Faster! Leaner! Meaner! Ben Popken rounds up Consumerist.com’s top stories of the week, from psychotic stewardesses to deadly foreclosures. This week we introduce a new feature: printing out the internet and turning it into a puppet show.

Stories covered in this episode:

IRS Tells Single Mom She’s Too Poor, Must Be Lying
Asking For Orange Juice On American Airlines May Violate Federal Law
Doctor Flying Southwest Tries To Go To Bathroom, Ends Up In Jail
No, Wells Fargo, You Can’t Leave Animals To Die
Man Pays Best Buy For Washer/Dryer, It Doesn’t Appear, Takes Laundry To Store, Shames Store Into Delivering

TRANSCRIPT:

INTRO

Here are Consumerist.com’s top stories for the Week of December 13th, 2009. I’m Ben Popken.

FRASIER DIDN’T KEEP RECEIPTS EITHER

The IRS said a Seattle mother earning under $19,000 a year living with her parents couldn’t possibly afford to take care of her kids and audited her, hard. After she spent $10,000 on a tax attorney, the IRS determined because she couldn’t come up with enough receipts, she can’t claim her own childern as dependants. Ok, IRS todo list. Number 1, Rich tax cheats hiding funds in complex corporate entites. All done! Moving on to number twoooo, 2, single mothers.

AA OJ NO-NO

An American Airlines stewardess screamed at a first class passenger and had the captain give him a written warning for “Threatening, intimidating, or interfering with a crewmember.” His crime? Asking for a glass of orange juice.

SW PP UH-OH

And if you think that’s bad, a 65-year-old Southwest Airlines passenger on diuretcs was arrested for repeatedly trying to go the bathroom. The stewardess yelled at him and pushed him back into his seat several times. Turns out the pilot was in the lavatory and no one is supposed to get up while he’s tinkling, though no one told the passenger this at the time. He spent the night in jail and paid a $2,500 fine. Jeez, when that sign says “OCCUPADO” they’re not fucking around.

ANIMAL FARM FOR SALE, CHEEP!

After bad press got out that Wells Fargo had foreclosed on a farm and left the horses and pigs to die, the bank made arrangements for local volunteers to look after the animals. Remember folks, morality is directly proportional to the number of people watching you.

DIRTY LAUNDRY, DIRTY LOOKS

A man took his dirty laundry in to Best Buy and asked which of their washer/dryers he was supposed to use while he waited for his $1,600 washer/dryer to arrive. He had unhooked his washer/dryer at home and Best Buy had blown TWO delivery dates.
The YouTube of the incident was removed, so we must resort to a re-enactment, using paper:

MANAGER: SIR! Please leave immediately.

MAN: I just want my washer and dryer.

MANAGER: Do you want me to call the cops? Lisa, call the cops.

MAN: I guess Best Buy doesn’t care about its customers.

::monster worm attack

And that’swhat happened. You should have seen it on video. It was awesome.

And that’s our show. For Consumerist.com, I’m Ben Popken, taking it seriously.

::END TRANSCRIPT

PREVIOUSLY: Consumerist Videodrome #2: The “New Moon” Felons

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