This is a knockout video from the TV show, The People's Court. I remember watching The People's Court on afternoon television when I was a young teenager...
I never knew, and always wondered, if this is just a show with actors and made up court cases, or if they actually are taking real cases and televising some sort of legal court procedure, even if ti does not look at all similar to how I picture a real court case (also based on perceptions from reading books and watching movies and tv shows).
Watch the clip. It is hilarious, and shocking. Watch it to the end - the end is nothing like what I could have ever predicted would happen.
Wow! What a clip!
If The People's Court is all just an act and a show, then they are idiots for being willing to make a show out of such a scam and a chilul hashem. Especially when many people might believe it to be true.
And if it is true, and if The People's Court cases are real, albeit adjusted for television, that is horrible. I love how they blame the Hispanic lady for not speaking English, and that being the cause of the misunderstanding, while she can hardly get two words in a row of decent English out of her mouth.
But then to take such a scam to nationally televised show? Did they really think the courts would issue a ruling without doing any leg work? And they bothered to go to three professionals for opinions but did not ask any to make a professional evaluation with a statement for the court case? Really? They come off like idiots, until the end where they come off like common scam artists.
And their response The Georgie is out of town and the judge could not have spoken to her - did they never hear of cellphones? Did they never hear of other people who work in the office who could have given the judge the information? Maybe Georgie is a one-woman operation, but I find it unlikely that she has no office help. Though I was impressed that they are up to date with Georgie's travel schedule - I wonder why that is...
I really hope the truth is with option #1 and The Peoples Court is not real. Then at least these people are simply jerks. Option #2 is much worse.
It is real in the sense that the show scours small claims court filings. If the parties agree to appear on the show, they agree to withdraw their court filings and sign a binding arbitration agreement.
ReplyDeleteBrings me back to my tv-addicted teenagerhood....
ReplyDeleteThey get paid for their appearance on the show, in addition to the actual arbitration.
I was thinking that she lost a good quality wig but supplied "bad" documentation, but then I remembered:
(1) She never lamented that since her "one wig" got ruined she had to rush to get the replacement on her head.
(2) They should have rushed over to the laundromat when they couldn't understand the phone call.
Two words: Chilul Hashem.
ReplyDeleteEven as I try to be "dan l'chaf zchut" that maybe the wig store owner was mistaken or maybe they mistakenly mixed up the receipts (which is quite a stretch especially when you see the couple's reactions to the verdict), there is no undoing the damage done here.
It leaves anyone watching with the image of religious Jews as sneaky, cheating, swindling, lying, conspiring, money-grubbing - not to mention stupid - and then having the gall to try to pull this off on national TV. The whole thing is quite nauseating.
I like the judge though - she can be my rebbe!
There was a small claims case that I was involved in over ten years ago, where the final verdict was split 50/50.
ReplyDeleteAbout a week later I received a call from 'The People's Court' asking if I would be a participant and allow them to showcase my case. The case involved a program sponsored by several girls' yeshivas. The temptation was there since you can NOT lose, you either come away not paying the lawsuit (or winning your share)so it seemed like a no-brainer. My spouse agreed that we should ask a rabbinic question and then proceed. Predictability the answer was no....he highlighted the fact that you can be abused, misquoted, humiliated and all for a few bucks besides the huge chilul hashem.
Who said she called Georgie? and Georgie has all types of sales, closeouts, specials that may have included this shtiel and her partners are not aware of! Georgie may have advised them to go to plea the case in court. It is surprising that the husband was not prepared with this important piece of proof of purchase... YET?
The people that appear on this tv show do get cash for allowing their case to be shown on air.
ReplyDeleteI find a few things disturbing.
1. The outrageous idea of putting the wig through the drycleaning process to begin with- on the owner's side.
2. Why hadn't the owner of the dry cleaner call these people to let them know they found a wig in the bag of clothing?
3. Who dropped off the bag of clothing in the first place?
And if it was their kid, what was the sheitel -which is $3000 laying around in the first place for the kid to pick it up along with the other clothes?
4. Don't you think the couple would have been frantic when they realized it was missing to begin with? They mentioned they had to go out and buy another one from this Georgi lady -another $4500 or so due to the quick timing of producing it for her- was this a scheme to get some money?
5. Don't people normally have insurance over something this expensive?
6. Doesn't the dry cleaners have a disclaimer if something goes wrong?
7. Why hadn't the judge been able to realize there were 2 stores with the exact same name?
8. And the lady said as she was out of the country in France, but checks her messages twice daily, -who DID the judge speak to? And Who was the one that gave this wrong information to the judge?
9. why hadn't this lady yell at the judge to prove to her it was a different company she called, and that the judge had called the wrong person instead of looking shocked that she had been caught?
And finally 10. - if she had this Georgi lady's phone number- why didn't this frum lady call her wonderful sheitel macher up right there and then to ask her to tell the judge that indeed it was from her she bought it, and that it costed $3000? Why did they make this video up later of her explaining how wonderful and honest this couple is and the that judge error ed?
MOST IMPORTANTLY:
WHY DID THIS FRUM COUPLE TAKE IT NATIONAL TELEVISION TO BEGIN WITH AND WHICH RAV DID THEY CONSULT WITH AND HAD ALLOWED THEM TO DO SO?
Can't understand how so much mis communication from both the dry cleaner's owner and the owner of the sheitel would cause this wig to be washed with the rest of the clothes.
ReplyDeleteOn things like these you take extra precaution to make sure they stay safe and in a box, in a safe place.
Something is not right.
Continued from previous comment- this is the full version of the video, the one that is going around is a chopped up video.
ReplyDeleteJust letting you know.