Offside Chat Archives (2014-2021)

So, check this out—here’s a table just sitting on public property without any permit, and because of it, some restaurant actually got slapped with a 30-day closure. 🙏🙏🙏

Let’s just push aside all the talk about the pandemic, forget everything else going on right now—all those wasted billions spent trying to save jobs and prop up the economy—and just try to picture this: imagine if, during a totally standard inspection in perfectly normal times, a violation like this wasn't just met with a slap on the wrist or maybe a fine, but instead resulted in the entire place being shut down for 30 days.

And then you realize we're actually talking about this happening right now, in the middle of a global health crisis.
If I hadn't seen it myself, I wouldn't even believe it was possible.

Honestly, I don't think you'd even see something like this in Africa. Sure, they might deal with power outages, but they don't have situations quite like this one.

Look, restlesssurfer97 is hitting on something pretty simple here: if you're just a government employee, you're basically a parasite.

Subtract all the essential services we actually need to keep society running.

Joseph Clark37 said:That latest Dredd starring Karl Urban was a proper action movie. It’s one of those rare recent films in that genre that actually holds up...

Totally agree—it was solid.

The government is working against its own citizens. What’s new there?

Matthew Young35 said:The government is working against its own citizens. What’s new there?

Oh, totally, and it’s definitely not the first time either.

Paul Martinez73 said:What's the word from headquarters? Is it time for more posts yet? Did the ratings tank?

😁

Honestly, Anthony Jackson2 is just one giant walking advertisement against everything he claims to stand for.

Joseph Clark37 said:That latest Dredd starring Karl Urban was a proper action movie. It’s one of those rare recent films in that genre that actually holds up...

Are you kidding me, just now!? 🙂

Man, Westworld is something else... I just started chipping away at the first season while running the third one at the same time, and honestly, I don't know what new series to dive into now that everything is starting to make sense to me... ☕

restlesssurfer97 said:Let’s just push aside all the talk about the pandemic, forget everything else going on right now—all those wasted billions spent trying to save jobs and prop up the economy—and just try to picture this: imagine if, during a totally standard inspection in perfectly normal times, a violation like this wasn't just met with a slap on the wrist or maybe a fine, but instead resulted in the entire place being shut down for 30 days.

And then you realize we're actually talking about this happening right now, in the middle of a global health crisis.
If I hadn't seen it myself, I wouldn't even believe it was possible.

Honestly, I don't think you'd even see something like this in Africa. Sure, they might deal with power outages, but they don't have situations quite like this one.

It seems to me that the only real job for an inspectorate under these circumstances—really the only one—is to HELP businesses like this keep running. If they're doing something wrong, maybe just point out the mistake and help them fix it on the spot. If there's a problem, the inspectorate should be there to FIND A SOLUTION, ideally immediately. But if you're just acting like useless bureaucracy and only looking out for yourself, I suppose that's impossible.

This whole country is just one big contradiction.

On one hand, you've got certain people who have been running shady, off-the-books operations for years. They dodge taxes, trample all over workers' rights, and their sanitation standards are absolutely pathetic—but they still get by because they know someone in power. Then, on the flip side, you look at people who stay completely isolated from everyone else. They make sure to grab food safely, disinfect everything, wear masks and gloves, and basically follow every rule to the letter. It’s wild how different things are. 🙏

They shut them down just because they were following orders from the Department of Tourism 🙏

Capak keeps acting like an expert in everything:

"We let things slide before by calling it food delivery or a drive-in, but now we've gone ahead and clarified exactly how that’s supposed to work. It isn't a drive-in if you just stick a table out on the street to hand over food. There needs to be a dedicated spot for both payment and pickup. That could be at a single counter, maybe a window, a door, or right up front. You need two people there, or one person who has to disinfect their hands every single time and all that. We've laid out 11 specific operational points for all restaurants. Everyone is on board with this, and it'll be sent out to everyone. As soon as those who were shut down meet these requirements, they can get back to business," said Capak

So now he's busy drafting these 11 little rules for how restaurants are allowed to function. 🤦

I honestly think it's high time they pulled the manual out of rotation, because this whole thing is heading in a really bad direction.

At the same time, instead of focusing on what actually matters—like mass testing, which we're still waiting on even though they're only sending a thousand tests—he's obsessing over the minutiae. They're talking about even more massive testing later... just "one fine day." But for now, he's preoccupied with deciding how high a table should be or how tall the plexiglass needs to be, and stuff like that... as if there aren't much bigger problems to solve.

This is just getting more and more irritating by the second.

Carol Lewis said:They shut them down just because they were following orders from the Department of Tourism 🙏

Nah, nah... that's not even what this is about.

By the time that clueless little brat finally realized they’d completely blown it, he was standing there at the press conference—Mikulic, by the way—claiming the whole restaurant had to shut down just because a table was sitting in the wrong spot.

So basically, the table was just sitting there where it wasn't supposed to be, like it didn't even have the proper permit or authorization from the MTU to be in that spot, so now the restaurant is shut down.

On a thirty-day timeline.

🤦

Honestly, this isn't even news at this point, because inspectors have always loved picking on entrepreneurs like this, but it’s just that now, with everything going on, you can finally see how absolutely ridiculous all these measures they're pushing actually are.

Ninety days ago, a situation like this would have flown completely under the radar, and if it had somehow actually landed as a headline in the papers, you’d just be scrolling through the comments section seeing stuff like:

Honestly, we really need to lock up all those thieves once and for all.
I mean, at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter how much he flexes in that brand new BMW, because let's be real, the guy isn't even paying his workers.
He’s been playing dirty for three lifetimes now, so honestly, what is a thirty-day ban even supposed to do? It’s nothing, really, he needs a lifetime ban if we want this to actually mean something.

Yeah, pretty much the same thing.

The Inspectorate is basically bottom-of-the-barrel, and honestly, they aren't even winning any awards for competence when you look at how our other institutions stack up against them.

The crew in charge of enforcing the law seems perfectly capable of reading it—and interpreting it however they please, much like some of the folks over on Reddit. But perhaps the most infuriating part of the whole mess is that any kind of legal protection against this kind of nonsense is essentially non-existent.

It’s not even about whether you can actually read or interpret the law, because let's be real, that's just how they always go after anyone who isn't handing out under-the-table bribes, since the laws are so ridiculously complicated and full of holes that they basically serve as the perfect playground for corruption.

I'm pretty much convinced the inspector didn't actually break any laws in this situation.

Believe me when I say that sheer incompetence is a massive part of why the legal system ends up being such a bureaucratic mess later on.

The way they constantly whip around focusing on minor, peripheral details instead of the actual substance is a whole other issue entirely.

I suppose this specific case is more an example of that second point, rather than the first, but I was speaking in generalities. Even by our standards, the lack of quality among the people working there is honestly staggering.

So, following that logic, does every single checkout at a grocery store need two people? Like, one person just touching the products and another handling the cash, and both of them constantly sanitizing their hands?

I'm confused 🤔

brightpilot6 said:Believe me when I say that sheer incompetence is a massive part of why the legal system ends up being such a bureaucratic mess later on.

The way they constantly whip around focusing on minor, peripheral details instead of the actual substance is a whole other issue entirely.

I suppose this specific case is more an example of that second point, rather than the first, but I was speaking in generalities. Even by our standards, the lack of quality among the people working there is honestly staggering.

I totally believe you. 🙂

Putting Mikulic in charge is basically a symbolic move that covers everything we've talked about, both in terms of actual expertise and their true intentions. It hits on both those points you mentioned perfectly.

I guess Skaricic has a point, even if I wouldn't call myself a fan... it feels like Alemka and Capak are basically running the whole economy.

They really seem to think they own the place.

brightpilot6 said:The Inspectorate is basically bottom-of-the-barrel, and honestly, they aren't even winning any awards for competence when you look at how our other institutions stack up against them.

The crew in charge of enforcing the law seems perfectly capable of reading it—and interpreting it however they please, much like some of the folks over on Reddit. But perhaps the most infuriating part of the whole mess is that any kind of legal protection against this kind of nonsense is essentially non-existent.

Full names, please, ladies and gentlemen!