Pettiness

It seems that some people, as well as law enforcement agencies, are sweating the small stuff too much. Most people don't deserve to be treated like common criminals.

On a long airplane flight, a man had to use the washroom in a hurry but the aisle was blocked by the refreshments cart.  His polite request to use the washroom in business class was denied. So he pushed past the cart so he could get to the washroom. When the plane landed he was arrested and charged with assault because he grabbed the flight attendant's arm.  This at a time when some airlines were considering plans to make people pay to use the washroom.

A policeman prevented a man from entering a hospital to see his dying mother in law because he had run a red light on the way there. By the time the man had finished all the paperwork, his mother in law had died. The cop should have just let the man go and worried about the paperwork afterwards. The officer in question was later suspended without pay; he couldn't be fired because of union regulations.

Just the other day, an employee at a Montreal fast food restaurant was publicly humiliated after a manager posted a rude note saying that she had to speak French while on the job.  While the law in Quebec states that any company that employs above a certain number of people must require workers to speak French, the woman had only been speaking English to a colleague while off duty.  She subsequently left her job there.

The law shouldn't be abused like this to the detriment of ordinary folks. Nor should folks be able to sue each other for any trivial thing, especially if the perceived injustice was brought on by sheer stupidity. Everyone knows about the fast-food restaurant coffee burn incident. Let's all be smarter than that.