The only thing worse than the inflated sense of entitlement that many people in the United States have, is the speed with which many in the media will promote a story when a disadvantaged person is involved, even when there is no story worth telling.
Today’s tale of stupidity comes from the Ocean County Observer, where Staff Writer Angela Santoriello reports about Crislynn Tubbs, a Beachwood, New Jersey resident who is charging that her autistic, mentally disabled 16-year old daughter was discriminated against because -- wait for it -- she was not permitted to ride several of the rides at Funtown Pier in Seaside Heights because she was too tall.
And mom, Christine Irons (names not changed to protect the stupid), said that she comes to Funtown Pier every year and that her daughter has never been denied access to the rides before.
The pier’s general manager Joe Iozzi, explained what Irons is too stupid to realize.
"The real story is that the kid was tall and the manufacturers set type requirements for child safety and are strictly enforced by state inspectors."
Of course, that explanation is not good enough for Irons.
"I don’t understand. They make so much money a year, why can’t they put a couple of rides for handicapped children up there?" she asked, adding the pier should provide an area for handicapped children like Castle Park II in Toms River Township.
Let me insert myself into the story at this point because I know Irons. I don’t know her personally, but after spending seven summers working at and managing a different Jersey Shore beachfront amusement park, I know Irons well.
She is the parent who wants to put her kid on any ride the child wants to ride, even if the child is too short, too tall, too young, or too old. And when it is explained to her that the child cannot go on the ride, she sits by a ride and waits to see if anyone matching their child’s physical characteristics are permitted on the ride, so that she can complain that "they let that person on."
When she doesn’t find an example, she makes one up. She complains to a manager and screams and often curses. And when she isn’t satisfied with the explanation that the ride’s safety requirements are set by the State and there to ensure their child’s safety, they ask for another manager and try to escalate the situation. They might even claim that the first manager was rude, or even, as Irons did, that the manager "barely spoke English."
Or she is the parent who speaks in a foreign language to her companion, explaining that she knows that she is wrong, but is still going to pursue the matter, not realizing that the manager might also know the same language.
The parents are never at fault. They are so blinded by a sense of entitlement that they forget that the rules are there to keep their kids safe. They forget that the parks are liable and enforce the rules because, among other reasons, they don’t want to be sued.
And again, from experience, I know that if anything were to happen to her daughter, if she were to scratch her pinky on a bar or trip and fall getting off the ride, she would sue the park for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
When I worked at the park, which was well-run, well-maintained, and rarely saw an injury -- and most injuries occurred because kids ran and tripped on the boardwalk -- I was deposed several times over the years in lawsuits after park guests sued for six figures because they claim to have hurt themselves, even after -- as the accident reports would prove -- they declined medical attention when the incident occurred.
As for Irons’ brilliant idea that the park put a "They make so much money a year, why can’t they put a couple of rides for handicapped children up there," it is very clear that Irons is completely clueless. The cost of a new amusement park ride starts in the high-five-to-low-six figures, and escalates dramatically from there. Putting a new ride in at an amusement park is not as simple as installing a swing set in one’s backyard.
Iozzi, the ride manager, said "The last thing I want to see happen is a handicapped child not being able to go on a ride." It’s not difficult to believe that he is truthful because I trained ride operators to let handicapped children who met the requirements on rides if it was reasonable to believe that the children would not do anything to harm themselves or others. Handicapped children visited our park in droves and we never encountered this issue. In fact, the only problems we had were with the parents of able-bodied children.
The manager added that he offered to put Crislynn on the Ferris wheel, but the Irons declined, explaining "She is afraid of heights and if she got panicky, what is to say she would not open the door?"
When Irons was shown other rides that her daughter was permitted to ride, Iozzi explained that the girl was "afraid" to ride most of the rides for which she met the height requirement and declined to go on another ride because "it was too slow."
The last thing any park wants is bad press. Funtown Pier has been in operation for decades. They often host charity events for handicapped and otherwise disadvantaged kids where the children ride for free.
Once again, the problem is one of entitlement. Parents believe that the purchase of a ticket entitles the kid to break the rules.
Irons said that she is going to "keep on it. There are more of these kids and there should be something for them to do. This is not something I am going to take lightly."
About one point, Irons is correct. There should be more opportunities for children to enjoy themselves, but Funtown Pier is a business, not a charity, and not a government that should spend its tax dollars on improving the lives of its citizens instead of pissing billions of dollars away in Iraq. The real shame is that Irons’ daughter’s name gets dragged through the mud bath into which her mother dove head first.
The only thing in which Irons will succeed is sullying the name of a company that does good for the community because she is too stupid to realize that she is owed nothing more by Funtown Pier than that which is printed on the back of an admission ticket. Purchasing a ride ticket does not entitle you to break the law. If I were the owner of Funtown Pier, I would not advertise with a newspaper that clearly does not know a bad story when it sees it.
Technorati Tags: Current Affairs, Morons
I realize that we don’t ask much of our beauty pageant contestants and that brains are regarded as much less important than perky C-cups are, but shouldn’t pageant organizers run a spoon under the noses of their respective contestants to ensure that they are not brain dead?
