Michael Fitzgerald Posted August 13, 2005 Report Share Posted August 13, 2005 OK, so I know I shouldn't have high expectations when I'm watching TV, but I just saw a commercial for a vacuum cleaner that uses the interesting scenario of a restaurant called "Flor" where people sit and eat off the floor. Clever, amusing - based on that old saying, "clean enough you could eat off it". However, there is a small type legal disclaimer "not a real restaurant". Oh really? I was hoping to book reservations. We now have to have "closed course, professional driver" for every auto commercial, etc. How stupid can people get? Can we look forward to constant disclaimers during every movie we watch? "this is a fictional character. Mr. Bogart has never owned a cafe in Morocco."? I'm all for truth in advertising but - really, now. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free For All Posted August 13, 2005 Report Share Posted August 13, 2005 (edited) I like that they put directions on shampoo. And those desiccants that come packed in things that say "do not eat". I guess they have to cover their ass legally, but you wonder if it came about because some moron ate the desiccants or couldn't figure out how to use shampoo. Edited August 13, 2005 by Free For All Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Fitzgerald Posted August 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2005 David Letterman said when Brooke Shields was at Princeton that was one of her term paper titles: "A Chemical Reaction in Three Stages: Lather, Rinse, Repeat." I figure they do that trying to get people to use (and therefore buy) twice as much - REPEAT! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randissimo Posted August 13, 2005 Report Share Posted August 13, 2005 I like that they put directions on shampoo. And those desiccants that come packed in things that say "do not eat". I guess they have to cover their ass legally, but you wonder if it came about because some moron ate the desiccants or couldn't figure out how to use shampoo. ← There is a rail trail that passes a sewage treatment facility. They have warning signs on the fences that say something like, "Do not drink the water past this fence".. As if some dumb ass is going to climb over the fence to drink or fill a water bottle.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free For All Posted August 13, 2005 Report Share Posted August 13, 2005 "Caution! Coffee is hot!" Ya think? Remember that case? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quincy Posted August 13, 2005 Report Share Posted August 13, 2005 Sometimes those warnings are meant to be tongue-in-cheek. I get a kick out of the warning labels on Grateful Dead Dick's Picks releases. For the first few years each release carried the following: CAVEAT EMPTOR: This compact disc has been digitally remastered directly from the original half track 7 ½ ips analog tape. It is a snapshot of history, not a modern professional recording, and may therefore exhibit some technical anomalies and the unavoidable effects of the ravages of time. The warning usually reads something like the above even today, but now and then they stray. For DP 19: CAVEAT EMPTOR: Despite a rather skeevy ouverture, the sound quality of this release quickly settles into a nice, warm groove. Listen closely, however, for you may just find that your mind will be blown by the music contained herein. My favorite is for DP 22 which was recorded at a bowling alley/ski lodge in Tahoe in '68: CAVEAT EMPTOR: WARNING: This is NOT an audiophile recording! Many of you may have read the numerous Dick's Picks Caveat Emptors over the years, and thought "Oh yeah...sure...whatever." Well, this old anolog recording source exhibits many audio flaws including high distortion, low vocals, tape hiss, and missing pieces. No fair calling Customer Support and complaining! However, let it be known that this CD also includes some pretty damn exciting and historical music, and for that reason is brought to you with pride. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted August 13, 2005 Report Share Posted August 13, 2005 My guess is that the word "stupidity" should be replaced by "sue-happiness" in the thread title. That or change the whole thing to "The justification of their jobs by corporate legal divisions"... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Fitzgerald Posted August 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2005 No, it's stupidity. If people need to be told there's no real restaurant where you eat off the floor, they're stupid. Now, why there isn't a similar note for the fancy restaurant that serves nothing but Cheerios, I have no idea. Maybe that is a real restaurant. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted August 13, 2005 Report Share Posted August 13, 2005 My guess is that the word "stupidity" should be replaced by "sue-happiness" in the thread title. That or change the whole thing to "The justification of their jobs by corporate legal divisions"... ← Sue Egypt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted August 13, 2005 Report Share Posted August 13, 2005 No, it's stupidity. If people need to be told there's no real restaurant where you eat off the floor, they're stupid. Now, why there isn't a similar note for the fancy restaurant that serves nothing but Cheerios, I have no idea. Maybe that is a real restaurant. Mike ← They could call it Seinfields. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Son-of-a-Weizen Posted August 14, 2005 Report Share Posted August 14, 2005 No, it's stupidity. If people need to be told there's no real restaurant where you eat off the floor, they're stupid. Not necessarily. There are all sorts of off-the-wall ideas/concepts that come to fruition. Who on earth would have believed that we'd live to see televison programs featuring nutballs devouring fistfuls of live beetles and earthworms in order to to 'win'? Heck, it wasn't too long ago that I read a couple of home improvement stories about folks who had taken to expanding their bathrooms to mammoth proportions, installed Czech crystal chandeliers and were hosting small dinner parties in there. I can easily imagine some blurb showing up in the Washington Post magazine section about some rage little fru-fru restaurant where you'd sit on cushions and eat off the floor. In 'Before the Deluge,' I seem to recall Otto Friedrich going on about a couple of restaurants in post-WWI Berlin where you could get all gussied up and actually dine opposite a corpse dressed up in a tux. Hell, I'd roll my angus ribeye in the grease oozing from between the floor tiles in a restaurant -- and pay for the pleasure of doing so -- before I'd share a table with some stiff Rodney Dangerfield clone in a midnight blue tux. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted August 14, 2005 Report Share Posted August 14, 2005 As far as cereal goes there is now a chain with three locations, including Chicago, where you eat nothing but cereal. However, lest you get the idea of emulating this idea, the owners have made in clear in several interviews they will try to sue you pants off. One more way that the legal system is ensuring that America goes to the dogs. This subrant belongs in politics, but the day the Patent office agreed to patent business practices (as well as living organisms) was a sad one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted August 14, 2005 Report Share Posted August 14, 2005 Hell, I'd roll my angus ribeye in the grease oozing from between the floor tiles in a restaurant -- and pay for the pleasure of doing so -- before I'd share a table with some stiff Rodney Dangerfield clone in a midnight blue tux. ← No respect, I tell ya... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted August 15, 2005 Report Share Posted August 15, 2005 We now have to have "closed course, professional driver" for every auto commercial, etc. How stupid can people get? Can we look forward to constant disclaimers during every movie we watch? "this is a fictional character. Mr. Bogart has never owned a cafe in Morocco."? ← HA! Disclaimer on Maltese Falcon: "This is a fictional story. Do not try to actually take guns from young hoods." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosco Posted August 15, 2005 Report Share Posted August 15, 2005 No, it's stupidity. If people need to be told there's no real restaurant where you eat off the floor, they're stupid. ← You think? Obviously never dined at this place... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Fitzgerald Posted August 15, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2005 Oh my God. Well, like I said - *never* underestimate...... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Rat Posted August 15, 2005 Report Share Posted August 15, 2005 Oh my God. Well, like I said - *never* underestimate...... Mike ← OK, now that you see there are real restaurants every bit as bizarre as Flor, who's stupid? --eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Fitzgerald Posted August 15, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2005 Well, let's see - choice A is "the folks eating off the floor"; choice B is "the folks eating out of the toilet"..... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Rat Posted August 15, 2005 Report Share Posted August 15, 2005 Well I thought the point of the original post was "people are stupid becuase they believe Flor could exist" not "people are stupid because they eat off the floor in this restaurant." --eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Son-of-a-Weizen Posted August 15, 2005 Report Share Posted August 15, 2005 One night at the restaurant in the Hyatt Regency Cambridge, several of the gay waiters chased each other around the kitchen with cooked lobster carapaces jutting from their open zippers. It was a funny scene. I'll never forget the look on the the faces of the old Chinese chefs. After all the shit I saw going on in that place, the thought of eating out of a faux toilet doesn't sound so bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave James Posted August 15, 2005 Report Share Posted August 15, 2005 I think it's impossible to underestimate the stupidity of the American public. Look who they elected in 2004. Seriously though, this is a situation where "stupidity" and "sue-happiness" can peacefully co-exist. The lady who started the disclaimer ball rolling was the one who spilled scalding hot coffee in her lap, burned herself and then successfully sued because the restaurant failed to remind her that coffee is hot. In today's topsy turvy world, where personal accountability is a casuality of the culture and no one is accountable for their own actions, this made her a victim. Victimhood means that any time you do something stupid, it can't possibly be your fault, so it must be someone else's. If what you do turns out to register a "10" on the stupid scale, then an action is sure to follow. Litigation allows you to legally establish the fact that you're not stupid and it provides you with a chunk of unanticipated cash to split between yourself and your attorney. What more incentive do you need...it's the American way. Up over and out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Wheel Posted August 15, 2005 Report Share Posted August 15, 2005 I think it's impossible to underestimate the stupidity of the American public. Look who they elected in 2004. Seriously though, this is a situation where "stupidity" and "sue-happiness" can peacefully co-exist. The lady who started the disclaimer ball rolling was the one who spilled scalding hot coffee in her lap, burned herself and then successfully sued because the restaurant failed to remind her that coffee is hot. Up over and out. ← This is something of a mischaracterization of the McDonald's coffee case. First of all, the McDonald's that the woman in question visited was brewing its coffee significantly hotter than most homemade coffee (and possibly hotter than that brewed at other McDonald's--I've heard that the machine was improperly calibrated, but haven't been able to confirm that with a quick google). Second, the main reason so much was awarded in damages was that McDonald's essentially told her to go screw herself when she requested that they pay for the skin grafts to her third degree burns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosco Posted August 15, 2005 Report Share Posted August 15, 2005 So.... Coffee made with boiling water. Who'd have thunk? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDK Posted August 15, 2005 Report Share Posted August 15, 2005 That's correct - the coffee was significantly hotter than it should have been and the woman was seriously burned. This is one of those cases were the media reports only part of the story and/or the public only gloms on to the part that they want to hear - namely the part assuming that the woman was an idiot. In addition, iirc, the huge judgement (that led to much of the publicity) was subsequently greatly reduced by the trial judge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDK Posted August 15, 2005 Report Share Posted August 15, 2005 http://www.citizen.org/print_article.cfm?ID=785 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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