Woman Attacked In Ride Line Sues Disney

Local 6 News ^ | 5-9-2008

[Paved Paradise]

You’re right. It’s not the Park’s fault the lady was pushed and dropped her ice cream, but it wouldn’t have hurt the vendor to be a good soul and have some mercy, especially since these places charge such outlandish prices for everything anyway.

When I see comments such as yours, what comes to mind is someone who enjoys seeing another person have something bad happen to them. I’m not saying that you personally are this kind of person, but that in general, this is what comes to my mind.

I understand how you might not have enjoyed the woman having the tirade and maybe if I saw exactly what happens, I’d feel as you did, but in general, I think people need to be more charitable to one another and, sadly, this rarely occurs.

I would’ve given her the ice cream and enjoyed her smile.

[Paved Paradise]

Uh, no, but in certain venues, one should have a reasonable expectation of their safety. Obviously, going to places where large amounts of alcohol are served would be to assume a certain level of risk, but not at Disney.

Incidentally, would you feel the same way if you were in a nice eating establishment and someone began assaulting you and nobody from the establishment tried to intervene?

The Park has security and as soon as a ruckus started, someone should have tried to stop this attack. Just outrageous in my mind and I think the lady was RIGHT to sue.

[vetvetdoug]

Aimee Krause fared better than did Allison Krause 38 years ago in Ohio.

[Chaguito]

I was in a movie theater, and the guy in front was chewing out the poor high school kid behind the counter, because the straws weren’t long enough for his super-size drink. Ah, working with the public...

[fightinJAG]

OTOH, each ride has an operator. They could have a procedure where if an incident occurs, they call park security. In fact, they do this already-—there are usually a couple of thugs arrested every week for starting fights, and other bad behavior, in line.

Maybe this incident just wasn’t big enough to attract the operator’s attention. Which might be telling too.

[Theo]

Your comment is the most well-balanced one in this thread so far. The ice cream vendor had no *obligation* to give her more ice cream, but should have done so out of kindness.

[Twink]

We were at WDW in Jan 07. A group (they were from Brazil or something, class trip maybe?) were line jumpers and we happened to be in line for many of the same rides. My kids would say “there they are again” as they had on the same tshirts and didn’t speak English and kept jumping lines. So on this one ride, I refused to move to let them in and my kids kept saying “ Mom, don’t make a scene” lol. My reply was basically so you want to wait even longer for this stupid ride? I didn’t say anything but I sure as hell wasn’t moving to let them in.

I heard that WDW is getting worse as a relative went last June and said the line jumping was horrible (they go every year).

[Twink]

Today’s culture has made a lot of people feel entitled to be protected from misfortune

Well said.

[ronnie raygun]

A three day hopper pass costs approximatley $800.00. where the hell did white trash/black trash afford this luxury? Fresh air fund? Iguess white trash is looking for a freebee.

[Twink]

I wouldn't rely on anyone from Disney to stop this type of attack. They're employees and not really paid that much to operate rides. Incidentally, would you feel the same way if you were in a nice eating establishment and someone began assaulting you and nobody from the establishment tried to intervene?

(crap, hope the paragraph thing works). I wouldn't expect anyone, anywhere, to intervene, although it would be nice. If someone began assaulting me in a nice eating establishment, I'd defend myself. Sure, I'd hope some of the men would come to my aid but sure wouldn't expect them to do so. We're a sue happy country. The woman who attacked her got jail time if I read correctly. That should be enough, imo.

[fr_freak]

Your comment is the most well-balanced one in this thread so far. The ice cream vendor had no *obligation* to give her more ice cream, but should have done so out of kindness.

Well-balanced? So the ice cream guy should have given away his employer's money and property so he could feel good about his "kindness"? What kind of mushy-headed, hippie BS is that? How about this: if the ice cream seller wanted to show some kindness, he could have bought the woman another ice cream out of his own pocket. That would be kindness. What you're talking about is thievery.

And I wouldn't have recommended that the ice cream guy do that, either, because any grown woman who would push herself to the front of an ice cream line to demand a new cone because of something that wasn't the vendor's fault, is most likely incapable of feeling even the slightest appreciation for acts of kindness. I'm sure she would view it merely as more evidence of her entitlement as reigning Princess of the Universe. I hope the ice cream guy told her to stuff it.

[Neidermeyer]

I’m in Orlando ,, the attacker was part of a church group , her fellow group members weren’t real happy about being grilled in court about the beat down... Disney plays a game with security in that they “own” the “reedy creek” township and all the police/fire/water etc. but they still have Orange county police on patrol and their own security personnel which are the typical “pretend police” ...

[Theo]

You notice that I emphasized the word “obligation,” right? The employee had no *obligation* to give this woman ice cream.

I managed a fast-food restaurant for a year. We were taught in training that we didn’t sell burgers, we were in the business of making people happy. Our *means* was through providing burgers. We were instructed to do whatever it takes — including giving away food and drinks — to make a customer’s day. It’s pennies for us, and good will for years, potentially.

Again, if I were the ice cream guy, I would have told the woman to wait until I had served the folks ahead of her, and then I’d give her another scoop. That would’ve made her day, and cost me nothing.

Of course, as you (and I) pointed out, there was no *obligation* on his part to do so.

Question for you: Have you ever been to Disney World?

[Paved Paradise]

Oy. You have obviously never been attacked. Believe it or not, if you defended yourself, you’d probably be in even MORE trouble than if you allow the Management to intervene.

Incidentally, I understand what you mean about the employees not being paid that much and lots of them are just high school and college students anyway, but they do have security people that know how to handle things.

[Paved Paradise]

I appreciate the compliment.

[Paved Paradise]

Doug - what is your point? Are you trying to make some kind of parallel between Allison Krause and this woman?

I’m not sure I understand why you would bring that up - it’s actually pretty insensitive.

[Paved Paradise]

Oh, so now being kind and generous is somehow equated with “hippy BS?” The poster wrote that the woman “sort of pushed” her way to the front and I find that interesting, coming from a legal background.... I wonder what “sort of” really means. People often tack on their own versions of events they “see” based on many, many other very subjective things going on.

Maybe the lady was pushy and rude but I wasn’t there. All I know is that if you think doing a good deed is somehow a bad thing, you have a very warped view of the world.

[Paved Paradise]

You know what this conversation is reminding me of? It reminds me of the whole biblical concept of being permitted to do things but that doesn’t mean that what is permitted is beneficial. St. Paul talked about this in Acts I believe.

The point I want to make (and Theo, you totally get it; if I had to be stuck somewhere it’d be you for sure and not freak because you sound like a good soul)is that just because a person is not obligated to do something, for them to cling to that as a reason for not doing what is good, right or noble, then they are making the world a worse place.

And, incidentally, FWIW, if a vendor gave someone a cone, it would not be considered thievery. That is such a stretch. All food establishments allow for a certain amount of spillage or mistakes (I suppose it’d be thievery if the vendor had given the lady a new cone if he accidentally dropped the icecream cone on the sidewalk).

Where has common sense gone? How about chivalry? Decency?
Everyone needs our nice hometown midwest values, IMHO.

[vetvetdoug]

Remember Allison Krause and mourn what happened on May 4th. No parallel intended other than to remember what happened. Not many remember or note that sad day.

[fr_freak]

All I know is that if you think doing a good deed is somehow a bad thing, you have a very warped view of the world.

That is exactly my point: giving this lady another ice cream cone for free would not necessarily be a good deed. Instead, it would be rewarding a sense of entitlement that she should not have, and that would not be beneficial to her or those around her in the long run. Whether she "sort of" pushed her way to the front, or she pushed her way to the front, or she politely asked if she could go to the front is irrelevant to the fact that the whole reason she was going to the front of the line is because she viewed her loss of ice cream as being the responsibility of THE VENDOR. Not herself for not being careful enough. Not the person who bumped into her. She held the vendor responsible, and felt entitled to be reimbursed by the vendor AND at the expense of the time of all the other people waiting in line. Why should she have felt entitled to be given another ice cream cone? It is that very thinking that is the enemy of the good. If it had been me that lost the ice cream scoop, and I really wanted another one, I would have stood in line and paid for another one.

Now, had the ice cream vendor seen the lady have her ice cream cone knocked from her hand, and thought that giving her another one would have been a nice gesture, he would have been right, and we wouldn't be having this conversation. However, it seemed to be the woman's attitude that the vendor owed her another cone. Now, since you're from a legal background, that mentality might make perfect sense to you. As Jonathan Swift described lawyers: that if a neighbor wanted his cow, the neighbor could enlist a lawyer who would then argue in a court his neighbor should have the cow, and would discuss at length the color and shape of the cow, until nobody could remember what the original question was. In this case, the original question is: why did this woman feel entitled to a free ice cream from the vendor, and why do you agree with her?

If you are going to quote scripture in defense of the entitlement attitude, then I suggest you remember that the "If you don't work, then you don't eat" concept comes straight from the Bible, and is one of the most influential concepts that has led to the success of this country.