€2500 fine for private joke with daughter..

SEPT 23 1989

Midnight Sundance wrote: »

Apologise for what? A steward taking her job seriously? For him being an absolute numpty causing hassle to loads of people on the plane or the huge cost to the airline that he caused? Or the judge for making him actually pay for his stupid joke!

the crew did that

One eyed Jack

cherryghost wrote: »

I would frankly meet the guy and apologize on behalf of the population of Ireland, and buy him a pint or something.

Erm, don't take it upon yourself to apologise on my behalf anyway, just give him a kick up the hole from me instead. Thanks.

Maximus Alexander

Another example of how 'common sense' is not at all common. Ridiculous reaction from both the flight attendant and the judge.

Midnight Sundance

GreeBo wrote: »

Would you say the same if his daughter was the one who had written the msg?

Well yeah I would, especially of the cup ended up in the bin. How was a steward supposed to know who had written it without investigating and starting the whole process that caused the delays Etc.
What if she's written, caution bomb, is that different?

The Backwards Man

ronjo wrote: »

You didnt answer his question though...

About how farcical the episode is?

I don't see anything farcical about it at all.

Ah shure he only wrote a word on a cup, no harm done
Ah shure she only said she felt like she had a ebola, no harm done
Ah shure he's only coming from Sierra Leone with a wee bit of a flu, no harm done
Ah shure it's only a wee bit of vomiting and diarrhea, throw them a couple of Panadol 'til we get to Dublin.

SteM

Midnight Sundance wrote: »

Apologise for what? A steward taking her job seriously? For him being an absolute numpty causing hassle to loads of people on the plane or the huge cost to the airline that he caused? Or the judge for making him actually pay for his stupid joke!

If judges could make people pay for stupid jokes Brendan O'Carroll would have been in the poor house years ago. All of the other things you mentioned were caused by an overreaction of a member of Aer Lingus staff.

One eyed Jack

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

Another example of how 'common sense' is not at all common. Ridiculous reaction from both the flight attendant and the judge.

Does writing ebola on a coffee cup on a plane sound like a common sense thing to do either?

PropJoe10

If it deters other people from making stupid jokes about ebola on flights then its achievement unlocked, as far as I'm concerned.

Midnight Sundance

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

the crew did that

They were following procedure that they wouldn't haven had to put in place had he not been so stupid or irresponsible.
He's 56 years old, old enough to know better in my opinion

Un Croissant

I've said 'he had ebola soup' many many times recently. How much do I owe? 0 previous convictions.

Rabbo

The whole thing is frankly embarrassing. A man comes over here to do business and instead is arrested, hauled in front of a judge and fined €2500 for a private harmless joke between him and his daughter. I honestly wouldn't think twice if I found a coffee cup on a plane with the word Ebola on it. Ridiculous over reaction from the cabin crew/pilot.

ronjo

The Backwards Man wrote: »

About how farcical the episode is?

I don't see anything farcical about it at all.

Ah shure he only wrote a word on a cup, no harm done
Ah shure she only said she felt like she had a ebola, no harm done
Ah shure he's only coming from Sierra Leone with a wee bit of a flu, no harm done
Ah shure it's only a wee bit of vomiting and diarrhea, throw them a couple of Panadol 'til we get to Dublin.

No, about if a guy was joking in the pub with his mates.

Valetta

FouxDaFaFa wrote: »

I think this is absolutely ridiculous and the blame should lie with the crew rather than the passenger.

I like jokes. I make jokes. I wouldn't joke going through airport security that I had a bag of drugs or a suitcase full of c4 and I wouldn't joke with a crew member that I had ebola or malaria or tuberculosis or any other illness we're not taking as seriously right now. Because even though that's hilariously unlikely to me, it could be true and the security staff are obliged to do their jobs in that case.

But this silly private joke thing is exactly the kind of thing I could see myself doing and I find the fact that I could be arrested and found guilty of "threatening" behaviour a bit frightening, to be honest.

Good.

seamus

The Backwards Man wrote: »

About how farcical the episode is?

I don't see anything farcical about it at all.

Ah shure he only wrote a word on a cup, no harm done
Ah shure she only said she felt like she had a ebola, no harm done
Ah shure he's only coming from Sierra Leone with a wee bit of a flu, no harm done
Ah shure it's only a wee bit of vomiting and diarrhea, throw them a couple of Panadol 'til we get to Dublin.

So having a private joke between yourself and your child is exactly the same as travelling from an ebola-stricken country while suffering from severe ebola-like symptoms?

Do you actually happen to be the judge in this case? You seem as far removed from reality as he is.

Mickey H

hotmail.com wrote: »

Why is this the top story on RTE?

Slow news day...

MonkeyTennis

Im going to write ' Contains Ebola' on a cup of coffee right this minute and show it to a colleague and put it in the bin.

kylith

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

If he assured me he was joking then I wouldn't sweat it! (pun intended)

Also I don't know what you on planes but I manage to go whole flights with little or none of other people sweat ending up on me!

First I just want to say that I agree that the way it was handled was over the top. This man did something stupid, that's all.

BUT, I can see it from the airline's point of view. If cases of Ebola had occurred and been traced back to the passengers on that plane and it was discovered that the cabin crew had seen a cup with Ebola written on it and they'd ignored it, or if they said they'd asked the guy whose cup it was and he said he was joking so they'd left it at that, then that airline would be in the sht for not taking it seriously.

Would he have to drip sweat all over you though? Would it be enough to brush your arm, or to touch your headrest or something else your skin would come in contact with. Hell, there are terrorist groups these days who wouldn't think twice about smearing a little infected poo under trolley handles to cause global panic.

JustAddWater

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

it should never have got to the stage where a bloody plane was taken out of service

what planet are the aircrews on?

You'll get the same people giving out that we didn't take enough precautions once Ebola hit's here. Guaranteed

You just simply can't make "jokes" like that in a public place

People blaming airline staff, and saying they should lose their job, get real. Staff were put in an awkward position and had to make a call. They're not at fault because of the stupid actions of a wannabe comedian

Limestone1

homerjay2005 wrote: »

Complete farce to be honest, it was a harmless joke and no doubt some old biddie in Aer Lingus caused this needless hassle.

I think I know the one too! Earlier this year on an Aer Lingus flight to london,when taking my seat at the back of the plane I noticed a tiny piece of chocolate stuck to it so asked the 'old biddie' hanging around in the kitchen area for a couple of napkins to give it a wipe. Talk about a song and dance - She had a look and got on the phone straight away to report the horrendous state of the plane & cleaning done, the irate passenger, the potential hold ups etc etc . She then went and removed the seat (the base lifts out) and turned it upside so nobody would risk sitting there, rang back again to report that we needed a new seat straight away. The person on the other end suggested there was an empty seat further up the plane so I said grand I'll sit there. No - not good enough , she went climbing over people up and down the aisle, whilst the plane was loading up, to swap the 2 seats and finally I got to sit down.
I think she might have spotted the coffee cup ....

TheDoctor

MonkeyTennis wrote: »

Im going to write ' Contains Ebola' on a cup of coffee right this minute and show it to a colleague and put it in the bin.

Careful we have a bad ass over here :pac:

MonkeyTennis

Just you watch me

One eyed Jack

Rabbo wrote: »

The whole thing is frankly embarrassing. A man comes over here to do business and instead is arrested, hauled in front of a judge and fined €2500 for a private harmless joke between him and his daughter. I honestly wouldn't think twice if I found a coffee cup on a plane with the word Ebola on it. Ridiculous over reaction from the cabin crew/pilot.

It's easy to say that when you've never been in that situation. I also don't see the what his purpose for travelling to Ireland has to do with anything.

Clearly it wasn't a private joke between himself and his daughter because it was on a plane where a steward noticed the cup and did what they were trained to do. They have enough to be dealing with without passengers on the plane making their job more difficult.

Hopefully the man sees now that it wasn't just a harmless joke after all and that thoughtless behaviour can have adverse consequences when you're not thinking about how other people might not share your sense of humour.

Ranchu

The Backwards Man wrote: »

He got away light enough, the furore he caused cost a lot more than that.

Current protocols aside, he should have been reprimanded for such an unfunny 'joke' regardless.

It could be argued that the waitress in the sky caused the furore and if there was a bit of cop on in play the whole thing could have been avoided.

drumswan

LOL @ the idiots saying we should depend on the dollybirds on airplanes to assess which biological threat jokes are real or not.

You wouldnt be so quick to defend this gob****e if the damage he caused was coming out of your pocket.

GreeBo

Midnight Sundance wrote: »

Well yeah I would, especially of the cup ended up in the bin. How was a steward supposed to know who had written it without investigating and starting the whole process that caused the delays Etc.
What if she's written, caution bomb, is that different?

You ask.
They explain.
The story is all over.

Instead we get this farce.

Limestone1

JustAddWater wrote: »

You'll get the same people giving out that we didn't take enough precautions once Ebola hit's here. Guaranteed

You just simply can't make "jokes" like that in a public place

People blaming airline staff, and saying they should lose their job, get real. Staff were put in an awkward position and had to make a call. They're not at fault because of the stupid actions of a wannabe comedian

Someone who makes a joke is a wannabe comedian ?

In that case anybody who does not think this whole thing is ridiculous does not have a sense of humour.

The Backwards Man

seamus wrote: »

So having a private joke between yourself and your child is exactly the same as travelling from an ebola-stricken country while suffering from severe ebola-like symptoms?

Do you actually happen to be the judge in this case? You seem as far removed from reality as he is.

A joke that affects 142 people on an airplane isn't all that private in my opinion. What's the point in putting protocols in place to deal with any potential ebola threat if no one bothers their arse following them?

GreeBo

kylith wrote: »

First I just want to say that I agree that the way it was handled was over the top. This man did something stupid, that's all.

BUT, I can see it from the airline's point of view. If cases of Ebola had occurred and been traced back to the passengers on that plane and it was discovered that the cabin crew had seen a cup with Ebola written on it and they'd ignored it, or if they said they'd asked the guy whose cup it was and he said he was joking so they'd left it at that, then that airline would be in the sht for not taking it seriously.

Would he have to drip sweat all over you though? Would it be enough to brush your arm, or to touch your headrest or something else your skin would come in contact with. Hell, there are terrorist groups these days who wouldn't think twice about smearing a little infected poo under trolley handles to cause global panic.

Who would use a marker and a coffee cup to make any statement?
I dont think anyone would be blaming an airline crew for not reacting to a cup with something written on it.

These terrorist groups probably dont advertise what they are up to by means of coffee cup comms.

GreeBo

The Backwards Man wrote: »

A joke that affects 142 people on an airplane isn't all that private in my opinion. What's the point in putting protocols in place to deal with any potential ebola threat if no one bothers their arse following them?

I don't think the protocols had this in mind tbh.
The word ebola isnt dangerous itself.

What would happen if I had a printout that had "EBOLA" written on it and I dumped it into the airline bin? Is that me up in court also?

Rabbo

GreeBo wrote: »

You ask.
They explain.
The story is all over.

Instead we get this farce.

Exactly. Anyway, when the story was explained to the Gardaí on the ground, why didn't theyput a stop to the farce as it was clearly just a misunderstanding. Did they really have to charge the man?

macmurph

Bring back the death penalty.

force eleven

Duggy747 wrote: »

This man is clearly worse than Hitler.

Bit harsh on the judge.

TimeToShine

Almost completely the stewards fault.

simonw

Could someone correct me if I'm wrong - it sounds like the air hostess knew he obviously didn't have Ebola when he said he wrote it, and they then called the gardai to report it as a hoax? As in there was never any actual suspicion that he did have Ebola?

drumswan

GreeBo wrote: »

I don't think the protocols had this in mind tbh.
The word ebola isnt dangerous itself.

The cup said "Attention - Ebola".

Now do we want air hostesses to be the final arbitrator of whether the cup has an infectious disease on it, like it claims, or if its a "joke"?

The Backwards Man

GreeBo wrote: »

I don't think the protocols had this in mind tbh.
The word ebola isnt dangerous itself.

What would happen if I had a printout that had "EBOLA" written on it and I dumped it into the airline bin? Is that me up in court also?

If you put the word 'warning' in front of it and placed it around a container that frequently comes into contact with bodily fluids whilst in an enclosed space with numerous others then I would hope that you would be.:)

kylith

GreeBo wrote: »

Who would use a marker and a coffee cup to make any statement?
I dont think anyone would be blaming an airline crew for not reacting to a cup with something written on it.

These terrorist groups probably dont advertise what they are up to by means of coffee cup comms.

The point is, would you take the risk, if you were in the airline's position? On one hand it's probably some tit making a joke, but on the other hand it might be a warning and ignoring it could lead to many deaths. If it's a joke and you overreact to it no matter the outcome it's better than not reacting and it turning out to be a genuine warning/threat.

Ranchu

drumswan wrote: »

The cup said "Attention - Ebola".

Now do we want air hostesses to be the final arbitrator of whether the cup has an infectious disease on it, like it claims, or if its a "joke"?

When it's explained that it's a joke it should be left at that. The jobsworth idiots that escalated it up to and including the judge all need a slap of a giant clown hand.

simonw

The Backwards Man wrote: »

If you put the word 'warning' in front of it and placed it around a container that frequently comes into contact with bodily fluids whilst in an enclosed space with numerous others then I would hope that you would be.:)

What if you saw someone coming out of the toilet with a t-shirt that said "Ebola Carrier", would you call for them to be arrested?

TheDoctor

Did anyone check if he did have Ebola?

md23040

This weekend my mission will be to find at least ten things that are really offensive to me and report these to the relevant authorities and get my fully-entitled compensation redress.

OpenYourEyes

kylith wrote: »

First I just want to say that I agree that the way it was handled was over the top. This man did something stupid, that's all.

BUT, I can see it from the airline's point of view. If cases of Ebola had occurred and been traced back to the passengers on that plane and it was discovered that the cabin crew had seen a cup with Ebola written on it and they'd ignored it, or if they said they'd asked the guy whose cup it was and he said he was joking so they'd left it at that, then that airline would be in the sht for not taking it seriously.

Would he have to drip sweat all over you though? Would it be enough to brush your arm, or to touch your headrest or something else your skin would come in contact with. Hell, there are terrorist groups these days who wouldn't think twice about smearing a little infected poo under trolley handles to cause global panic.

Ah yeah, I think the airline has to take it seriously to a certain extent, but not to the level where planes are put out of service and the courts brought into it.

In all honesty, if that guy actually had ebola he would either a) tell the staff on the plane, or b) shut the hell up about it for the duration of the flight - he wouldn't write it on a cup and risk being found it if he had decided not to tell anyone.

I think, even if I was sitting beside him, I wouldn't be hugely worried given the unlikelihood of it being ebola, and then the unlikelihood of me catching it even if that guy was infected. If I became sick enough to need to go to a doctor over the following few weeks I'd certainly mention it, but I'm well aware that the risk of catching it have been blown out of all proportion by the media, and that even if a person here did catch it theres a very strong chance they'd be cured in a fairly straightforward way.

superfurry1

What would happen if i went to Starbucks and said my name was Ebola? Would they call me out on it?:P

drumswan

Ranchu wrote: »

When it's explained that it's a joke it should be left at that. The jobsworth idiots that escalated it up to and including the judge all need a slap of a giant clown hand.

Ah yeah sure. If i wrote that there was a bomb in the cargo hold on a napkin, handed it to a steward to put in the bin and they came across it while doing so, would that be cool too?

I could just explain it was a joke and they'd let me off? I think not.

The Backwards Man

simonw wrote: »

What if you saw someone coming out of the toilet with a t-shirt that said "Ebola Carrier", would you call for them to be arrested?

I wouldn't call for them to be arrested, but I would expect the airline to invoke the necessary protocols such a provocative statement would deserve, same as 'Hijacker at work' or 'I have a bomb' on a t-shirt would.

Fat Christy

What a total over-reaction! Christ on a bike.

Ranchu

kylith wrote: »

The point is, would you take the risk, if you were in the airline's position? On one hand it's probably some tit making a joke, but on the other hand it might be a warning and ignoring it could lead to many deaths. If it's a joke and you overreact to it no matter the outcome it's better than not reacting and it turning out to be a genuine warning/threat.

You're forgetting the concept of context. If one of your mates made a joke at your expense would you automatically cease all relations on the off chance that they meant to offend you? Better safe than sorry after all.

A Rogue Hobo

The wording of the article makes it sound as if they wrote it on the cup then threw it in the bin and the steward just happened to spot it in the bin. What person who would want to subtlety alert someone to the possibility of ebola on a flight write it down, then go ah sure nevermind it's grand and just throw it into the bin? Surely the steward instead of hyperventilating and overreacting after looking at rubbish, could have investigated just a little bit further? It's an embarrassment to our justice system and to our country that the situation escalated to this in my opinion and stinks of one of those cases you'd roll your eyes at exclaim "Only in America!" upon reading normally. The world has gotten far too PC with more and more people turning into mindless drones being told what to do and how to react without forming their own opinion. Sad really.

josip

MonkeyTennis wrote: »

Im going to write ' Contains Ebola' on a cup of coffee right this minute and show it to a colleague and put it in the bin.

Anybody heard from MonkeyTennis recently?

TheDoctor

md23040 wrote: »

This weekend my mission will be to find at least ten things that are really offensive to me and report these to the relevant authorities and get my fully-entitled compensation redress.

I find your offensive nature offensive