Door-to-door saleswoman

[TheSnakeLady]

Well, this story didn't happen to me, but I was reminded of it by a friend of mine, so hopefully I can recall enough to tell it properly...

This happened about 5 years ago. Hopefully it's as amusing to the CS crowd as it was to the reptile forums.

For those of you who don't know what a cornsnake is, it's a relatively small slender snake, perfectly harmless, often inquisitive, and often colorful. They are one of the best beginner snakes out there due to their (typically) calm demeanor and comparatively easy care.

Anyway, on with the story...

Snake Guy (SG) - a guy who happens to own and breed snakes (no relation to TheSnakeLady)
Door to Door Saleswoman (DSW) - crazy lady who is afraid of snakes
Corny the Snake (CS) - one of SO's pet snakes

So SG is at home minding his own business. He has one of his cornsnakes out and is handling it, letting it coil around his arm, etc. Suddenly the doorbell rings.

*DING-Dong*
SG answers the door.
DSW is standing there holding a bunch of books. She starts her sales pitch.
Before she gets more than a sentence or two into the pitch, CS starts moving, still coiled around SG's arm.

DSW *FREAKS*, screams, drops her books, and runs, disappearing to who-knows-where before SG can track her down with her stuff. With no identifying information for the lady, SG takes her stuff inside and figures she'll come back to claim it later, and he can return it then.

Fast-forward a couple days.
DSW shows up, but not just to get her stuff. She's slapping SG with a lawsuit for "emotional trauma", and besides asking for an insane amount of money in damages, she also wants an injunction which would prevent SG from owning ANY snake EVER again.

Now keep in mind:
1. She came to SG's house.
2. She rang the doorbell and thus subjected herself to the contents of the house, such as they were.
3. The snake did absolutely nothing to her.
4. SG did not wave the snake in her face or otherwise deliberately try to scare her with it. The snake was hanging out on his arm, that's all.

So they went to trial.
Of course, the judge threw the case out, but it still cost SG time and money to appear in court.

[thehippie777]

uh okay...freakn crazy lady. So because she has some phobia...she sued him? Poor guy. I am not a snake person really but if someone opened the door holding a snake I would be facinated.

I just knew once the world started weeding out smokers, they would go after people who keep pets like reptiles... lol Some people are already so anti-dog/cat (or any pet) now that it's rather sad.

[powerboy]

I am glad that the case got thrown out.

[One-Fang]

I am disappointed he didn't get judgment against her for his court costs and lost income time.

Somewhat reminds me of the cookie lady. The two girls baked cookies for their neighbours and left them on their neighbour's doorsteps, ringing their bells and running away so it was a surprise anonymous treat. One old bat didn't take too kindly to it, claiming it scared her, and launched a suit much like this. Got run out of town in the end, I believe. Bad press for her.

[Arcade Man D]

Of course, the judge threw the case out, but it still cost SG time and money to appear in court.

Even though the judge found in favor of the defendant, he still failed for not awarding court costs due to it being a frivolous as HELL lawsuit.

[Bradester]

Stupid hag! I can't believe that even got so far as the courthouse.

Cornsnakes are cute. I really love hognose snakes, though.

Some of my college classes were right next to the university's herpetology department. That was fun. Got whacked in the back once by an alligator's tail.

[Golden Phoenix]

Heh, coincidentaly i'm just feeding my mexican black Kingsnake right now.

I can't believe that woman dared to sue your frined, especially after he was nice enough to gather up her stuff and put it to one side for her.

And what a stupid thing to sue for, at least the judge was nice and sensible.

[Lingering Grin]

My roommate had a similar encounter (though without the lawsuit).

We ordered pizza, and my roommate was handling one of his snake, a small ball-python. Well, the snake ending up wrapping itself around my roommates waist, even going so far as to "snake through" some of the belt loops.


Well, my roommate forgot it was there when the pizza guy rang the doorbell. He got up to pay for the pizza, and just as the delivery guy stretched out his hand to hand over the pizza, the snake licked him. The delivery guy jumped about 2 feet in the air...

Then started laughing, and just said "Man, that scared the shit out of me!". He thought the whole thing was rather amusing in the end

[Geek King]

Even though the judge found in favor of the defendant, he still failed for not awarding court costs due to it being a frivolous as HELL lawsuit.

IANAL, but I believe you have to file a countersuit to get that, in most cases. Check local laws and lawers to see for sure.

[Arcade Man D]

IANAL, but I believe you have to file a countersuit to get that, in most cases. Check local laws and lawers to see for sure.

Actually, dependent on locale, for a suit deemed frivolous, that can happen without a countersuit. IANAL, though.

[Mamadrae]

Reminds me of a time I went to the pet store for some cat stuff. I have an irrational fear of spiders and didn't know they sold them, much less let them out of the tanks so they got use to people.

So I needed a hand finding things and spotted a couple workers. 1 had a ball python hanging out on her shoulder. The other had his back to me.

Now I was raised that you didn't interrupt a conversation. However the workers were looking at something and not paying alot of attention to me. So I thought I'd just tap the one worker's shoulder that didn't have a snake on it. Mainly cause I had been cleaning things earlier and while I had scrubbed my hands I was worried about hurting the snake from missing a spot or something, plus I was sure it wouldn't like getting poked.

I reach out a hand to tap the shoulder right as this fuzzy spider about the size of my hand crawls up onto it. I freeze and must have made some sound of distress cause the snake worker looked up and saw a wide eyed customer looking about to scream blood murder.

Thankfully the snake one just grabbed her buddy and went "Take ten steps to your left very carefully. Arachnophobe."
Guy must have been use to this cause he did it without straightening (which would have caused me to touch said spider) and the girl reminded me to breathe.

Didn't hold it against them, my own stupidity for not being louder with my attempts to interrupt their conversation. At least I didn't go running and screaming though.

[alphaboi]

IANAL, but I believe you have to file a countersuit to get that, in most cases. Check local laws and lawers to see for sure.

Aka the "American rule", each parter must pay their own costs. The rest of the common law world follows the "English" rule were the loser pays both parties' costs.

One time when I was four years my mother took me to our family lake cottage. Two missionaries of some sort (both male) came to the door. My mother wasn't interested and politely asked them to leave. As she was closing the door one the them stuck his foot in so she couldn't close it. Mom was startled and our dog, Gracie, picked up on this. The missionary ended up going to the ER for stitches. He sued and according to my mother the judge literely laughed them out of court. According to him Gracie was merely "protecting her mistress from trespassers".

[TheSnakeLady]

IANAL, but I believe you have to file a countersuit to get that, in most cases.

It's been a while since I've heard this story, but I believe this to be the case here... he would've had to countersue. I can't remember if he did or not, but it probably was one of those cases where it wouldn't be worth it to do so.

[Geek King]

He sued and according to my mother the judge literely laughed them out of court. According to him Gracie was merely "protecting her mistress from trespassers".

Guess Gracie didn't get the memo about "forgive those who trespass against us."

[otakuneko]

Good dog! Pushy Prosletizers need to be taught a lesson.