London’s East End is notorious for its criminals, from serial murderer Jack the Ripper to mobsters the Kray twins.
The latest candidate for this rogue’s gallery is Janet Devers, a 63-year-old woman who runs a vegetable stall at Ridley Road market. Her alleged crime: selling goods only by the pound and the ounce.
Ms. Devers, whose stall has been in the family for 60 years, faces 13 criminal charges stemming from not selling her produce by the kilogram and the gram. She stands accused of breaking a European Union-instigated rule that countries must use metric measures to standardize trade. The rest of Europe is metric…
“It’s disgusting,” said Ms. Devers of the charges. “We have knifings. We have killings,” she said. “And they’re taking me to court because I’m selling in pounds and ounces.”
And, equally illegally, in bowls. Ten of the counts against her relate to purveying produce, such as hot Scotch-bonnet peppers, by the bowl.
Detailed and infuriating tale. She faces $130,000 in fines. These clowns must have learned their law from the RIAA.
Thanks, Helen
I get 12 rods to the hog head and that’s the way I like it!
Metric rules!
Seriously don’t people have better things to do, just accept the change. Metric measurements have been adopted painfully slowly in the UK, and it is because of these morons.
Seriously don’t people have better things to do, just accept the change.
She originally switched over to metric, but her customers (apparently mostly not-to-bright immigrants) were confused and demanded that she switch back to Lbs/Oz. She was simply catering to customer demand, as should be her right.
Ah, the bowl. “Two before class” was my motto.
“The metric system is the tool of the devil! My car gets forty rods to the hogshead and that’s the way I likes it.”
She originally switched over to metric, but her customers (apparently mostly not-to-bright immigrants) were confused and demanded that she switch back to Lbs/Oz. She was simply catering to customer demand, as should be her right.
They would get used to it a lot quicker and would be left a lot less confused if everyone swapped at the same time. This is the reason the legislation exists.
Put up a few conversion charts, confusion solved.
One of the biggest things people have to get over is conversion charts. It’s a waste of time to think in one unit and switch to another. Just ask how much you need for X people and once you get the measure you have it for life.
Example.
1 Kilo of Mussels please!
500 grams of black cod please.
Can I have 250 grams of Serrano Ham.
It’s so easy! And if you get too much or too little the shop keep will always adjust for you on the spot or next time.
Conversions are a waste of energy.
In Canada we always have both measure in markets and supermarkets. I just use metric and not worry about it.
130k is an absurd fine.
What Caesar failed to do with the legions, Napoleon failed to do with his regiments, and Hitler failed to do with his Blitzkrieg, Belgium has managed to accomplish with a contract.
Given Europe’s history, it will probably end in a war.
I just use pounds, ounces, inches, feet, miles, quarts, Farenheit, and I don’t worry about it either.
The Eu should probably be destroyed. It is the opposite of freedom.
When Canada was going metric, First they advertised the price in both metric and imperial. All products had to be printed with both measures. After a few years of acclimation to the new system, the imperial was dropped. It became illegal to advertise the price in Imperial.
Yet, just to satisfy those who insisted upon being obstinate, a couple of gas stations surely enough continued to advertise in both liters and gallons. The stupidest thing was people buy by either filling up the tank or putting a specific dollar amount in. People don’t buy a specific quantity of gas for their cars. As well, the pumps were calibrated in metric anyway.
Metric is much better than imperial. I can hardly wait for the US to change over.
What a horrible thing to do to an old lady.
‘I arst you civil enough, didn’t I?’ said the old man, straightening his shoulders pugnaciously. ‘You telling me you ain’t got a pint mug in the ‘ole bleeding boozer?’
‘And what in hell’s name is a pint?’ said the barman, leaning forward with the tips of his fingers on the counter.
‘Ark at ‘im! Calls ‘isself a barman and don’t know what a pint is! Why, a pint’s the ‘alf of a quart, and there’s four quarts to the gallon. ‘Ave to teach you the A, B, C next.’
‘Never heard of ’em,’ said the barman shortly. ‘Litre and half litre — that’s all we serve. There’s the glasses on the shelf in front of you.
— 1984
Reminds me of my math classes in the one year I spent in the US ( I’m one of them froggies), 20 years ago. It was the last year of Junior High School, students were discovering the metric units, and they couldn’t figure out how to convert meters to kilometers to centimeters. They just wouldn’t believe it was as simple as moving a decimal point. I was terrified at how much energy was lost in learning such things as converting values between units, when it’s automatic within the metric system…
Seriously, as long as the customers know what they are getting for their money, why the hell should anybody else care?
Nevermind, we’re talking about government busybodies here.
Makes me glad I don’t live in Europe. So they want everything in metric, but a $130,000 fine..come on, that’s just obscene.
She is selfish….everyone else is changing to help improve their society and make things easier. Her customers aren’t going to find any shops that are still imperial and they will have to adapt
I’ll never forget the horrible US metric changeover and then packpeddle because some idiots couldn’t handle it. It was good for the older generation but it screwed the younger ones who only learned metric in school
Christ, but there’s a lot of idiots here.
She’s a lady selling vegetables. Who gives a fuck?
So… My question is, the are charging an old lady for selling vegetables in Imperial Units (which as a crime, has an ominously Biblical overtone, like sewing fabric of two cloths or something) but they managed to find 13 (THIRTEEN) charges to levy against her. What are the 12 other charges?
Actually, she should be able to sell in any units she and her customers please. We (US and UK) fought a war to squelch fascism you know!
As for the US metric conversion, I think I know what killed it. Back when Ford was president and I was in Junior High School (“Middle Schools” hadn’t been invented yet), the USA was on a program to convert to metric. And it was actually going reasonably well. But then the oil crisis hit. Gasoline topped $1 per gallon for the first time. Most gasoline pumps in those days could not register over $1 per gallon, but they could be setup to dispense in liters. And so they started to sell gasoline by the liter in the good old USA.
But, at that time, prices had already risen dramatically and EVERYONE convinced that they were getting ripped off even by the gallon. The extra conversion required to figure out just how much the ripoff amounted to when sold by the gallon was too much for the general public just them, and it scared them off the metric system but good! It seems that shortly after new pumps arrived and everyone went back to selling by the gallon, most of the other metric innovations disappeared in short order, Ronald Reagan arrived, and well, you know the rest.
18,
You lost the fascism war. As Mussolini said, fascism should be called corporatism as it’s the merger of state and corporate power.
@james said: Explain to me what advantage metric has outside of the science lab. And “Powers of 10 are easier to use” doesn’t count.
Since it’s vegetables just do what the mexicans here do, sell by the item for crying out loud. If you need two tomatos, buy two tomatos. There’s a store here (TraderJoes) that sell by the banana and I’ve heard people freak cause the Safeway sells by the pound, so I tell them weight your banana and divide, hey look it comes out to the same cost!! haha fools. I can’t wait until they finally try and convert time into metric, that’ll freak a lot of people…
[But what if you’re selling sugar? – ed.]
Victory for the campaign to save pounds and ounces
Valerie Elliott, Consumer Editor
Meat, fish, fruit and vegetables can continue to be sold in pounds and ounces in Britain indefinitely, after a U-turn by the European Commission.
The decision, disclosed in a letter made public last night, also means that fabrics, carpets and timber and other building materials can be sold in yards, feet or inches. Road signs can remain in miles per hour.
The move delighted consumers and shopkeepers after a campaign by the Metric Martyrs that had been backed by the Conservative Party and the British Weights and Measures Association.
The British Retail Consortium and other organisations representing butchers, fishmongers, greengrocers and market traders had also lobbied hard to save imperial measures.The campaigners scented victory after saving the crown on a pint glass this year.
Their instincts were confirmed by Günther Verheugen, the Industry Commissioner, who agreed that dual marking of goods in Britain in imperial and metric measures can continue indefinitely.
More at: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/money/consumer_affairs/article1764093.ece
@21: Standards are there for industry to run as smoothly as possible and one single possible set of units would make it do so. What EU did is a big govt. action, but without such insane fines one couldn’t eliminate dual systems of measurement because stubborn people exist, hence the problems for the industry would remain (example not obvious to USA readers: say one wants to build a home in UK where builder uses various inch/lbs building standards but the lumber arrives from another part of EU, say Germany and it is pre-cut in standard meter-based units… No interoperability, brakes on the trade and industry).
#19 – As Mussolini said, fascism should be called corporatism as it’s the merger of state and corporate power.
Well, if it is that simple, then is it okay to start referring to the United States as a fascist country, or do I need to keep paying lip service to ruse of democracy?
#24 – Standards are there for industry to run as smoothly as possible and one single possible set of units would make it do so.
That sounds like a great reason for two systems to me. The more efficient the industrial machine, the quicker it can consume our culture, our government, our environment, indeed our lives.
Always throw your wrench into the system whenever possible.
Muggers say “No, I didn’t do it” and the cops have to actually do some work.
She admitted to what she was doing, so the cops don’t have to do anything but write it up.
Makes me wonder how many of those murders they are getting are actually self defense “shoot and scoot” shootings.
“She originally switched over to metric, but her customers (apparently mostly not-to-bright immigrants) were confused and demanded that she switch back to Lbs/Oz. She was simply catering to customer demand, as should be her right.”
Ah, yes. Let’s cheer her on for upholding the time-honoured tradition of pandering to the lazy and stupid among us and thereby sabotaging social unity and common purpose – out of nothing more than the petty, selfish and shortsighted placing of personal profit before all else.
Tip #4,188 in the book How To Prevent Progress For Fun And Profit
• • • •
“The metric system is the tool of the devil! My car gets forty rods to the hogshead and that’s the way I likes it.”
…but how much is that in furlongs per fortnight?
Whenever I hear of an item measured in grams I mentally divide by 28 to get ounces. That’s wasted neuron time.
The british pint is a myth anyway 12. Get a german half litre glass and it has room for a half litre plus some head, get a typcal british pint glass and you usually have enough room for a half litre plus some head. try ot with a half litre can of lager and a liberated pub pint glass.
@ Ubiquitous Talking Head:
Easier for migrants? Pul-lease…it’s pretty much only the UK and US that are still dragging their feet on metrication. Most migrants would have been using metric measures for their entire life. Your comment is almost as half-brained as that original post when it said the East End is full of criminals and illustrated it by examples from a century apart.
*sigh* Some days it’s just not worth chewing through the leather straps and dealing with the other lunatics online.