When I open
the paper, every day it just smacks of stupidity. Sure, wars are
stupid and all, but is anything really more stupid than people who file
lawsuits without reason? You'd have to be really stupid to beat
that - I mean, stupid is as stupid dows, but that would be just stupid.
That's why I started this page - to tell the stupid people to not be
stupid anymore and to discourage the potentially stupid population from
ever becoming stupid. In thanks, you can send me
money.
And now, risking expensive
defamation lawsuits that will no doubt generate tons of ad revenue for
this site, onto the first lawsuit!
FIRETEDDY ABSOLUDRICROUS CASE
#001:
MICHEL THIBODEAU VS. SEVEN-UP AND AIR CANADA
Let's start this page off with a bang. Michel Thibodeau works for
the House of Commons. For you non-Canadian readers, that's a government
facility. He's a technician, and probably makes enough money to support
a decent living.
He's also from Quebec. I've lived
in Quebec for a couple of years, and then quickly moved away - though
I'll totally kill all Quebec-related traffic to my site by saying this,
fully half of Quebec's population consists of what I like to call
'language fundamentalists' - the militant Al-Quaida of the language
world. In Quebec, you can't have English signs, even though it's one of
Canada's official languages. In Quebec, you can't turn right on a red
light. And in Quebec, everyone thinks they're better than you.
That's why it's a good thing Mr.
Thibodeau here is from Quebec, or else he'd have no excuse to be this
stupid. Kind of like you can sort of forgive a militant
fundamentalist Islamic terrorist for being like that because he believes
in the extremes of his religion, you can sort of forgive Michel
Thibodeau for being the extremist he is. But only sort of.
This is the setting. Thibodeau sat
comfortably in his padded seat in a probably very nice Air Canada
flight, when he thought "Hey, I sure could use a 7-Up to quench my
thirst. Mmm, 7-up." So, what else is a Quebecker traveling abroad to do?
He slammed the air flight attendant call button with a great push of his
index, and sat back, waited.
A smiling and bubbly attendant soon
answered his call. "Hello, there, sir," she said with a grin, eager to
show off the skills she's learned at Air Flight Attendant University.
"How may I make your flight more pleasant?"
"Bonjour," said Thibodeau in
heavily accented French. "Puis-je avoir un seven-up?"
The waitress flusters, confused.
She didn't understand a word of French, and doesn't know how quite to
handle this situation. "I'm sorry, sir," she says, blushing. "I don't
speak French."
"Raaar!! BLAARGH!! BALLBAAH!!!"
says Thibodeau in an angry fit of rage. Well, maybe that last part
didn't happen, but it did in my mind's eye. He made no more of the
issue, and smiles nicely. The waitress was glad she did okay, and went
back into waiting mode. Thibodeau got off the plane, and to his
destination.
Nine days later, he filed a lawsuit
against Air Canada, claiming $500 000 in punitive damages and a further
$25 000 in general damages, claiming that he was not served in French as
is his Constitutional right.
If you have any sense left in your
head, dear reader, you are probably currently repeating the mantra "what
the fuck" inside your well-educated head. And if not, read the following
aloud: what the fuck.
Ah, but that's not even the kicker.
He speaks English too, and was perfectly able to order his drink in
English.
Suing an airline because one of the
stewardesses didn't speak your mother tongue is kind of like jumping out
of a plane and falling into a pit of whoopee cushions naked. Why is this
a good comparison? Because they're both stupid. If I sued every
person I walked into that couldn't speak French for $500 000, you know
how much more money I'd have? None, because they'd all get thrown out of
court by a laughing judge. You just don't do it. It's common sense.
Common sense like, don't cut your own wrists with knives because you
will die. Don't sue airlines because the stewardess coulnd't speak
French and your social life will die.
If this guy still has any friends,
they're all members of the Quebec Language Police and probably aren't
very cool. In fact, I tried to contact DC comics to see if they could
just get Superman to whip Michel Thibodeau's ass, but all I got was
this:
FROM:
SERVICE@DCCOMICS.COM
TO:
LOUDSPEEK@HOTMAIL.COM
SUBJECT: RE: SUPERMAN I NEED YOUR HELP
Unfortunately, Superman is
currently busy with much bigger projects and cannot help you at the
moment. He will, however, send you a gift box full of things. Have a
super day!
--------------------
Chet Atkins, Customer Service Rep, DC Comics
A week later I got a package in the
mail that contained a single pornographic sticker and a Cuban cigar, and
a very strong smell of rum. The words "frum chet" were scribbled
unevenly on the interior of the box.
Unfortunately, the court has not
yet turned in a decision regarding this case, so I can't pour my
derision into it right now. But be assured that as soon as I hear of
what the court rules, it'll be right up here.
Meanwhile,
send me your opinions and stupid lawsuits, and rock on, surfers.
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INFO BOX!
absoludicrously stupid lawsuits : michel
thibodeau
writing feature
uploaded march 7 2002
by Matt Mongrain

No photos of this
guy have been released in my local or internet press, but you can
assume he probably looks like this.

Can't you read the can, you dumb shit? The writing's in English!
It's not meant for French people!
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