September 27, 2012

Calling your boss a ‘f****** whore’ shouldn’t get you fired

Filed under: Food & Drink,General by Orangemaster @ 3:32 pm

The Dutch use English swear words all the time now, including at work where an employee of food wholesaler Sligro called his team leader a ‘fucking whore’ (in Dutch, ‘fucking hoer’) and was fired on the spot for it.

The employee who had been working there for 10 years was all like fuck this shit and sued his employer. Usually, in the Netherlands if an employer wants to fire an employee they have to go to a judge to ask permission, except when it is down on the spot according to severe guidelines. The story goes that a group of employees had issues with the team leader and like the Dutch say, the tall tree catches the wind.

Not only does the employee get their job back if they want it, but they will also be paid for the time they could not work. Yes, it’s not nice to call your superior a ‘fucking whore’, but it’s not grounds for dismissal, just grounds for some finger wagging.

On a similar note, back in 2011, a Dutch court ruled that ACAB was not insulting to cops, an abbreviation meaning ‘All Cops Are Bastards’, which was tattooed on some guy’s body while another guy had it printed on a jacket.

(Link: www.welingelichtekringen.nl, Photo of Middle finger by Jone Samsa, some rights reserved)

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May 13, 2011

ACAB is not an insult, Dutch court rules

Filed under: Weird by Orangemaster @ 11:31 am

Back in 2009 we told you about a man arrested for having an insulting, tattooed abbreviation, which was ACAB that stands for All Cops Are Bastards. Another man was convicted in the same year for wearing a jacket with the text ACAB on it.

In 2009 a lower court thought ACAB was worth a fine, but last year a higher court ruled that the abbreviation was not in itself an insult and told the lower court to take another look at the case, which is probably Dutch legalese for ‘move on already’.

Dear Dutch cops, if you can’t take an English (!) abbreviation, you’re just sad. As they say in Dutch, go out and catch some thieves.

We also reported in 2010 on seven men arrested for wearing the number 1312, which if you decode it, is ACAB once again. And then there’s the cute version ‘Appel Citroen Ananas Banaan’ (Apple, Lemon, Pineapple, Banana), which was a trending topic on twitter a few days ago (#appelcitroenananasbanaan), turning this whole thing into a big joke.

(Link: depers)

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March 30, 2009

Man arrested for having insulting, tattooed abbreviation

Filed under: Weird by Branko Collin @ 10:27 am

– “Officer, officer! You have to arrest my neighbour, Mr De Vries.”
– “What has he done wrong this time, Mrs Jansen?”
– “He’s whistling dirty songs!”

The following news made me think of this old Max Tailleur (Dutch) joke:

A man in Groningen was arrested last week for wearing an insulting tattoo, according to Dagblad van het Noorden (Dutch). Written on the man’s neck were the letters ACAB, and the police assumed this abbreviation stood for All Cops Are Bastards. Some mothers do ‘ave ’em, eh? The man first stated that he had his neck tattooed after spending some time in jail, and later added that the abbreviation meant “acht cola, acht bier” (eight colas, eight beers).

Insulting a civil servant, including police officers, is a crime in the Netherlands (article 267 of the criminal code).

Photo: montage.

Update: another man got convicted in February for wearing a jacket with the text A.C.A.B. The court had a rather curious opinion (Dutch), in which it held that the number of Google hits that linked to page in which ACAB was used as All Cops Are Bastards was evidence of the popularity of the term.

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