Wednesday, June 02, 2004
on trucks and things
Driving to work today I was annoyingly sprayed by pebbles flying out of a dump truck with a loosely tied tarp flopping in the wind across its top. As I was finally able to pass, being the safe, attentive driver I am, I took a few seconds to read two signs posted on the back of this truck. The first one read “Danger: stay back 200 feet.” Good idea, thanks for the tip (though reading it from 200 would be impressive). The other one read, “Not responsible for objects falling out of truck.” I thought that was a pretty good joke, but as I passed the driver’s window I discovered it was in fact not a clown at the wheel, but a real truck driver driving a real dump truck.
Lawsuits have gotten completely out of hand in the last decade or so as many people seem to prefer to blame someone else for their idiocy, lack of willpower, or any other shortcoming or mistake they aren’t happy about, and companies have rightfully taken steps to protect themselves from frivolous suits, often putting obvious disclaimers on their products, such as “caution: this hot cup of coffee, made with boiling water, may be hot.” There. If you spill and burn your pinkie toe, you can’t sue – you were forewarned. Though stupid and obvious, these are a necessary response to the unfortunate reality that there are very stupid people in our country who harm themselves in very stupid ways, and many of them are stupid enough to believe that it was the fault of someone else rather than their very own stupidity. But what does this company think it is getting by saying “hey, we aren’t responsible if a brick or something jumps out of our poorly covered dump truck and smashes through your window while going 70 on the freeway.” That can’t actually afford them any legal protection, can it? I think I’ll start wearing a sign on my back saying “warning: caution: not responsible.” That should just about do it.
A few minutes after passing this truck-o’-immunity, I thought I heard this on the radio from some female pop type: “…put my hand down between your legs and said it’s small, but it’s really not at all.” Help me out – is that really what I heard?
In other news, I’m watching a show about ninjas right now. God bless cable.
Lawsuits have gotten completely out of hand in the last decade or so as many people seem to prefer to blame someone else for their idiocy, lack of willpower, or any other shortcoming or mistake they aren’t happy about, and companies have rightfully taken steps to protect themselves from frivolous suits, often putting obvious disclaimers on their products, such as “caution: this hot cup of coffee, made with boiling water, may be hot.” There. If you spill and burn your pinkie toe, you can’t sue – you were forewarned. Though stupid and obvious, these are a necessary response to the unfortunate reality that there are very stupid people in our country who harm themselves in very stupid ways, and many of them are stupid enough to believe that it was the fault of someone else rather than their very own stupidity. But what does this company think it is getting by saying “hey, we aren’t responsible if a brick or something jumps out of our poorly covered dump truck and smashes through your window while going 70 on the freeway.” That can’t actually afford them any legal protection, can it? I think I’ll start wearing a sign on my back saying “warning: caution: not responsible.” That should just about do it.
A few minutes after passing this truck-o’-immunity, I thought I heard this on the radio from some female pop type: “…put my hand down between your legs and said it’s small, but it’s really not at all.” Help me out – is that really what I heard?
In other news, I’m watching a show about ninjas right now. God bless cable.
# posted by Anonymous @ 11:27 PM 
