Cruise Director
04-28-2004, 05:17 AM
When I was seven years old I picked up a hunting knife that was laying on the counter at Skaggs store. The blade sliced across the palm of my hand creating quite a laceration. A few stitches were required to put the filleted flesh back together again. My parents were quite upset over the whole ordeal. They were upset that I had not followed instruction and had touched something I was not supposed to touch. A second thought was not even given about the store keeping knives out where I could injure myself.
Times have changed a lot in 26 years. Somewhere in the last quarter century we have gone from a society who took responsibility for their own actions to one that is quick to blame and place liability on anyone around them. In today's World, that knife would never have been out on a counter where a customer might be able to actually look at it because retailers are afraid of the liability involved. You see, we have to treat all of you like four year olds because many of our fellow humans refuse to take responsibility for their own actions.
Take Clair. She walks in to a local retailer. While pulling a cart out of a stack of carts she walks backwards about 10 feet, trips over a 3 foot tall display and falls on her ass. She scrapes her chin and tears her pants. twenty six years ago, Clair would have dusted herself off, felt stupid for not watching where she was walking and apologized to the store help for tipping over a display. Today, Clair wants an accident report filled out, the retailer to replace her pants, a medical form for the retailer to pay for her to have the scrape looked at and the general liability insurance phone number to take action against the retailer. All of this because Clair does not want to admit she should have been watching where she was going.
Albert. Albert decides he doesn't want to choose from the two to three hundred boards that are readily available in the easily accessible bin on the floor in front of him. Instead, he scales up the two units behind the cut-open bundle, cuts open the top unit of boards, and is injuried when half of the unit ( around 200 boards )falls on top of him. Does Albert tell himself "I'm a knucklehead for trying to climb up and take boards that are stacked over 8' in the air?" No. He calls the manager of the store over to let him know that the units should be stacked differently to avoid any customers getting hurt. When it is pointed out to Albert that he is in the wrong, he threatens the store manager with a lawsuilt.
These are just two of the hundreds of stories that happen every year in our local retailers stores. The trend is to go after the store any time we hurt ourselves any where around the store. Why is this? When did it become common practice to not take responsibility for ourselves?
The really sad part is, that when someone really does get hurt due to the negligence or carelessness of the retailer, the situation gets treated with more apathy and is dilluted due to the number of false claims filed against the retailer. Do you think these false claims affect you? Take in to consideration that this local retailer pays annual insurance premiums of over 7 million dollars JUST FOR LIABILITY INSURANCE! They pay countless more in attorney's fees and settlements for frivolous lawsuits. Do they take this out of their profits? No. The premiums and costs get passed along to you as consumers.
So, the moral of the store is: Be careful. Pay attention to your surroundings. Watch your kids. Make them responsible for being dumbasses. Take responsibility when YOU are a dumbass. Point out to fellow consumers when THEY are dumbasses.
Times have changed a lot in 26 years. Somewhere in the last quarter century we have gone from a society who took responsibility for their own actions to one that is quick to blame and place liability on anyone around them. In today's World, that knife would never have been out on a counter where a customer might be able to actually look at it because retailers are afraid of the liability involved. You see, we have to treat all of you like four year olds because many of our fellow humans refuse to take responsibility for their own actions.
Take Clair. She walks in to a local retailer. While pulling a cart out of a stack of carts she walks backwards about 10 feet, trips over a 3 foot tall display and falls on her ass. She scrapes her chin and tears her pants. twenty six years ago, Clair would have dusted herself off, felt stupid for not watching where she was walking and apologized to the store help for tipping over a display. Today, Clair wants an accident report filled out, the retailer to replace her pants, a medical form for the retailer to pay for her to have the scrape looked at and the general liability insurance phone number to take action against the retailer. All of this because Clair does not want to admit she should have been watching where she was going.
Albert. Albert decides he doesn't want to choose from the two to three hundred boards that are readily available in the easily accessible bin on the floor in front of him. Instead, he scales up the two units behind the cut-open bundle, cuts open the top unit of boards, and is injuried when half of the unit ( around 200 boards )falls on top of him. Does Albert tell himself "I'm a knucklehead for trying to climb up and take boards that are stacked over 8' in the air?" No. He calls the manager of the store over to let him know that the units should be stacked differently to avoid any customers getting hurt. When it is pointed out to Albert that he is in the wrong, he threatens the store manager with a lawsuilt.
These are just two of the hundreds of stories that happen every year in our local retailers stores. The trend is to go after the store any time we hurt ourselves any where around the store. Why is this? When did it become common practice to not take responsibility for ourselves?
The really sad part is, that when someone really does get hurt due to the negligence or carelessness of the retailer, the situation gets treated with more apathy and is dilluted due to the number of false claims filed against the retailer. Do you think these false claims affect you? Take in to consideration that this local retailer pays annual insurance premiums of over 7 million dollars JUST FOR LIABILITY INSURANCE! They pay countless more in attorney's fees and settlements for frivolous lawsuits. Do they take this out of their profits? No. The premiums and costs get passed along to you as consumers.
So, the moral of the store is: Be careful. Pay attention to your surroundings. Watch your kids. Make them responsible for being dumbasses. Take responsibility when YOU are a dumbass. Point out to fellow consumers when THEY are dumbasses.