Friday, February 29, 2008

The Mind? It Boggles....

So...

You have a civil "servant", a Mr. Pierre Baillargeon who works for the Ministry of transport. He's in prison for fraude right now.

The government was expropriating people to build a highway. Mr. Baillargeon inflated the value of a friend's property to $285,000 from the $55,900 it was actually worth. When the government found out (in 2003) they fired the guy and took him to court. He was condemned to six months in prison a week ago. Which means he'll be out in about a month.

Now here's the good part. The gentleman has initiated several greivances against the government, and his union is doing its utmost to help him:

1) He is contesting his firing. (Dude, on what grounds? Fraude!! OK, not a huge fraud, just a few hundred tousand, but seeing as you put MY money in your pocket you owe ME! And firing is just too good for the likes of you you slug.)

2) He is demanding payment of overtime hours for the time spent travelling from his home in Drummondville to his workplace in Trois-Rivières. (The goverment closed its Drummondville office, forcing him to work in Trois-Rivières. You know, there is such a thing as finding another job. You chose to stay, the government, um... I do not owe your overtime because you chose to travel and hour to and from work. I do it on the bus every freaking day. Get the hell over yourself you putz)

3) His third demand is that the government pay for his lawyer. (Well hell, why not? Perhaps the taxpayers can also have your meals catered and a call girl provided while you're spending your month in prison?)

It'll be interesting to see how this pans out. If the "Tribunal du travail" (Labour Court), where this will be heard - along with the Government's demand that he pay back the money he stole plus interest, comes down on this creep's side, I'm finding a desert island to retire to, because humanity is just too damn stupid.

Of course, even if he loses and the Government wins, the taxpayers will no doubt never see a bloody penny of that money again.

Happy Friday!

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's a rant and a half! Have a great "snowy" weekend my love ;-)))

Cycling Goddess said...

Bureaucracy at its best. And the worst part is that he'll get it, yep, gotta love the union. They're there for ya all right...

furiousBall said...

oh fun buracrazy

Big Brother said...

He'll probably win says the cynic in me...

ticknart said...

Of course you'll never see the money again, it was paid to the guy's friend at least five years ago.

The biggest disappointment is his union backing him in his stupid demands. They should know better.

Tai said...

Did he spill any coffee on his lap during his commute? 'Cus he should definately sue for that.
I'm just sayin' is all.

geewits said...

The Jewish people have a word for that:
chutzpah

Susan Tuttle said...

I always enjoy your posts - do you do editorial writing for a paper? If not, you should.

Susan

Rachel said...

I love your rants.

Connecticut has had its fir share of corrupt policitians. Try googling these bums:

**John Rowland, former Governor.
**Joseph J. Santopietro Jr. Former Mayor (Waterbury)
**Philip A. Giordano. Former Mayor (Waterbury)

That girl said...

Hey I drive 1 hour and a half to work each day. I never thought of asking someone else to pay for that time...no wonder I can't get a government job! I take responsiblity for my own damn actions.

Unknown said...

Nice to know that this crap happens north of the border, too.

XUP said...

As a government employee, I gotta say I smell union all over this. They love stuff like this where they can flex their flabby muscles -- it makes up for ignoring all the real issues, I guess.

Dave said...

Government fraud... easy to do when it is hurts people you don't even know right? One month in prison... way to little time!

Jocelyn said...

I was thinking the same as Susan Tuttle: you need a newspaper column that lets you do the ranting for the rest of the populace!

choochoo said...

Politics... I newer could quite figure out how that shit works...

Jazz said...

I just spent a while writing 15 witty responses to your comments.

Now, for me witty before 8 a.m. is something rare indeed.

Where are these comments?

Blogger ate them, has probably digested them and "eliminated" (seeing as I'm not sure of the past tense of s**t)into the cesspit of cyberspace.

I HATE YOU BLOGGER!!!! WHY MUST YOU HASSLE ME SO??