Man takes pry bar to self-check Machine

[renovation]

whacked after speaking to him in Spanish!
(BEEN THERE WANTED TO DO THE SAME )
Well, let's look at it this way: At least, this guy wasn't buying a blowtorch.

But that age-old adage that patience is a virtue somehow slipped the mind of a man shopping at The Home Depot on Utah Avenue South in Seattle on Thursday.

Around 9 p.m., the man was in line at a self-service checkout stand, ready to buy a pry bar and a hacksaw, according to a Seattle police report.

But, as a manager told an officer, the man accidentally hit the button on the computer screen for Spanish.

That was the tipping point for this consumer.

He became "frustrated that the machine was speaking Spanish," the police report says.

So, instead of asking for help, he let loose a blow with the pry bar and shattered the computer. He ran from the store and made a beeline to some railroad tracks, the report said.

A Seattle police officer searched for the man, but didn't find him.

The manager believes he caused about $10,000 in damage. He left the pry bar in his shopping cart.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/..._prybar03.html

WHY IS IT WE ARE GIVING IN TO NOT ONLY SPANISH BUT OTHER LANGUAGE'S IN THIS COUNTRY.
YOU COME HERE YOU WORK HERE SPEAK EANGLISH. YOU SHOULD ADJUST TO ARE NATIVE CUSTOMS. NOT COME HERE AN MAKE US ADJUST TO YOUR NATIVE HOME CUSTOMS. YOU DECIDED WERE NOT TO YOUR LIKING FOR WHAT EVER THE REASON.

[DarkFury]

Well maybe he should have just hit "CANCEL" (or looked for the red X or whatever additional symbols they use to signify the canceling of a transaction.

Vandalizing the terminal definitely wasn't warranted... hopefully they'll catch him and make him pay for the damages.

[Markel]

...he let loose a blow with the pry bar and shattered the computer.

"Shattered the computer"??? That sounds like a stretch. Shattered the LCD display maybe, but "shattering the computer"?

$10,000 sounds like a pretty steep estimate. Of course, the actions by the idiot were totally unjustified.

[Butch]

No offense reno, but based on your posts here, it seems you barely speak (write) English and you're a native speaker! I wouldn't go knocking foreigners for not knowing the language!

[uncledaddy]

HMMM! Pry bar still in shopping cart? With prints on it? I'm sure they will find him.

[renovation]

HMMM! Pry bar still in shopping cart? With prints on it? I'm sure they will find him.

that and all the camera's they have in the stores now a days .

[uncledaddy]

that and all the camera's they have in the stores now a days .

Oh yeah forgot about the surveillance cams. And he ran away like he could get away with this?

[Cheesypuff]

*snip

WHY IS IT WE ARE GIVING IN TO NOT ONLY SPANISH BUT OTHER LANGUAGE'S IN THIS COUNTRY.
YOU COME HERE YOU WORK HERE SPEAK EANGLISH. YOU SHOULD ADJUST TO ARE NATIVE CUSTOMS. NOT COME HERE AN MAKE US ADJUST TO YOUR NATIVE HOME CUSTOMS. YOU DECIDED WERE NOT TO YOUR LIKING FOR WHAT EVER THE REASON.

is there a problem with another official language? i mean...there are TONS of other countries that have English as a official language. there are TONS of other countries that put the US to shame because they're bi-lingual even tri-lingual. why can't the US adopt 2 official languages? many many other countries have both their native language and english as the official language. JUST because there are lots of foreigners/expats/immigrants that live there. i say lighten up a bit...the USA isn't holy among holy and we shouldn't treat english as the GOD of all languages.

[redcolours]

funny - the world economy, and most industrialized countries, and most developing countries, know that to communicate and NEGOTIATE with each other a common language needs to be spoken. and that seems to be english.

though i know europeans dont relish it, they do try to learn english. you can go to most european countries and you can converse (albeit limited) in english. the developing countries even use english as a method of instruction in classrooms sometimes, to read most used textbooks that are freely or cheaply exported to them.

and here we are, in the United States, shifting AWAY from the main language that countries are using around the world to communicate with others.

i dont condone violence and destruction to convey a point - thats just primitive-thinking, and just being an idiot.
i do like to see some sort of compromise. everything gets printed partly in spanish (and/or french), and at teh same time, LEARN ENGLISH.

it IS frustrating not to be able to know what the other person is saying. This has led to wars between nations in the past, and its not going to end until a compromise is met.

its a pipe-dream though. i was going to propose an educational program for non-english speaking people. maybe provided by schools, colleges, universities, places of worship, corporations, etc.

but like i said - its a pipedream. If the government cant even afford to provide adequate schooling for children, or even proper education for those who are in school now, how can i expect to have non-english speaking people entering this country to get simple english tutorials?

i say we just get idiotic. lets all take our crowbars and bash computers/heads in iraq instead. We seem to be spending $1.8 BILLION per week anyway. Thats $7.2Billion per month. $86.4Billion per YEAR. that was LAST year.
the budget for local education agencies for 2007? $12.9Billion. for the YEAR. by the way, that was requested. not sure if it was filled.

see? we have our priorities in place. apparently its better to blow out brains than to educate brains.

[chrissy]

"Shattered the computer"??? That sounds like a stretch. Shattered the LCD display maybe, but "shattering the computer"?

$10,000 sounds like a pretty steep estimate. Of course, the actions by the idiot were totally unjustified.

Most of the self check systems have touch screens. They can be pricey.

As for English as an "official" language, I don't see it happening.

[BigJon]

I'm sure he was majorly frustrated. I'm thinking older fella, afraid of the whole "taking over of technology" thing...and then he goes to Home Depot and there's no one to ring him out except the computer.

I've noticed that at most stores that have self-checkouts...there are still regular checkouts. But if you've been to Home Depot lately, they usually only have one regular checkout line anyway.

Sure, that doesn't justify the breaking of the machine...but look how we're forcing technology down older people's throats without even thinking about how it might effect them.