Oversize Man Sues White Castle Over Seats

[The Northerner]

NANUET, N.Y. - A 290-pound New York man is steaming mad at the White Castle fast-food chain, which he claims repeatedly broke promises to make the booths in his local eatery bigger.

Martin Kessman, 64, filed a lawsuit against the fast-food giant last week in Manhattan federal court, claiming that the uncomfortable booths violate the civil rights of fat people.

Kessman's lawsuit came more than two years after he complained to White Castle about the size of the booths at the Nanuet, N.Y., eatery and reportedly received a pledge that renovations would be carried out to cater for larger customers.

"They sent me specs and everything, about how the booths were going to be enlarged and made comfortable for people with a little more weight. So two and a half years went by, and nothing was done," he told the NY Post , adding that he has no problem finding a place to take a load off at other fast-food places and fits easily into airline seats.

Read more: http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/oversize-man-sues-white-castle-over-seats-20110911-NCX

[dipsydoodle]

1. And sometimes

fat people violate the civil rights of others.

[dmallind]

2. By sitting in a fast food joint?

[dipsydoodle]

5. I meant sometimes as in in general

like when they occupy the centre seat on an aircraft window row for example.

[Broderick]

6. You and Alan Grayson share that same sediment

so you are in good company.

[petronius]

19. "sediment" - that's an appropriate typo for the sentiment in question

:)

[Broderick]

22. lol

;)

[Ikonoklast]

37. They both need dredging?

[RZM]

20. Isn't that the airline's problem?

If they subject you to the unbelievable horror of having to sit in close proximity to somebody who is overweight, perhaps you should choose a different airline.

[RaleighNCDUer]

34. It is not a matter of sitting in close proximity -

it is more of having to share a seat with someone who is spilling over from his own. If I pay for my seat, I don't want anybody in it but me.

[dmallind]

43. you don't spill over? Less than 17" wide? nt.

[RaleighNCDUer]

46. I don't, because i don't fly anymore. Undersized seats is only one of

the many reasons. Don't misunderstand - I don't blame the person, but the airline. Seats were not so small 20 years ago, and there used to be sufficient leg room as well.

I don't like the way airlines do business these days, so I don't give them my business.

[dmallind]

42. Well this guy says he fits in easily and ANYONE with a 34" or greater chest overflows airline seats.

[JanMichael]

69. Christ, 34"?! I'm 5'8" with a 40something" chest and fit fine in the seats.

Not fat by any means but don't overflow any seating.

[CBGLuthier]

54. Civil Rights Violations?

No, not really. They may violate some poor thin SOB's space a bit but civil rights. Both you and the fatass suing are way off base.

I have in my life weighed more than the pathetic and rather puny 290 this lardass weighs and I would never dream that I was being oppressed by the size of seating in a fucking restaurant.

[dipsydoodle]

56. That was just a comparison

Neither are civil rights violations.

[liberalmike27]

21. Ah, fat jokes, the simpleton's last resort

Being a guy who was sadly raised up since 5 fat, and by the way, losing weight is about a 2 percent chance once you grow up fat, I have to say this is an area that bothers me too. The thing that really amazes me is all the people who are fat, and still make fat jokes, as if joining in will somehow make their extra pounds disappear. I use Hawaiian shirts myself, equally ineffective.

While I wouldn't bother suing anyone, it'd be nice if restaurants offered chairs, at least a few for more over-sized folks. Think about it, restaurants not catering to big eaters. Now does that make sense? I'll tell you what I hate--the chairs with rails on the side. They are OK, plenty wide, but the rails make it very uncomfortable, cutting into your legs.

So the best solution? Just don't go to a restaurant, or do like I do when I go to Olive Garden, just walk over and get you one of the straight-back chairs, without rails. I don't really like asking a little waify waitress to drag it over for me. Once you know the restaurant has no seats that work, just don't go there. Don't buy from them. If you have to have it, go through the drive-through, or pick it up to-go.

Let's face it folks, airlines, restaurants, and department stores. About 60% of us are overweight, and quite a few of us are hitting obesity hard. So think about that when you design your seats, when you buy them. Ask a few people to try out a few chairs, and make sure they are sturdy as well. It's pretty embarrassing to have a seat break. Never happened to me, but I saw this girl break one once, really felt bad for her. And there is liability. And stores with Clothes, Christ how many S,M,L, And XLs do you need, when you've got no XXL, XXXLs--Once again, losing sales.

I still hope to lose some weight again at some point. But with the odds against me (2% losing keeping it off) I know it's difficult. Still, the last week I've been going vegan, and who knows? But we're already miserable. We don't need the help of fat-jokes, or restaurants who make bad choices. Think of it as a business decision, or as a thing you can do to be a decent human being. It's not like democrats to be jerks, so it surprises me when they are, like a few of the comments in this thread.

[dipsydoodle]

51. That wasn't a joke

What you laughing refer to as 9/11 , despite the fact in years to come most of the rest of the world will be trying to figure wtf did happen on 9th November 2001 , I was flying from Heathrow to SF. I was in the aisle seat of a set of three , the girl next to me was nearly making my ribs crack against the arm rest and the poor bastard in the window was almost getting prised out of the window.

Funny ? NOT.

I agree there should be facilities for those oversize.

No I didn't make it to SF.

:hi:

[area51]

65. Great post. n/t

[liberalmike27]

39. Coping strategies

First, ignore jerks. Second, you'll find a lot of restaurants have tables, with chairs, usually a good choice if you are overweight. But I've been in a few restaurants where the tables move between the booth chairs. This works for me, as I can move the table away a bit. It also allows the other side to get a feel for what you are dealing with, much like what someone could take away from sitting next to a fat person, rather than a selfish reaction of imposition. IF they are smelly, I'm totally with you, as I hate that, bathe each day and do NOT like imposing my smell, like cigarettes on anyone. It's the height of rudeness to do so.

Sometimes the booth moves too, and occasionally if you have a choice, you can go during off hours, and some of the booths are a little wider, or have a large side, and a small said. And like I said in another one, if they've got a few chairs sitting around, you can add one to the end of a table in a booth. It's embarrassing, but whatever, at least it allows you to go out and eat.

Waitresses and waiters, use a little sensitivity. We're all bothered by it already, try to not make a big deal, don't talk about it, don't ask "Hey you, do you want me to get a fat-guy's chair loudly to you and your guests." If you ask, do it quietly, or just bring it over and ask "do you want this?" I remember back during my smoking days we were buying some crappy no-glue club rolling papers in a grocery store late at night. The cashier, not knowing the price, held it up and shouted "Hey do you know how much these rolling papers are?" Of course everyone in the store looked, a big scene was made by all. That story was for your benefit, just so you'll know what you are doing.

And complain--make sure and complain to the manager, once again quietly. Give them the respect you think you deserve. Ask him to make available the options of a larger chair, or one without rails. And be careful shifting chairs and booths, as you don't want to upset drinks, food, or someone else in the next booth. If you are at the end of a table, try to choose a place where you won't be a "road-block." There is usually a table or booth where you can pull that off, it just takes a little looking around.

[Broderick]

3. All this does it make me hungry

Love to eat those little burgers, but the aftermath of such an indulgence is nuclear.

[Enrique]

10. yeah, my mouth is watering

1/2 hr til lunch...

[Javaman]

27. I miss White Castles soooooo much!!!

I live in Austin. No In n Out from the west and no White Castle from the east.

It's a virtual burger desert. Well I do have P. Terry's, but it's just not the same.

[HappyMe]

4. Good grief!

:eyes:

[KansDem]

7. 290 pounds? 64 years old?

He must have one helluva constitution!

[RebelOne]

62. Yeah. I am surprised he is still alive n/t

[Freddie Stubbs]

8. Perhaps this is nature's way of telling him he should stop eating at White Castle

[Javaman]

52. Rarely do humans listen to nature. Explains climate change. nt

[HopeHoops]

9. Isn't there a sick irony here? Like filing a lawsuit against a beer company because it made you pee

[LeftinOH]

11. There's a White Castle near me. I like them little burgers, but there's a reason I

rarely go there -and it has to do with my waistline.

[drm604]

12. My brother has this problem.

He has a rather large abdomen and some restaurants' booths are too tight for him. I can't imagine him trying to sue over it though. That sounds like a real overreaction.

He just asks to be seated at a table, or goes to another restaurant if the booths are too small and no tables are available.

You'd think that it would be in a restaurants best interests to make the seating comfortable for big eaters, wouldn't you?

[robinlynne]

13. then should I file a lawsuit against the restaurants where I can't smoke?

that is my legal right. or maybe just go to the places where I am comfortable?

[liberalmike27]

25. Have to eat to live

You don't have to smoke to live. My fat doesn't kill you, nor does it drift across the room, and go into my lungs. If it bothers you, you don't even have to look at me. If you don't eat, you die. If you don't smoke you live.

I get really sick of the smoking obesity comparison. I've quit smoking 3 times, the last one stuck. I even quit smoking weed like 20 years ago, after a lot of smoking it. I've quit a fairly gnarly gambling habit. I know how to quit things. Being fat is different--I'm still trying, but don't compare it to smoking. I've done that, it's three days of hell and done. With eating, to lose it you've got to be hungry for the duration of your diet, then to keep it off, perpetually hungry for the rest of your life. Those little fat cells don't disappear, they just shrink and send chemicals into your body, screaming to be filled up again, to be sated. It's a fact. I've read about it.

But I suppose I'd agree with the no law suit part--it makes no sense business wise. Why not just replace a few booths. Taco Bell for instance has the seats up against the wall without separators. Have a few chairs without rails. I understand planes are the same, but I'm too poor to fly (yea, right, it's because of my food bill (not really, just saying it before some jerk does)).

[Javaman]

28. equating eating white castle to living is like

equating drowning with living.

don't get me wrong, I love those little burgers so much! but I would be damned to think I need them to live.

[madinmaryland]

66. +1

[Cirque du So-What]

14. I fail to see the attraction

In my personal rankings of fast-food burgers, White Castle has always been at the bottom.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

15. I'm sure it doesn't matter.....

....sounds like this guy will jam whatever shit he can into his gullet.

[ProfessorGAC]

18. Love That Word "Gullet"

My wife and use it when we're talking to the dog! Fun word.
GAC

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

24. I almost went with "maw".

Another good one.

[Javaman]

31. Growing up in NYC, it's a sort of comfort food...

a really bad pay-for-it-later wonder-why-you-did-it-in-the-first-place kind of comfort food.

[pipi_k]

16. Does White Castle have take out?

Never been to one so I don't know. Maybe he would be better off taking the food home?

[Javaman]

32. Not the same.

got to get them hot while the onions are still doing their thing.

Besides, if you took them home, you would have time to think about what you are doing and probably wind up not eating them.

I had a "cold" white castle once. Just once.

[pipi_k]

45. Oh, that explains it...

I'm mostly out of the loop when it comes to fast food...

[Javaman]

47. I actually don't eat fast food at all...

however, when I find myself back in NYC, I hear the calling. Well, it's more like a painful scream of my conscious telling me not to do it.

[pipi_k]

53. I haven't touched a ...

fast food burger (or any beef) in over five years, but I have to admit that when I pass by a Burger King, the smell of beef cooking is almost hypnotic.

It's disturbing when my mouth waters...

[Javaman]

58. I know what you mean.

the thought is enticing, but the concept of eating it scares the crap out of me.

[maxrandb]

55. Not to mention the onion smell in your car

I think it has a half-life similar to plutonium.

My wife could never tell if I stopped to get a beer, but she always knows when I've stopped at White Castle.

It's a tradition in my old hometown of Columbus, OH. Got to go to the Castle after a night at the bar. It's one place where I can go at 2 AM and be the best looking guy in the joint!

[Javaman]

59. LOL When buying a used car always check the inside for

White Castle smell! LOL

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

63. Nah, your wife knows you stopped for beer ...

... 'cause nobody can eat White Castles without downing a few brews first.

:hi:

[snooper2]

17. ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:


Fucking Hilarious

:rofl:

Yo dude, the drivethrough is probably wide enough

[Bucky]

49. Your post is prejudiced against people too fat to roll around on the floor while laughing.

So I'm suing you.

[HockeyMom]

23. In all fairness

The problem with their boots is that the tables are way too big. There is very little room to slide out of the booth without pushing the table to the other side of the seat. I say this as a 5'1", 100 lb. woman. I guess they figure you need a lot of room to eat 25 burgers? I used to go occasionally for lunch (2 burgers and onion rings) when I was in NY. They don't have White Castle in Florida. Nothing wrong with eating something not particularly good for you every once in a while. I would not weigh 100 lbs. if that wasn't true.

[Modern_Matthew]

26. I hope he wins. It's discriminatory to think one seat fits all. nt

[Javaman]

33. try designing seating for occupancy, then get back to me.

it's not about ease it's about butts in seats.

the "one size fits all" has zero to do with peoples sizes.

[SoCalDem]

29. Dammit to hell.. I am short & I want restaurants to make tables lower

:)

[Javaman]

36. I am tall and I want tables higher!!

;) lol

[JanMichael]

68. I'm in the middle fuck you all! nt.

[Javaman]

72. !

:rofl:

[liberalmike27]

30. The Bottom Line

For restaurants in a nation with 60 or so percent obesity rates, and rising, it's just good business sense to make some accommodation to the over-weight folks that come to be a customer at your business. If you want an analogy it's like a liquor store, shunning all of the alcoholics, and making it hard for them to buy from you. White Castle should just offer to make some changes, bolt in a different booth in all of the restaurants. People have been complaining about airline seats for years too.

It's all about putting the profit motive above every other thing, much like in other issues. It just seems to have been promoted by our media as popularly acceptable to make fun of fat people, especially of late. IT was kind of going out for a while.

[KamaAina]

35. Harold and Kumar could not be reached for comment

[Ikonoklast]

40. What Would Neil Patrick Harris Do?

[Javaman]

41. Well, we all know what he did. LOL nt

[Ikonoklast]

48. He was the funniest part of both movies...

"Do you know what the hell we had to go through after you took the car?"

"Yeah, it was a dick move on my part. That's why I'm paying for your meal. Prick. Here's 50 for the meal, and 200 for the car."

"What did you do to my car?

"I made some love stains in the back. You'll see..."

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

50. Rock out with his cock out? nt

[frylock]

64. trip balls

[Raschel]

44. They are so cute!!! lol

[valerief]

38. I bet he's a teabagger. nt

[LeftyMom]

57. Fat people are not a protected class.

If he gets too fat to walk, which might take a few more trips to White Castle, and gets a extra-wide mobility scooter (Free for those who qualify! Call now and we'll include a badly lettered "Government Out Of Medicare!" sign and a Gadsden flag bumper sticker!) then he can sue if he can't whir up to an accessible table unimpeded.

[JanMichael]

67. He'd sue the city for too narrow sidewalks.

Fucking self centered asswipe. Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me!

[Obamanaut]

60. Eat less, move more, fit in seats. nt

[crazyjoe]

61. maybe a 290 lb man shouldn't be eating burgers at white castle?

[RedCappedBandit]

70. You know what I find annoying?

Sitting in a booth designed for very large people and if I want to lean my back against the seat I can barely reach the table top.

[Codeine]

71. Expect more and more of that.

Normal-sized folk are being phased out to make room for the newer, bigger, obeser American. Pretty soon anyone without a big ol' belly will stick out like a sore thumb.

[Mendocino]

73. This reminds me of the

guy who sued some mom and pop dry cleaning shop for losing his suit.