Is our society getting TOO careful??

[paulspaddle]

Today I was at Home Depot and the employees were re-stacking some shelves.

First they roped off the isle and put up big signs saying isle closed yadda yadda.

Then they fork lift is "beep beep beeping" along'

Then they have have spotter on each end of the isle'

THEN a guy has to walk in front of the fork lift with an orange flag in each hang waving them up an down.

Everyone looks bored out of their brains except for the ultra dumb guy who's waiting to authoritively tell some unsuspecting customer to "Back off" from the danger zone.

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When's the last time you sat in a new car? There is a red sticker on practically everything!

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My son is 3, I'm amazed at the silly tags on his toys.

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Where we going with this?

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Just thinking and typing again...didn't see any warning signs so hope it's ok?

 

[tallcanadian]

Re: Is our society getting TOO careful??

I saw and ad on tv for a Burger King burger with bourbon sauce. And in small print under the burger it said ''There is no alcohol in the bourbon sauce.'' Yeah, I think it's safe to say that we worry too much.

 

[Kiwi Phil]

Re: Is our society getting TOO careful??

I think it comes down to organisations protecting themselves.
What you described is part of a CCP (Critical Control Point) which identifies a hazard and sets a means to control it.
(I probably have a flow chart that would cover this event)

I understand your amazement but you want to be a business!!

I don't want to sound bias, but today people are fxxk-wits, and whenever they do something stupid, they immediately want to blame someone with the means to 'pay'.
Because of this mentality, I would guess that probably 5% of every dollar you spend goes to the costs of Compliance, and the customer pays for it, and when they do something wrong and want to sue, if Home Depot have followed their CCP, then no lawyer will touch the case, as they are deemed to be doing things correctly.

If you think this is a 'stunner', wait till you hear about a business having to have an Ethical Assurance Program, or better still, an Enviromental Assurance Program.

I hate it, but it is the way the world is...."the Animals are now in charge of the Farm Yard".

Cheers
Phillip

 

[windsors03cobra]

Re: Is our society getting TOO careful??

I go to Home Depot every day and that whole bit is just a hoot, you cant even buy anything out that isle while they close it and that can be for awhile.
How stupid. The bourbon sauce warning is a laugh too.

 

[KeyWestSkipper]

Re: Is our society getting TOO careful??

Today I was at Home Depot and the employees were re-stacking some shelves.

First they roped off the isle and put up big signs saying isle closed yadda yadda.

Then they fork lift is "beep beep beeping" along'

Then they have have spotter on each end of the isle'

THEN a guy has to walk in front of the fork lift with an orange flag in each hang waving them up an down.

Everyone looks bored out of their brains except for the ultra dumb guy who's waiting to authoritively tell some unsuspecting customer to "Back off" from the danger zone.

Just thinking and typing again...didn't see any warning signs so hope it's ok?

We felt sorry for the kids when they had to go through that whole routine for us. It's just more Safety Theatre, just glad we didn't have to take out shoes off.

 

[i386]

Re: Is our society getting TOO careful??

It's not so much being too careful for safety's sake. It's more about having plenty of CYA measures in place in the event of the inevitable lawsuit.

 

[RollingWanderer]

Re: Is our society getting TOO careful??

IMO, it's not society getting too careful...it's members of society refusing to take responsibility for their own actions and too many sue happy attorneys filing frivilous lawsuits knowing that most corporations will settle rather than go to court and deal with PR.

Well at least that scratches the surface...I'd go on with my rant here, but I'd wind up getting this thread closed.

-RW

 

[JB]

Re: Is our society getting TOO careful??

Well the modern paranoia, whether it is CYA or well meaning protectionism, has deleted a lot of adventure from life, but. . .

it has also deleted a lot of pain, injury, and even death.

Frankly, I think I liked it better when we were allowed to take some risks and bump our noses once in a while, as long as we accepted responsibility for the consequences of our choices.

I did that about 10 days ago. Against lots of advice and the instructions in the battery operated chainsaw user manual, I climbed a ladder to saw off some limbs that overhung my drive too low to allow daughter's motorhome to visit.

Yeah, the ladder toppled, depositing me in the briar patch and spraining my ACL. It will take a long time before I can power walk again, but so what? I got the job done and that feels good.

Modern thinking says I should have hired an arborist to do that. Sometimes modern thinking ignores food for the soul.

 

[JaSla74]

Re: Is our society getting TOO careful??

About 10 years ago there were a string of fatal accidents in Home Depot. It may seem a bit overkill, but there's a reason.

 

[mla2ofus]

Re: Is our society getting TOO careful??

IMO, it's not society getting too careful...it's members of society refusing to take responsibility for their own actions and too many sue happy attorneys filing frivilous lawsuits knowing that most corporations will settle rather than go to court and deal with PR.

Well at least that scratches the surface...I'd go on with my rant here, but I'd wind up getting this thread closed.

-RW

RW, You hit the nail square on the head on both counts!!!!
Mike

 

[gonefishie]

Re: Is our society getting TOO careful??

Remember granny got over a million bucks settlement from MickeyD because she spilled the hot coffee that she had just ordered on her lap?

 

[paulspaddle]

Re: Is our society getting TOO careful??

Of course...maybe George Orwell could answer the question where our society is headed with this?

In general kids are getting fat and uncoordinated. God forbid they scrape a knee.

It's curious that our society has a general trend of the majority of people, parents take less responsibility for themselves and put that onto business, government and teachers.

Anyway....lets raise a glass (carefully please) and hope none of us find themselves in front of a forklift in isle #14 at Home Depot traveling at 0.0025mph raising and lowing orange flags in each hand.

Warning:

1. please read at own risk.

2. the author of this post takes no responsibility as to how you life your life.

3. by hitting 'reply' you are taking all responsibility in your own actions. Please take all appropriate precautions as so you will not be injured while typing.

 

[rbh]

Re: Is our society getting TOO careful??

When persons common sense does not work anymore, companys have to put out the barriers, the sighns, the gaurds, WHAT EVER it takes.
You should try and shut a HWY lane down to place cable, around here its scary.

 

[mphy98]

Re: Is our society getting TOO careful??

One word.... Lawyers.

 

[mike64]

Re: Is our society getting TOO careful??

My sons are 4 and 7. When I was 7 I ran around the neighborhood, by myself or with other kids, all day long. As long as I was home for meals and before dark, my parents didn't care. Today my wife and I don't take our eyes off our kids for a minute, even in the backyard. It's a different world, and I'd rather err on the side of overprotective. But sometimes I wonder if we're delaying their development of self-reliance and independence.

A couple years back there was a big controversy about parents in New York who let their 9 year old take a subway trip by himself. They defended themselves by saying they felt society has gotten too overprotective, and their son should learn to take care of himself. I didn't agree with that-- I think I'd have a problem letting my kids ride the New York subway by themselves at age 19, let alone 9. But I could kind of understand their point of view.

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: Is our society getting TOO careful??

Remember granny got over a million bucks settlement from MickeyD because she spilled the hot coffee that she had just ordered on her lap?

That case (Stella Liebeck) is one of the most misreported I have ever seen.
The final court award was actually $640K and there was a secret settlement reached after the fact that is obviously, well, secret....but clearly somewhere between 0 and 640K.

If you read the details of the case :
From http://www.stellaawards.com/stella.html , Stella was not driving when she pulled the lid off her scalding McDonald's coffee. Her grandson was driving the car, and he had pulled over to stop so she could add cream and sugar to the cup.
Stella was burned badly (some sources say six percent of her skin was burned, other sources say 16 percent was) and needed two years of treatment and rehabilitation, including skin grafts. McDonald's refused an offer to settle with her for $20,000 in medical costs.
McDonald's quality control managers specified that its coffee should be served at 180-190 degrees Fahrenheit. Liquids at that temperature can cause third-degree burns in 2-7 seconds. Such burns require skin grafting, debridement and whirlpool treatments to heal, and the resulting scarring is typically permanent.
From 1982 to 1992, McDonald's coffee burned more than 700 people, usually slightly but sometimes seriously, resulting in some number of other claims and lawsuits.
Witnesses for McDonald's admitted in court that consumers are unaware of the extent of the risk of serious burns from spilled coffee served at McDonald's required temperature, admitted that it did not warn customers of this risk, could offer no explanation as to why it did not, and testified that it did not intend to turn down the heat even though it admitted that its coffee is "not fit for consumption" when sold because it is too hot.

I wouldn't dispute the frequently over-litigiousness of society these days, but I don't think that this a a good example of a "benevolent" large corporation being taken advantage of by a gold-digger.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Is our society getting TOO careful??

i worked at Home Depot, there are accidents, especially in the building materals and lumber areas. metal bands break, balance shifts. the is nothing more boring than being a flag man. you have to close the isle you are working on, and the one behind it. the reason, if something shifts, the fork lift hits the rack, 15 ft in the air, no one gets hurt. those racks work on a balance cantilever system.

you would not believe how many people want to get thru, and some time get really nasty.

yes, there were several deaths, suits, etc. it all comes down to the CYA approach.

 

[Cofe]

Re: Is our society getting TOO careful??

One word.... Lawyers.

Hit the nail on the head there mphy98.
And look at who gets most of the money in one most of those trials......"

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: Is our society getting TOO careful??

What a different world...my girlfriend's grandfather was telling us over the holidays how he used to hitchhike around Michigan and would hang out on Woodward Ave(he said it was all car dealerships and drive-in eateries) in Detroit back in the 40s...when he was 8-10 years old

He said that "today's kids will never know the freedom that he so enjoyed".

In rural parts you can still let your kids run free, however, so I plan on moving to the country when I get a chance

 

[BeaufortTJustice]

Re: Is our society getting TOO careful??

IMO, it's not society getting too careful...it's members of society refusing to take responsibility for their own actions and too many sue happy attorneys filing frivilous lawsuits knowing that most corporations will settle rather than go to court and deal with PR.

Well at least that scratches the surface...I'd go on with my rant here, but I'd wind up getting this thread closed.

-RW

ding, ding, ding...nail on the head!