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Snake's alive! Penelope's owner refuses to pay MBTA cleanup bill
By adamg on Tue, 04/05/2011 - 4:30pm
The Globe reports that even if Penelope the snake's owner had the $650 the T wants for cleaning up after the snake, she wouldn't pay it because T workers disrespected her after she reported Penelope missing.
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Comments
$650 for disrespect?
Wow, if that actually happened, I'd have a Thai hooker (expletiving) me as I write this from my mansion in Carlsbad, California.
And as I actually read the article...
1) Wait, somebody MARRIED this loon?
2) You don't have the cash? Fine...but have you ever heard of barter? Go work off your debt. Their cleaning of the train cost them real money that they frankly do not have. Do your part.
Work off your debt...lol
Did you miss the part in the article about her source of income? I'm sick of these motherf*cking deadbeats on motherf*cking disability!
Oh, my...
why does this not even surprise me.
Snake should have been held until fine paid or else put down
The snake should have been held (like an unleashed dog that's been captured) in the pound until the fee was paid. If it wasn't paid in a reasonable time, the snake should have been put down.
Germ equity
Sara Scott tweets:
You beat me to it!
Yeah, I want to see the T report on cleaning that seat.
What? They DIDN'T clean that seat?
Why am I not surprised.
In my years of riding the T (Subway and Bus) I've seen human feces and vomit on the floors of trains, people shooting snot rockets, people sneezing into their hand and wiping their hand on the seat next to them, a mentally ill (or just stinking drunk) man urinating on himself on the #39 bus, etc, etc, etc.
Oh, then there was the woman who changed her baby and left the disposable diaper on the seat, UNDER a Metro.
By the end of the day, the Red line is awash in papers, empty cans and bottles (soda, water and alcohol) as well as coffee and other beverage cups.
Thank God the T is protecting us from Snake Cooties, though!
Melissa Moorhouse, kiss our asses
Moorhouse, who lives on disability payments, and whose husband works in a warehouse
Yeah? So why'd you go and adopt another snake if you're so damn poor?
she was contacted by eight snake owners who were unable to properly care for their own pets. She took in two -- another boa and a ball python -- on a trial basis and kept the python, naming it Hank.
feeling disrespected by the MBTA
Really?
After Moorhouse reported Penelope missing during a southbound trip Jan. 6, the T held her train for a few minutes at JFK/UMass to check her car, then waited five stops for the Braintree turnaround before sending inspectors on a more thorough sweep of the six-car train. [...] After removing the train from service, it took the T another 10 hours to coax Penelope into a box with the help of a Red Line motorperson who is also a snake owner.
Turning the fucking transit system upside down for your goddamn snake isn't exactly "disrespecting" you, and if you are so stupid as to take a snake on public transit and let it escape AND without noticing...yeah, I think it's pretty fair to ask if you're on drugs.
this kind of behavior really annoys me
If this woman is so poor that she can't afford the bill, how does she afford to have her snake and take care of it in the first place?
And she's too disabled to work, yet she's able to take care of this animal? She sounds like a selfish brat with a reckless sense of entitlement.
How much does a snake cost?
I realize we live in an age in which poor people are expected to just shut up and be grateful they can get cardboard boxes at the supermarket with which to build shelters under highway ramps, but how much does it really cost to keep a snake? Are mice that expensive?
This is not to detract at all from complaints about the self-centered nature of her basic whining, but I don't begrudge her having a pet.
I don't begrudge her having a
I don't begrudge her having a snake, I begrudge her making me pay for her, and her snake's, expenses.
Who signed this social contract with MY name???
Well, dear feckless anon, good thing you pay for everything you use every day and none of it is subsidized by the rest of us too. Otherwise, I'd have to begrudge you for making me pay for you and your expenses.
Snake cost
A quick perusal online says a snake eats one mouse about every 7-14 days depending on how old it is (the older it gets, the less often it'll eat).
You can buy frozen mice as feeders for the snake for about $0.50 per mouse. The bigger the snake, the bigger the mouse and the more expensive it gets, but even the biggest mice-icles don't seem to cost much more than $0.50 when you price shop online.
So, snake food costs about $1 every 3 weeks. That's less than $20/yr in food. But let's even assume you feed your snake once a week and you can't find food cheaper than $1 per mouse. That's still $50/yr.
The only other ongoing expenses are potential vet bills and heating but my computer probably burns more electricity each day than a heating pad.
Snakes seem like one of the cheapest pets possible.
Melissa Moorhouse
The Melissa Moorhouses of the world never cease to amaze me. All you ever hear from them are about "THEIR RIGHTS!" No one else in this world--especially those hundreds of thousands of people who rely on rail transit to get them back and forth to their jobs, their homes, their doctors, and so on--count. (Even though these people pay the full fare asked for the, um, "privilege" of riding on a train with some lightweight who thinks that it's not only okay to bring a three-foot long snake onto the train in the first place, but then fails to adequately secure it.)
I think that the transit authority should take her to court and have a judgment entered against her. She should then be compelled to produce verifiable data as to her assets and liabilities. If it's found that she has the means to pay, the court should order her to do so--with the stipulation that, in the event she fails to comply, she will be arrested and jailed for contempt of court. She's already shown her contempt for her fellow human beings (especially those who travel on the MTA), so lets see if she's prepared to show her contempt to the court (and suffer the consequences).
My suggestion to her would be that she sell the snake--along with whatever other geegaws she might have--to come up with the funds to cover the cost of cleaning that her careless and thoughtless behavior brought about.
I'm sick and tired of people like Melissa who feel that they are "entitled," and that everyone else in the world owes them. Enough of this garbage!
don't get yer depends in a bunch gramps
Jeez I was gonna say you sound like a crotchety old coot and then you let slip with
The MTA? Ok Tom Dooley, put down the scotch and soda and relax. This woman has freaky dyed hair, owns a pet snake, is in a hipster relationship and is collecting disability. "She oughta be thrown in the stocks on the Common and have rotten vegetables thrown at her! She's a witch! Burn her!!" Ferchrissakes, who gives a rat's ass?? Tell her to keep the damned snake in a box the next time on the T and let the MBTA devote its attentions to something a little more worthwhile...like hairnets.
Pay up, SnakeGirl!
Or else give it up.
If Miss Hipster is so irresponsible that she can't keep track of her precious snake while riding the T she shouldn't have it.
"Disrespect" my a**... what respect has SnakeGirl earned?
Melissa Moorhouse is all like
Dumb
I read the Globe piece and thought: Wow, Snake Queen is staggeringly tone-deaf. And, uh, loony, but what do I know, I'm half a coot myself and pink hair seems silly.
Here's the thing, though - if the T had billed her for the cost of stopping trains, having employees search cars and tunnels, OK, I could see it, and hope they'd pursue her for the cost. But billing her for cleaning? Seriously? The MBTA cleans things? And who decided a snake was dirtier than my (occasional) fellow passengers, the rats that scramble along the tunnels, or the pigeons that squirt all over the platforms?
I'd let it go, then create a none-but-helper-animals policy for the T to either head off this silliness or have a civil fine system in place for the next time.
If the T didn't disrespect me, this wouldn't have happend!!
No, sweetie, if you had put the animal in a carrier like you're supposed to, or at the very least paid attention to it, THEN this wouldn't have happend. The cheap Manic Panic you use is seeping into your brain. Either that, or the crack you smoke.
And Kaz, since you're being so righteous, maybe you should pay the 650.00 on her behalf?
Dear Derelict...don't be hatin...
Why do you suppose that this woman is on drugs? Cause she likes pink hair? That she has the odd habit of carrying a snake as a fashion accessory?
She has a disability and one can assume that it is legit since to get disability benefits (believe or not) is not an easy task for most people and her disability might be that she is not a little right in the head.
So I am going to cut her some slack since this might be the case. As someone who grew up with a mentally ill mom and has many people in her family that are unfortunately stricken with the disease, I wish peeps could be more understanding.
Bullshit. Due to my job, I
Bullshit. Due to my job, I have regular conversations with individuals who receive disability checks. The threshold to qualify for these benefits is painfully low. I know many young men who are receiving disability payments because they were shot in the leg or arm. I also know 25 yr old men who are on disabilty due to ADD. I've gotten somewhat numb to it, but it used to really bother me.
ADD
I might have to get tested for that, based on the number of times every day when I can't pay attention to my job and end up reading UHub.
If it meant I never had to work again, I'd probably take a bullet in the leg too. Just aim for the fleshy part of the thigh.
Yeah, well, anon...
we will have to agree to disagree on that.
You do not know this woman; neither do I. Do you know that she is not legit? Well, neither do I. Thus, I am cutting her some slack.
So ferme la bouche!
How does that follow?
Since I'm of the opinion that the $650 shouldn't be requested of her in the first place, why would I then choose to justify it by paying it for her or anyone else?
Actually, she should bill
Actually, she should bill them for the rodent-cleaning services Penelope provided on that train.
Pets on the T
http://www.mbta.com/riding_the_t/pets/
It took me a while to find it (like 1.3 seconds) and it was tricky, because I had to actually type the words MBTA PET and POLICY.
She did the crime (snake wasn't in a carrier, as EXPLICTLY WRITTEN for all you Moorehead apologists) so she should pay.
+1
+1!
Pay what?
There's absolutely nothing in that policy that even hints at the idea that they'll charge you $650 for clean-up costs related to "clean-up" from a lost pet.
There's nothing that said that
the T had to give SnakeGirl her snake back, either.
Since you want to pick nits and parse...
(and, as your comments have made clear, absolve SnakeGirl from any responsibility... Despite the FACT that her actions show that she is an immature, irresponsible womanchild who deserves neither respect nor a snake.)
Are you a mind reader?
or do you know this chick personally?
So you know, for a fact, that she is, how did you put it "immature, irresponsible woman child who deserves neither respect nor a snake".
Just curious.
Are you a mind reader?
or do you know this chick personally?
So you know, for a fact, that she is, how did you put it "immature, irresponsible woman child who deserves neither respect nor a snake".
Just curious.
The facts that SnakeGirl
can't properly care for a snake, nor pay the bill requested of her, as well as be supported at the public trough despite being in her early 30's would seem to give credence to those characterizations of her as immature and irresponsible.
Perhaps your definitions of mature and responsible are less demanding.
I don't know if you are a troll...
or just a generally angry person.
So here is my earlier post for an explanation of my reasoning:
She has a disability and one can assume that it is legit since to get mentally ill disability benefits (believe or not) is not an easy task for most people and her disability might be that she is not a little right in the head.
So I am going to cut her some slack since this might be the case. As someone who grew up with a mentally ill mom and has many people in her family that are unfortunately stricken with the disease, I wish peeps could be more understanding.
I don't know if you're a troll either, but...
must society always sink to the lowest common denominator of conduct? Where was/is SnakeGirl's (or her family/loved ones/caregivers/whatever) sense of responsibility to others, who may not want nor need her reptile roaming free on the T? Or for that matter, her sense of responsibility to her beloved snake, that she would allow it to get away from her? If she is incapable of adequately caring for a snake (and allowing it to get away from her is NOT caring for it) she really shouldn't have one, let alone two, should she?
(And since you've asked others, do you know for a fact that SnakeGirl is not right in the head? Do you know that chick personally? You've called out others for making inferences, what about you?)
I wish peeps such as SnakeGirl- and her apologists- would be more understanding toward the rest of us.
Ah, the "Or else, what?" method.
Good God Kaz, what are you? 12? IT DOESN'T MATTER! There's no mistaking the policy. She fucked up, and with everything in life, there are consequences.
Consequences
Let's say I take a dog to the platform without a leash and out of a carrier. It gets away from me. I get it back, no harm, no foul. The attendant sees this. Does he start cleaning the floor where the dog ran threatening me with a $650 cleaning violation? No, he throws me out for not having a way to meet the pet policy. If they'd caught her with the snake out of its carrier, then they could have enforced the policy and thrown her off the train until she came back with it in a carrier.
Let's say I take a reptile in a metal cage. I conform to the policy, right? Now, while I'm on the train, I accidentally drop the cage and the bedding, possibly animal waste, and all of the possible salmonella involved falls out and onto the floor of the train. I don't have to pay the $650 though even though you've got to clean it all just the same as you did for the snake in this case, right? Because I abided by the policy, so no big deal, right?
The policy is very clear on what is expected behavior. It doesn't say anything about penalty of not abiding by it. That doesn't give the agency carte blanche to levy whatever penalty it chooses. Why stop at $650? Why not charge her $2000 for loss of business and the employee's time to recover the snake? I'm sure they could work a charge out with the MBTA Police to get her charged for public nuisance too.
How about if your dog is on the train for a month
And shits everywhere. I guess it's up to all of us to pay for Kaz's pooch, because he's too much of a manchild to assume responsibility for his pet.
Why not?
We pay for the clean up after everyone's snowflakes to booze it up fast enough to be puking by 1 AM every weekend 3/4ths of the year.
We pay for it to occasionally be used as a bum's toilet.
The amount should be at issue...
... because she lost control of her pet in a public accomodation.
The normal fine is $50 for a dog (see MGL I-XX-140-173); you could tack on another $50 since it went into both Boston and Quincy, but $650 for cleaning that they should be doing EVERY NIGHT seems, well, egregious.
New York's snake gets a Twitter account, while our snake gets
a poem.
Digging for followup
What ever happened to this one in the end?
I was reminded of this story about a woman giving birth on the Red Line back in 2003 when I was talking to a co-worker about something else. I have to wonder if that woman was charged with the clean-up costs, right?
So, did the MBTA ever give up chasing this woman for the $650 or not?