Outrageous! Scams, Schemes, and Blunders - *Bordering on Urban Legend

I can't remember what led me to the website where I found this gallery of information. Once I saw it, I knew it would fit right in around here, because so many of you are very good at finding other Wacky and Outrageous facts - hopefully you can add some to the thread.

Most all of us have heard the despicable security measures taken by the 'TSA' (Transportation Safety Board) at airports around the U.S.A.. Videos have been presented that show children enduring extreme search protocols, leading some to consider the searches a borderline form of molestation.

The incidents including innocent children are some of the most stomach turning events that take place between citizens and security forces, but they are definitely not the only unacceptable experience many people find themselves in.

Aside from TSA, many people have become extremely 'Sue Happy', filing suit against almost anyone they can and on the grounds of the most ridiculous things you may ever hear of!

These are just a couple short examples relative to what I found when I visited the Website of Reader's Digest and read some of the June 2012 issue. The compilation of information is very well described in the title, it is hard to believe some of these things are even true.

I find the report featuring a Special Needs Teacher to be one of the most vulgar and condemnable assertions I have ever heard of.

In the article, there are a series of categories with each category offering several Outrageous!, and somewhat trivial, examples. I'll detail a few of the reports found in the compilation so you can get an idea of how crazy these really are.

SOURCE: Reader's Digest - June, 2012

Outrageous! Abuses, Schemes, and Blunders

1. The Courtroom (Legal Abuse)*

• A man illegally brought a gun into a bar, got injured in a fight, and then sued the bar for not searching him for a weapon.

• Kids sued their mother for sending birthday cards without gifts.

• A woman disagreed with a store over an 80-cent refund and then sued for $5 million.

• A convict sued a couple he had kidnapped for not helping him evade police.

2. Troublesome Taxing*

• A dog owner tried to deduct the cost of a dog walker by using a day care tax credit. It was denied.

• An exotic dancer wrote off breast-enlargement surgery, saying it was a business expense. The IRS agreed.

• A Pittsburgh furniture-store owner paid an arsonist $10,000 to burn down his business so that he could collect the insurance money. He then tried to deduct the payment, calling it a consulting fee. Both men reportedly ended up in jail.

• A New York lawyer tried to deduct his visits with prostitutes—$65,934—as medical expenses. It was denied

3. At the Airport*

• A 95-year-old leukemia patient was forced to remove her adult diaper for a pat-down

• A teenager was told that the pistol design on her purse was a federal offense

• A six-year-old girl was patted down aggressively

• A Bangladeshi tourist had $5,000 stolen from his jacket as it went through an X-ray conveyor belt

4. The Government is Your Friend*

• $120,000,000 in benefit checks sent to dead government employees

• $113,227 to the International Center for the History of Electronic Games for video game preservation

• $492,005 to researchers at Wellesley College to answer the question, Do you trust your Twitter feed?

• $55,382 to a Virginia Commonwealth University researcher toward a study on hookah smoking by Jordanian students

• $198,195 to University of California, Riverside, to study whether happy or unhappy people spend more time on social media

• $592,527 to primate researchers to study in part what feces-throwing among chimps reveals about communication skills

5. The Good, The Bad, and The Classroom*

- Bad teachers and principals in 44 Atlanta public schools corrected students’ answers on standardized tests in a massive grade-inflation scheme.

+ A good teacher in Mexico distracted her kindergarten class by coaxing them to lie down and sing songs while a gun battle raged outside.

- A bad teacher at Hastings High School in Michigan poured hot tea on two students who wouldn’t stop fighting.

+ A good principal at a Las Vegas high school spent several Saturdays going door-to-door and talking to students’ parents in an effort to encourage dropouts to return to school.

- A bad gym teacher in Denver faked a bomb threat to avoid going to work.

+ A good music teacher in Louisville, Kentucky, rescued musical instruments she found in her school’s supply closet and used them to start a student percussion ensemble.

- A bad teacher forced her Queens, New York, fifth graders to make holiday cards for her incarcerated boyfriend.

+ A good teacher will spend an average of $356 of his or her own money on educational products for the classroom.

- A bad special education teacher in Bainbridge, Indiana, posts on her Facebook page, “I love dumb people. I call it job security.”

* Signifies comments or literary emphasis added by me.

Nice post. I'm going to cut and paste this list to send some of my buds.

They're Democrats,Republicans and Government employee's too.

It'll piss them off because the private sector reads stuff like this. (ATS)

Thanks

(Grins)

reply to post by niceguybob


haha, that'll be a nice present for them...

Imagine how much this money could do for the average person, if it weren't spent on needless things..

I know I could surely live a good while on $600,000. Instead of handing the funds over, they feel like watching monkees sling poo around is a better investment... I guess we really aren't worth a crap!

reply to post by esteay812


- A bad special education teacher in Bainbridge, Indiana, posts on her Facebook page, “I love dumb people. I call it job security.”

The above is terrible, but hilarious as well. I love it.

Originally posted by sputniksteve
reply to post by esteay812

 

- A bad special education teacher in Bainbridge, Indiana, posts on her Facebook page, “I love dumb people. I call it job security.”

The above is terrible, but hilarious as well. I love it.

I think it would be funny if it were not said in the real world. I mean, I think it would be a funny jab at MR patients if it were in a comedy club, tv show, or movie.

Knowing there are people out there who really feel this way makes me lose a little confidence in the general population.

I know one person doesn't define an entire civilization. The fact someone who molds the minds and personalities of today's youth feels such a terrible assertion is acceptable, by modern society's ethical and moral standards, reflects directly of how society is evolving - or devolving*.