Freedom of speech, the constitution and the right to picket

[Tiamat]

I want to know what my rights are concerning freedom of speech. Do I have the right to stand on a sidewalk outside of an establishment and hold a picket sign or will I get arrested? Is the sidewalk considered a public place?

Short version went to get dinner before shift tonight, drive through horribly long so I went in to the Deli, Schlotzky's to be exact. A sandwich phenom here in Texas. Place my order, am waiting while this tweenager twit working the drive through proceeds to berate the person ordering. Goes something like this.....

OMG can this friggin woman be certain about anything? Could she be any stupider. Man how frikkin hard is it to make up your mind? Then he pauses......calls out to his friend working there. Bill, yup, it's official she could be stupider. Where do these people come from?

Now I'm appauled that he's allowed to continue with this considering that the manager is standing less then 1 1/2 feet away from this twit. He says and does nothing. This kid is so loud that other customers at tables are staring at him as well as the manager like....HELLOOOOOOOOO aren't you going to say anything to him? One man who was at the counter walked away rolling his eyes and shaking his head. So I of course called their corporate office and left a detailed message regarding this along with the worker's name and the name of the manager. Then I thought you know she was stupid because she and I continued to let this kid go on payed for our meals without realizing until much later that we are paying his rent, clothing and groceries. And more then likely the lady that he was calling stupid has a college degree is a professional being called stupid by a $6 and hour sandwich jockey!!

There is a public sidewalk in front of their building and what I want to know is can I make a sign saying something to the effect of......Schlotzky's where their employees will call you stupid and berate you in the drive through while your paying their bills....but go ahead eat here if you want. Or would I get arrested.

[LotC]

Since Americans seem to have a constitutional right to look like dumbasses, I would say you're well within your rights. You might even get on your local evening news. Play your cards right and you could be an Expert called upon to comment on Customer Service issues.

Good luck!

[Berzerker]

choose another sign, why let everyone know you're stupid?

[Theben]

Or you could go off about it on your favorite internet forum.

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by LotC
Since Americans seem to have a constitutional right to look like dumbasses, I would say you're well within your rights. You might even get on your local evening news. Play your cards right and you could be an Expert called upon to comment on Customer Service issues.

Good luck!

Actually.....I was thinking of making calls to the television stations anonymuuuuuuuusly of course. I just get freeking tired as a consumer of being taken advantage of. I work hard for my money, as we all do. Just tired of big corporations doing it to me with no lubrication as it were

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by Berzerker
choose another sign, why let everyone know you're stupid?

OK, any suggestions?

[LotC]

Chances are very good that the kid has to deal with a constant stream of morons and his frustration level is high. He also most likely hates his job You can rest easy though in the knowledge that you probably got him reprimanded or fired.

How does some kid mouthing off about a stupid customer equate to you getting screwed by corporations? Keep in mind that the manager most certainly is not representative of the corporation; he probably makes $10/hour at most and enjoys his job as much as the kid.

[Tiamat]

Tis a franchise....he's probably one of the owners.

[Blake]

OMG can this friggin woman be certain about anything? Could she be any stupider. Man how frikkin hard is it to make up your mind? Then he pauses......calls out to his friend working there. Bill, yup, it's official she could be stupider. Where do these people come from?

Guy is a $6 an hour sandwich jockey and you expect him to be POLITE?
I think this is a case of "You get what you pay for", the "You" refers to multiple parties, customers and corporation.

[GePap]

Most sidewalks are public spaces, and no, you won't get arrested just for standing in a public space with a picket sign.

The question is how you act during your picket. If you stand, hold the sing, maybe chant something non-vulger at a moderate tone, and make sure not to obstruct pedestrian traffic, including into the store in question, you would be legally okay.

Now, that doesn;t mean you might not get arrested, only that you would not give cops a valid legal justification to arrest you.

[Kidlicious]

Re: Freedom of speech, the constitution and the right to picket

Originally posted by Tiamat
There is a public sidewalk in front of their building and what I want to know is can I make a sign saying something to the effect of......Schlotzky's where their employees will call you stupid and berate you in the drive through while your paying their bills....but go ahead eat here if you want. Or would I get arrested.

I'm pretty sure that you can't do it anywhere near their store (because of the nature of your message). You can do it on the interenet, and you just did. Anyway, no one will care. They will just ignore you, and eagerly await their sanmiches.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Yah, you could do it... but I'm not sure why you are so offended by this. When I worked at CVS we used to ***** about customers all the freaking time. Usually not in front of other customers, but sometimes it happened... and the managers tended to get involved in the discussions.

[Apocalypse]

I think you should refer to the Wrap thread and make your own lunches so you don't have to deal with this.

[Wezil]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Yah, you could do it... but I'm not sure why you are so offended by this. When I worked at CVS we used to ***** about customers all the freaking time. Usually not in front of other customers, but sometimes it happened... and the managers tended to get involved in the discussions.

Clerks 2

[Sirotnikov]

I'm also not clear why are you so upset about this.

Even if said lady has a Phd, she could be a really annoying costumer that doesn't make up his mind and constantly nags.

Obviously being really loud and letting other customers hear it was probably wrong, and the manager should have said something.

But letting off steam is important and not illegal.

A good course of action, if you're upset, would be to stop buying there.