WTF Stories of the Week

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

To put it in some perspective - if you figure the average set probably consists of 8-10 individual games, and an average match is probably 4 sets, then the 5th set alone was the equivalent of ~4 matches of tennis.

Wasn't the total length of the match just under 11 hours?

And was it played over two days, or three?

[Kevy Baby]

I'm not sure who is to blame for the toss, but there is some sort of "WTF" in here.

Tiny turtle causes taxiing plane to return to gate
Tiny caged turtle causes taxiing AirTran plane to return to gate, where sisters threw it away

The whole story



And an additional WTF to whoever wrote a sub-head that restates the headline almost word-for-word

[Kevy Baby]

Maybe this should be in the political thread.

California welfare cards can be used in many casino ATMs
Times review finds that in more than half of the state's casinos and gaming rooms, welfare recipients can get cash from state-issued EBT cards. Officials say they're moving to block such transactions.

The LA Times Story

This kind of stuff really irritates me. I have (mostly) no problem with people receiving welfare who need it, but abuses like this just make me sick. I am sure the majority of the people on welfare don't do this kind of thing (and other abuses), but unfortunately, this is all that most people hear about and draw incorrect conclusions.




(See Jay Dub... I respect the need!)

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Kevy Baby

California welfare cards can be used in many casino ATMs

Must say, my response is "So what?" They can probably be used at most ATMs in strip clubs, liquor stores, amusement parks, yacht rental stores, etc.

Much better to make them take the money out at the convenience store across the street and then buy lottery tickets with the money. Money's fungible, if you want to insist that only certain things be purchased with assistance then open government run stores that only have those items and give people a checklist.

[JWBear]

Originally Posted by Kevy Baby

(See Jay Dub... I respect the need!)

No worries. The story disturbed me too.

[Not Afraid]

They threw it away!

I had to go read the story to calm my sense of horror.

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

I had to go read the story to calm my sense of horror.

The first pass on this line I read this as "...to calm my sense of humor."




I wish I had more time to look into this. I want to believe that the airline employee did not tell them to throw it away, that there was just a misunderstanding. But there are so many things wrong here, just based on the story.

• The father and/or the older sister (22) might have been more proactive in ascertaining whether they could take the turtle on the plane
• Excepting for the possibility of having instructed to throw the turtle in the trash, I feel for the airline employees as they were screwed no matter what. If they allowed the turtle to fly, they faced getting into trouble for that, from the company and/or other passengers.
• The gate attendant I'm torn on. It would have been a great customer service outreach to offer to hold and make sure it gets to Dad (although they would have had to bring the turtle to a place before security as Dad wouldn't have been able to get past security without a ticket), but then officially it opens up the airline to liability issues. I lean towards that they should have done it (held for Dad).
• I am disturbed that the girls would opt to throw the turtle away rather than wait until the next flight. Regardless of whether they were "instructed" to do so or not, they still made the final decision to throw it away. I have no sympathy for the little girl on that accord alone.

In practical terms, if they were going to bring the turtle on board, they should have just smuggled it on once they passed security. I am guessing they decided to be up-front about it and be open with everyone along the way, but that is not the avenue I would have taken.

[Gemini Cricket]

Thrown it away?
They could have at least ate it instead...

[Frikitiki]

living in Hawaii, we are very fearful of creatures and critters coming into the state. We have no snakes and rabies. Taking a turtle from one part of the country to another might not be a smart thing especially where kids get tired of them and let them go in the wild.

While it probably could have been handled better at a customer service level, there are possible repercussions.

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by Frikitiki

We have no snakes and rabies.

Is this a typo that should have read "snakes and rabbits"? Otherwise, I am not sure why you lumped snakes and rabies together as snakes (nor any reptile) can get rabies.