scratch offs. If it was the same person every day it wouldn’t bother me so much. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disgraceful-thing-youve-ever-seen-especially-in-public/653297/216 "2013-12-09T10:30:26Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Justifiable Homicide is a thing in the US. Do you UKers have anything similar? In the UK, I think it’s Required Homicide. They have a better legal system there. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disgraceful-thing-youve-ever-seen-especially-in-public/653297/217 "2013-12-09T10:45:25Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > OMG, **Rhiannon**. The kittens in the linky pic look just like my Nikki. ☹ Why the \*fuck \*would someone go to the trouble to round 'em all up, drive all the way to the shelter, just to kill them at the doorstep? > > And **st. pauler** , if circumstances would have been just a wee bit different, you might have watched a toddler be run over right in front of his mother’s eyes. Jeebus. I’m thinking the child was lucky in finding a car whose exhaust pipe was cooled. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disgraceful-thing-youve-ever-seen-especially-in-public/653297/218 "2013-12-09T10:52:53Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > That’s what the supermarket clerk told me about the hot chickens she was dumping. She said they donate left-over food for the homeless, but they can’t do it with hot or refrigerated foods, because they have to be kept hot or cold until served. So the homeless charitable organization that drives around trucks to pick up the stuff would have to be heated or refrigerated [ETA: \*], and then the organization would have to keep it hot or cold (or the supermarket would have to, if they kept around until the next day), and nobody wants to deal with that. > > And then, one evil day, some homeless person got salmonella, allegedly from a donated hot chicken or something, and the lawyers pounced, so now the homeless people can eat grass or something while all the supermarkets toss a dozen hot chickens every evening. > > There’s still some crime against humanity going down there, not to mention the crime against all those chickens who died in vain. > > - ETA: I mean, the _trucks_ have to have heat or refrigeration, of course. 😛 Let the lawyers feed them, if they’re so interested in their welfare. You can’t blame the supermarket for not wanting to get sued. Why don’t you go down to the homeless people with something that you fried up? ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disgraceful-thing-youve-ever-seen-especially-in-public/653297/219 "2013-12-09T10:55:45Z")
> [@misterW](#): > > Why would you do that? You’re aware a dog is a living animal, not a piece of luggage? How would you like riding in a trunk? Probably as much as licking his own balls. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disgraceful-thing-youve-ever-seen-especially-in-public/653297/220 "2013-12-09T11:01:21Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > How could that \*possibly \*be safe? I’m with those who say driving with a dog in the trunk is incredibly dumb and dangerous. I’m shocked there is even opposition to that fact. Do you somehow tie the trunk open? How would you see out the back window if the trunk was wide open, and if it was just loosely flapping, what if you hit a bump and the lid closes shut on his head or paw? Tying him to the trunk with a leash, great idea, now he can drag behind your car if he gets some slack in the leash, and you won’t even be able to know it’s happening. You seem to be mystified by the concept that a car driver could easily know when the trunk was closed, and amazed that one could stop a vehicle and re-open it, assuming that one didn’t have a remote button for same. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disgraceful-thing-youve-ever-seen-especially-in-public/653297.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disgraceful-thing-youve-ever-seen-especially-in-public/653297.md?page=12)