Brickbat: When Life Hands You Lemons

Shanna Cramer / Dreamstime.com

In Ottawa, an officer of the National Capital Commission shut down a lemonade stand run by Eliza Andrews, 7, and her sister Adela, 5, for not having a permit. But when their dad later went to buy a permit, and after local media had picked up the story, the commission decided to waive the $35 fee.

Comments

[jester]

Fuck. Such a low fee? Fuck it. Business.

[Adans smith]

What kind of heartless bastard would tell two little girls to shut it down.? I'm also betting someone in the neighborhood called to complain.Teaching kids to not trust government agents ,I guess,is a good lesson.

[SimonD]

I think basically the person who would do this is the guy who's 'just following orders'.

[thrakkorzog]

I have it on good authority that when life hands you lemons, you should demand to to see life's authority, and burn their house down with lemons..

[The Hyperbole]

Raking in 52 bucks an hour, virtually no overhead, and a child labor force. This guy might be the best Libertarian ever.

[invisible furry hand]

Only if they weren't his children but kidnapped orphans

[Mr Lizard]

No swat teams? No dead dogs as reprisal? Canadian overlords are pussies!

[Radioactive]

when life hands you lemons, narrow gaze at suspicious use of citrus.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Perhaps conscious of the many who had framed the girls' foray into Ottawa's byzantine bureaucracy as a struggle of David against Goliath, an agency spokesperson apologised to the young entrepreneurs and offered to waive the C$35 permit fee.

In a later statement, the agency defended its earlier actions and made it clear that no exceptions would be made for the girls.

...

Officials said the girls' permit application would be likely expedited so that they could have the stand up and running by this weekend.

The timeline was questioned by the girls' father who pointed to the magnitude of paperwork being demanded for the stand. "The girls can't provide proof of insurance. They can't provide a site map. And so on and so forth," he told CTV News. "So I expect that there's going to have to be some ... modification of the normal bureaucracy here."

Rookie bureaucrats. Painted themselves into a corner.

[some guy]

"Whoah, whoah, whoah, Sir. We waived the fee. But the girls still have to show proof that the food stand is compliant with the Accessibility Act. It'll have to be inspected by Canadian OSHA and the Health Inspector. They'll have to secure an adequate bond (My brother will give you a great rate on this. Just let me get his card.)"

"But you said they could have the stand up and running by this weekend!"

"Yeah" ::Sighs and points to calendar:: "This weekend... in November. Try to pay attention, Sir. This is important."

[SimonD]

....When bureaucrats paint themselves into a corner, they just ignore and walk through anyway, tracking paint-print all over your house (then say send you a fine because they need to clean their shoes).

Put a government employee of any kind in front of a microphone, they are all sweetness and reason. Once the mike is gone, it's 'Brazil' again.

[SimonD]

*sigh* I need an edit function.

When Bureaucrats paint themselves into a corner, they just ignore IT and walk through anyway, tracking paint-PRINTS all over your house. Then THEY send you a fine because they need to clean their shoes.

That may be a record for typos *sigh*. That's what I get for typing without coffee.

[Fist of Etiquette]

It was fine the first time.

[buybuydandavis]

No matter. A bureaucrat got to get his rocks off in shutting down two little girls. That's what counts.

[Dennis (n?e GILMORE?)]

Well, the important thing is that the citizen learned his lesson = you have to ask permission for everything, whether you know it or not.

[Dennis (n?e GILMORE?)]

I think now is an incredibly apropos time to repost the only video i've ever uploaded to YouTube

Ok, they're not black, and its not urban-scumbaggery, but the point is *generally* the same.

[Brian]

They should take a lesson from Cave Johnson.

[jackrose]

nice post thanks admin