Many years ago, when I was living in NYC, I was walking on 42nd street, past Bryant Park around lunch time. There were hedges separating the park from the sidewalk. All of a sudden it seemed to be lightly raining, in spite of the blue sky. I ran through a gap in the hedge, and sure enough, a homeless man was asleep on a bench, with his still-peeing dick pointed upward.
I know this seems like an urban legend, but it’s not.
Where do you live, I’m moving there tomorrow!
I realize this is a zombie thread, so I guess I can’t ask hajario for a cite, but I’d still want to see one before I took this seriously. It’s not exceedingly unlikely that a lawyer helped someone sue on those grounds, but I have a hard time believing that it was successful. Not to mention, I’d think the risk of being sued would be even greater if the store took deliberate action to make the food in the dumpster dangerous to eat.
I saw a hospice worker wearing a shirt (while working in direct patient care) that said, “Eat right, exercise, die anyway”.
mmm
I don’t know if that counts as “disgraceful” but it sure is fucked up.
My definition of cold probably is different, because I live in a place that is colder than most. If we didn’t let our dog stay out in freezing weather the dog would not be out for 6 months of the year.
Canadian animal cruelty laws require the animal to have experienced distress for the owner to be charged with any kind of neglect, and since neither our dog nor most other dogs around here are experiencing distress, it doesn’t apply. I mostly responded to Renifer because she wasn’t appalled by the fact that the dog was in pain or suffering, but by the mere fact that it was outside in freezing weather, as though that automatically meant the dog was suffering. On review, it also seems that the dog did have shelter- a doghouse.
I walked through San Francisco’s Tenderloin District at noon one time. I saw hookers paying their pimps, a woman shooting up her man whilst laying in a doorway, and the worst left turn I’ve ever witnessed in the space of 90 seconds.
For a moment, I felt a sympathy with Mr. Kurtz.
One day a rain is gonna come, and it’s gonna wash all this scum off the streets.
Holy mother of god.:eek::eek::eek: How is it that he’s managed to retain his job at all, much less continue to be permitted to be in the presence of customers and suppliers? Seriously, I need to know…
For SF? It’d have to be a Noah sized rain, there’s so much scum there. Hell, The Augean stables are nothing compared to just City Hall.
What do you mean? He’s sure telling it like it is…
I’d say it is the parents at kids sporting events who think it is their God given right to be obnoxious jerk to the officials.
Look, I dont agree with every call either. But unless I see a kid endangered or I believe a ref is blatantly trying to help the other team (which happens) I usually bring it up with the coach who then can talk with the official better than I can. Its only a kids game and the refs are human.
One time I did speak up was when the other football team had 12 kids on the field and the refs didnt catch it.
When I was 16, I saw some younger teenagers hurling abuse and stones at an old man. I crossed the road, walked with him to a more populated area, then carried on my way.
The teenagers caught up with me. One of them claimed I’d said something about her - I hadn’t; they were strangers and I didn’t want to pick a fight. They all came over and hit me, kicked me and spat on me, and finally the eldest one held my head over some park railing spikes while her little brother kicked me.
This was on a very quiet road, but eventually a man in a suit walked past. The kids let me down and I ran towards the man, saying hey bro, how’s dad? Pretending he was my brother, but whispering to him to just walk with me until we got somewhere safer. The teenagers followed at a distance and we really weren’t that far from safety.
He ran away. 
A grown man ran away from a young girl asking for help.
That’s one of the most despicable things I’ve seen.
Another one from my teenage years: walking around trying to find my friend, and seeing a van slow down and someone toss her out the back. Bloody, bruised and delerious. She’d been raped by the men in the van; her “boyfriend” had given her to his cousin and his friends. We staggered slowly back to my house, passing several people who looked away. We never went to the police because it would not have turned out well for my friend and her family.
When I was heavily pregnant, a girl and her bf attacked me and held a knife to my womb. I was quite young so maybe the passersby thought it was a gang thing or something. My crime was yelling at her boyfriend for cycling into me on the pavement.
I’ve also seen a gang attack a kebab shop worker with a samurai sword. A shoot-out on the street like something from TV. An old lady, clothes torn, face in pieces, blood dripping down her thighs, shrieking about the men who’d done it. She was trying to walk to the hospital and was nearly there so I took her the rest of the way.
But hey, no ratty flags.
I think because I work with so many people with developmental disabilities (autism, aspergers, etc…) I have developed a pretty high tolerance for odd-weird-unacceptable behavior. Many kids are prove to “meltdowns” where they can go pretty crazy and everyone think the worse of you and all. Or the older ones will say and do some pretty bad things.
Take for example - my self and my son who has severe autism. One time we were at the library and he couldnt find a particular book. He had this major MAJOR breakdown where he was screaming at the top of his lungs and running around. It was so bad I had to literally pick up and drag this kid out all the while he was screaming and I mean SCREAMING! The library was pretty full and literally every person was staring at us thinking I was some sort of child abuser or I was stealing him or something because he was yelling “No, No, No go!!!” Luckily the only person who “helped” was a librarian because she understood and held the door and even came outside with my books I was trying to carry. Of course the minute we got outside he settled down and even realized what he had done.
I dont know of many worse things than to have your kid go nuts and have hundreds of eyes staring at you like you were some sort of freak show or criminal.
When I am around others where this happens I quietly come to assist, offer encouragement, and try to help.
SciFiSam, where in hell did you grow up?
My guesses are Bogota, Mogodishu, or the New York portrayed in Escape From New York.
Just outside London. I think the rest of you must have had charmed lives of you’ve never seen anything similar.
Seriously?? You think that what you have seen is normal?
Yeah, I had no idea A Clockwork Orange was a documentary.
Well, maybe not the samurai sword, but the rest of it isn’t that unusual. It’s a few events over 20 years, after all. Well, there have been others too, but it’s not like this is a weekly round-up.