What to do about stupidity

[ICE]

I got a reply to a post in another thread that said that it is not an inspector's job to protect people from their own stupidity. I disagree and I bet that many of you have great examples to back me up. Here is one of mine:

A Korean gentleman came to the counter to pull a permit for a sign. It was for a restaurant. He had planning dept approval and a business license. I forget the exact spelling but it came out as Bulimia. He pronounced it bulimia. It was perhaps, one letter away from bulimia. He didn't speak English well enough to understand me. I said no.

He came back a few days later and tried again. I said no.

On the third attempt, he brought his wife. She spoke English. I told her why I wouldn't issue the permit and she explained it to him. He smiled and gave me a bow. They are forever grateful that I didn't let him name his restaurant after an eating disorder and we became good friends. They even gave me a waitress.

The planning and business license dept. personnel had been laughing about it for days without telling me what's going on. I was disappointed with them. They said, hey we can't tell people what they can name their business. I said that I didn't tell him what to name it either, I told him what he couldn't name it.

In the end, he could have forced the issue and gotten a permit because I had no legal right to stop him. I would have issued the permit if I knew that he understood what he was doing. As it turned out, he didn't know and since he spoke so little English, I had to say no.

So let's hear some of your "stupid" stories.

Tiger

 

[Mark K]

There is no problem with trying to help individuals but when you use the power of your position to try to get somebody to do what you think is right, not what the code requires, you are on a slipery slope.

I will suggest that for every example like the one you noted there are others where the inspector or building official stepped over the line.

I see architects and contractors doing stupid things all the time but have learned that efforts to point out these instances is not always appreciated. Thus I chose the instances where I offer suggestions.

 

[Francis Vineyard]

Mark K is right with offering a suggestion or asks for an explanation when something is questionable. There is also a difference between stupidity and ignorance.

 

[ICE]

Had it been an architect standing in front of me, there would have been no problem. I would have issued the permit and called the Jay Leno show.