Mar 08 2007
Official Languages Options
What the…?!?
On my way to work this morning, I heard a news story about this guy who got a speeding ticket in northern New Brunswick somewhere. It is important to note that this area is predominantly French speaking. Well this guy gets pulled over and the officer speaks to him in French. The guy gets his ticket, brings it to court, and gets let off because the officer didn’t offer him his choice of service in either official language.
Huh?!? That’s frigged up. The guy is fluent in both languages, but gets away with a speeding ticket because he wasn’t offered service in both? Was he speeding in English?
If the officer couldn’t speak the language the guy spoke, I would almost understand the point. I only speak English, so when someone (a cop, a store clerk, a co-worker, someone on the street) speaks to me in French, I say “eh uh, huh?” and they switch to English. THAT should be the law to abide by, not wasting time with “Pardonnez moi, monsieur, Excuse me sir, voulez vous servicez en francais, or would you like me to parlez in English eh?”
Give me a freakin’ break.
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March 9th, 2007 at 8:23 am
I got pulled over in Rothesay one time and the cop ask me which language I would like the ticket in. I told him French. I could tell the guy couldn’t speak French well, but If I was going to have to pay $80 and lose 3 points, then he was going to suffer through a language that he wasn’t comfortable with. I responded to him in English every step of the way too.
March 9th, 2007 at 8:23 am
BTW, I love the counter! Very Nice (Borat Voice)
March 9th, 2007 at 8:39 am
I’m surprised you didn’t say Greek? You are such an asshole… I like it!
(I hate being the only one around.)
I got pulled in once at 3 AM, in the middle of a wet, slushy snowstorm for going through a red light. I was on my way home from work, stopped at the red light, but went through anyway. When the cop pulled me over, I pulled into an unplowed lane. He came up to me and after some dialogue asking if I knew why I was being pulled over, I said “C’mon, it’s 3 AM, there’s nothing on the roads.” He said, “Tell it to the judge. There’s a date on the ticket and you can show up there and see if he agrees you shouldn’t get a ticket.” I said, “Is that it? I’m free to go?” Soon as he said “Yes” I gunned the gas, spinning my wheels (rear wheel drive) and a soaked the sunovabitch in slush. Drowned the guy! They never even turned off the flashing lights, and they pulled me in again just down the road. I rolled down the window and said “Now what?”. He was caked in slush and his eyes were on fire! “WHY DID YOU SPIN AWAY THE WAY YOU DID?” I said, barely able to contain the smirk on my face, “Well, I just got a useless ticket, the last thing I wanted was to be stuck in the snow.” He grumbled something about having respect for pedestrians and then they followed me all the way home.
Snicker, snicker, snicker…
March 9th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
HAHAHAHAH, omg awesome! i’ll have to keep that one in mind if i ever get pulled over.
March 12th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
That reminds me of 2 weeks ago when I was picking up my mother at the airport, the dropoff-pickup lane was completely full but there was a van about to leave, so I put on my indicator and waited for them to pull out. Well there was this van behind me and the guy kept beeping at me, I rolled down the window and motioned for him to go around me. He continued to sit there beeping at me, so I stuck out my middle finger at about the same moment I was able to pull into the lane and my mother hopped in. The van behind me stopped next to me (in the middle of the road) and a cop jumped out and the yelled at me “DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM SIR?” I said “I was trying to pull in to pick up my mother and you were harrassing me” and he started to walk away grumbling. 20 feet in front of me I had to move into the left lane because the road was closed in the right lane. The dickhead had to have been driving in circles around the block all day, he had to have known that.
First time I ever got away with giving a cop the finger.
March 13th, 2007 at 7:41 am
Now THAT’s awesome.