Friggin' Useless Prats . . .

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Panama Hat
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Friggin' Useless Prats . . .

Post by Panama Hat » 30th Dec, '09, 16:12

Went to the cinema with the Gringe (now a massive 3 3/4 years old) to watch the new Alvin and the Chipmunks movie.

Got settled in nicely, the shorts start and . . . the second one shows this old lady walking into a Diner . . . to cut a long story short the old lady develops fangs and rips the waitress's throat out, jumps to the ceiling and launches herself at some guy who takes out a shotgun and blows her away. She lies on the floor bleeding . . .

Luckily I managed to cover Gringe's eyes and ears after the initial onslaught but she was scared and now won't sleep alone . . .

We complained to management and the fukkwits offered free movie tickets and an apology . . .

Now, unlucky for them Mrs Hat is a lawyer and is suing them for several things . . . first offer from them was 25k but Mrs Hat is baying for bloooooood and rejected it outright!

Oh, the movie preview was for Legend.


There might be a new Audi in this for me. :)

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Re: Friggin' Useless Prats . . .

Post by Lili Von Shtupp » 30th Dec, '09, 16:30

Oh, that makes me sick. We're seeing it this weekend in Singapore. Maybe we'll go late.
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Re: Friggin' Useless Prats . . .

Post by BoD » 30th Dec, '09, 17:54

25k in what currency?
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Re: Friggin' Useless Prats . . .

Post by Rosbif71 » 30th Dec, '09, 18:31

guess you mean Legion!
nice to see the American sue em high culture living nice and strong

luckily in England you would still have to prove actual psychological damage to make a claim. No punitive damages yet there.

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Re: Friggin' Useless Prats . . .

Post by Panama Hat » 30th Dec, '09, 20:03

Rosbif71 wrote:guess you mean Legion!
nice to see the American sue em high culture living nice and strong

luckily in England you would still have to prove actual psychological damage to make a claim. No punitive damages yet there.
Yes, Legion . . . awful stuff. We don't watch horror movies and I certainly don't want my children to.

I see . . . you view this as an 'American sue em high culture' as opposed to ensuring that corporations take responsibility for their actions.

Exxon-Valdiz anyone?
How about building a chemical plant in Bhopal, India?
Run a milk factory in China?
Unlicensed and uninsured taxis?
How about a bit of medical care sans qualified doctors in unsanitary conditions?

Corporate responsibility is necessary, though it puzzles me why you would disagree.
The reason why the whole structure here is the way it is, is partly because individuals don't take corporates to task . . . I'm not talking about the mamak stall on the corner, I'm talking about multi-national companies who drop their standards once outside of areas they need to focus on accountability . . . Asia a is a great place for that, so is Africa.
Explore for oil in the Niger Delta and poison the environment? No worries . . . Could/would they do that off the coast of Norway? Gulf of Mexico?

Of course there are punitive damage awards in England . . . our child has nightmares and doesn't like the dark anymore . . . should we just say: Thanks for the free tickets?

The company broke two laws . . . both in reference to classification and were negligent in one other matter.

I'll give you another example, my dearest sued a large US bank's credit card division here a few months ago because they committed fraud towards her . . . they paid out within two months . . . because they knew they were in the wrong. Admittedly, that was a handsome payout . . .

If they are not in the wrong they will certainly not admit negligence, will they?!


Yes, Lili, it is disgusting . . . and this little thing is still frightened . . .
bear.jpg
Last edited by Panama Hat on 30th Dec, '09, 20:08, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Friggin' Useless Prats . . .

Post by azzam » 30th Dec, '09, 20:07

There might be a new Audi in this for you????
Surely if your prime concern is your daughter's distress, there might be some pyschological counselling in it for her - at an appropriate level of course, Or perhaps the beginning of a college fund. But then, that might dip into your winnings....
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Re: Friggin' Useless Prats . . .

Post by Panama Hat » 30th Dec, '09, 20:13

azzam wrote:There might be a new Audi in this for you????
Surely if your prime concern is your daughter's distress, there might be some pyschological counselling in it for her - at an appropriate level of course, Or perhaps the beginning of a college fund. But then, that might dip into your winnings....
Of course our child is of primary concern and she is in counselling, a very nice lady who studied and worked in Rhode Island and USC . . . college fund is not required, taken care of and our winnings in this case are not significant enough to get all excited as the currency is RM (HoD/BoD).

My comment re the Audi was meant to be flippant as Mrs Hat is certainly not doing this fore the money . . . plus I can't take an Audi into the plantations . . . my Fortuner is quite sufficient. :roll:

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Re: Friggin' Useless Prats . . .

Post by Pinklepurr » 30th Dec, '09, 23:01

I can see your point of view there PH...that is one scary trailer with no lead time. What were they thinking? I thought having the trailer for Tropic Thunder on with a kids movie was bad enough, but that one takes the cake. whoa.
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Re: Friggin' Useless Prats . . .

Post by skank-la » 31st Dec, '09, 00:27

Azzam I'm suprised you wouldn't know this but in any lawsuit where damages are awarded to a minor the money is kept in trust until the minor is an adult. The only money that can be spent is on remedies ie' medical etc the balance is held in trust until the child reaches adulthood (18 yrs old in most US states) . The parents can't touch the settlement at all.
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Re: Friggin' Useless Prats . . .

Post by Fat Bob » 31st Dec, '09, 08:20

I reckon your daughter should toughen the fuck up a little.
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Re: Friggin' Useless Prats . . .

Post by Panama Hat » 31st Dec, '09, 10:07

Fat Bob wrote:I reckon your daughter should toughen the **** up a little.
And I reckon you should get a brain but that's unlikely to happen. Sniffing too may chemicals Fat Boy?

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Re: Friggin' Useless Prats . . .

Post by expat yorkshire » 31st Dec, '09, 10:22

PH

We had a similar experience.... I think what you saw was the trailer for New Moon. I don't understand why the put a trailer for a vampire film like before showing a movie like Alvin II

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Re: Friggin' Useless Prats . . .

Post by Zephyr » 31st Dec, '09, 10:24

Honestly FB, don't you ever think before you type? Even for you this is OTT and you're referring to his child here !!
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Re: Friggin' Useless Prats . . .

Post by Panama Hat » 31st Dec, '09, 10:58

Zephyr wrote:Honestly FB, don't you ever think before you type? Even for you this is OTT and you're referring to his child here !!
It's the 'tough guy' image the Fat One wishes to portray an for some reason he's had a hard on for me for ages . . . added to which I guess getting laid without money changing hands must be depressing for him after so many years.

expat yorkshire wrote:PH

We had a similar experience.... I think what you saw was the trailer for New Moon. I don't understand why the put a trailer for a vampire film like before showing a movie like Alvin II
What they are actually doing is breaching the acts covering their industry. They are not allowed to show trailers for, as an example, an AO movie at a PG movie.

But on a purely emotional level it doesn;t make any sense whatsoever to do this, I absolutely agree with you.


The movie was Legion . . . the old woman even scared the crap out of me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGE_zSdCzDU
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Re: Friggin' Useless Prats . . .

Post by Rosbif71 » 31st Dec, '09, 11:00

I'm not arguing that the cinema as wrong but I think such law suits are ridiculous. in the end they only end up pushing up insurance premiums and these get passed on to consumers.

I worked in a personal injury law firm for 6 months after finishing law school and some of the claims we were asked to handle were laughable.

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Re: Friggin' Useless Prats . . .

Post by skank-la » 31st Dec, '09, 12:38

Things like this are unavoidable in life & actually in the overall scheme of problems you will have over her childhood it is actually no big deal. By making it a big deal sometimes we validate the kids fear. You'd be suprised at how much their behaviour is affected by cues they pick up from us; the adults that are her universe. At 3+ years old she doesnt really understand what she is seeing. Just tell it was some stupid thing & its not real laugh it off & try to make her move on. Often it works.

Yes the theaters were idiots. But its still just an image. I had to deal with my son seeing an actual person being killed in a motorcycle -car incident right in front of him at 5 years old. We told him it was somebody filming a movie & it wasn't real & immediately took him to an ice cream parlour & we were lucky it pretty much worked. We had to reassure him that it wasn't real a few times over the next month & then it seemed to be forgotten.
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Re: Friggin' Useless Prats . . .

Post by Panama Hat » 31st Dec, '09, 12:52

Rosbif71 wrote:I'm not arguing that the cinema as wrong but I think such law suits are ridiculous. in the end they only end up pushing up insurance premiums and these get passed on to consumers.

I worked in a personal injury law firm for 6 months after finishing law school and some of the claims we were asked to handle were laughable.
It is ridiculous to NOT do something about it.

If, as is mostly the case in this region in the past, people who have been 'wronged' can be assuaged by two free movie tickets, there is no compulsion for the company to clean up their act . . . and things just keep on as they were to the detriment of the consumer.

This particular company posted a net profit of USD250 million last financial year . . . so even a few dollars in compensation is not going to dent their bottom line . . . it is the negative publicity that will really do the trick . . . Insurance premiums will be untouched as the small amount will come from a different divison's p/l.
skank-la wrote:Things like this are unavoidable in life & actually in the overall scheme of problems you will have over her childhood it is actually no big deal. By making it a big deal sometimes we validate the kids fear.
You are absolutely right, skank. In this case I stayed in the movie to watch the show . . . Alvin and the Chipmunks, to get her mind of what had occurred previously. I do believe child psychologists know how to address the problem without exacerbating it.
Last edited by Panama Hat on 31st Dec, '09, 12:53, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Friggin' Useless Prats . . .

Post by Fat Bob » 31st Dec, '09, 13:07

Zephyr wrote:Honestly FB, don't you ever think before you type? Even for you this is OTT and you're referring to his child here !!
Hypocrisy is great, isn't it?

Flippant remarks about getting a new Audi from your child's mental trauma = OK.
Flippant remarks about getting said child to toughen up = Bad bad man.

I'll send a big bag of cotton wool to PH now so he can protect children for the next 10 years....
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Re: Friggin' Useless Prats . . .

Post by T2K » 31st Dec, '09, 13:12

I'm sorry for your daughter, the cinema shouldn't have done that. But this "sue him, sue them" stuff is a problem too.

I would have tried to get a notice published by them in the local major papers apologizing for such mistakes and confirming it won't happen again.
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Re: Friggin' Useless Prats . . .

Post by canuck » 31st Dec, '09, 13:17

how is suing them bad publicity?

Isn't calling in a child psychologist already exacerbating the problem? taking a sometimes unavoidable scary life incident and lifting it to the heights that you need professional help to overcome it?

We are talking about a movie clip here, I think most of us had the snot scared out of us at some time in our younger days, this is not like surviving a massacre, or a tsuanami.

I feel for you and your daughter I do, but I think suing the company is only self serving

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Re: Friggin' Useless Prats . . .

Post by azzam » 31st Dec, '09, 13:38

skank-la wrote:Azzam I'm suprised you wouldn't know this but in any lawsuit where damages are awarded to a minor the money is kept in trust until the minor is an adult. The only money that can be spent is on remedies ie' medical etc the balance is held in trust until the child reaches adulthood (18 yrs old in most US states) . The parents can't touch the settlement at all.
a. Why would I know that?
b. I don't think PH is in the US

However, good to know, thanks Skank
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Re: Friggin' Useless Prats . . .

Post by azzam » 31st Dec, '09, 13:43

PH, I am not belitting your anger at all. But if it were me and I felt so strongly about it, isn't there a legal route that sees them being prosecuted for breach of a standards act rather than a personal claim. I think that might be the difference that is raising some hackles. if they are obliged by law to follow something like a broadcasting standards act, ( I'm talking off the top of my head here, not knowing what country you are in at the moment ) then they should be held to that standard by the public reporting any breach.
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Re: Friggin' Useless Prats . . .

Post by azzam » 31st Dec, '09, 13:45

"What they are actually doing is breaching the acts covering their industry. They are not allowed to show trailers for, as an example, an AO movie at a PG movie."

There ya go, you said it yourself - get them on this - publically
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Re: Friggin' Useless Prats . . .

Post by azzam » 31st Dec, '09, 13:48

Or.... I presume there were many kids in that movie house that day - if you really care about the trauma caused and not just profiting from it , make a class action on behalf of all the children.
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Re: Friggin' Useless Prats . . .

Post by Panama Hat » 31st Dec, '09, 13:57

canuck wrote:how is suing them bad publicity?

Isn't calling in a child psychologist already exacerbating the problem? taking a sometimes unavoidable scary life incident and lifting it to the heights that you need professional help to overcome it?

We are talking about a movie clip here, I think most of us had the snot scared out of us at some time in our younger days, this is not like surviving a massacre, or a tsuanami.

I feel for you and your daughter I do, but I think suing the company is only self serving

Professional help, in this instance, is quite appropriate . . . she refuses to sleep alone now and dislikes the dark. We've tried to reverse that by ourselves but it doesn't seem to work . . .

Is it a good idea to fix your car yourself? Hardly. You take it to a mechanic . . . different issue but the same guidelines. Child psychologists deal with certain 'traumas' every day and know how to deal with it . . . it is not as high-fallutin as one would think.

Self-serving? :) You don't know us . . . it is hardly about the money. It is more a matter of making them accountable.

azzam wrote: b. I don't think PH is in the US
Correct, rather north of the little red dot
azzam wrote:PH, I am not belitting your anger at all. But if it were me and I felt so strongly about it, isn't there a legal route that sees them being prosecuted for breach of a standards act rather than a personal claim. I think that might be the difference that is raising some hackles. if they are obliged by law to follow something like a broadcasting standards act, ( I'm talking off the top of my head here, not knowing what country you are in at the moment ) then they should be held to that standard by the public reporting any breach.
Yes, there is and that is the main crux of the suit. The problem, as I have stated before, is that very few people are wiling (or can be arsed) to take the step. The legal system here is so skewed in favour of corporates that getting the state to do anything is fruitless.

Add to the breach of acts covering standards another jab of personal liability . . . then it hits home. The cinema is not being belligerent towards us at all, not one bit. They know they are in the wrong and are trying to make amends, both on a personal as well as broadcasting level.

It really is not about the money, we'll get max 100k out of it . . . and that is in Ringgit . . . and both Mrs Hat and I do quite well in our professions.

Dare I say it is a matter of principle or would that 'raise the hackles' even more? :)

azzam wrote:Or.... I presume there were many kids in that movie house that day - if you really care about the trauma caused and not just profiting from it , make a class action on behalf of all the children.
Getting the names of attendees now . . . but a class action suit here is not as easily done as you may think
azzam wrote:"What they are actually doing is breaching the acts covering their industry. They are not allowed to show trailers for, as an example, an AO movie at a PG movie."

There ya go, you said it yourself - get them on this - publically
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