Tuesday, May 17, 2005

A Firing Offense? More Like A Capital Offense

I think this man was fired less for brand disloyalty, and more for displaying a worrying lack of judgement and taste:

Man Claims Firing Over Drinking Wrong Beer
Tuesday, May 17, 2005: MILLIKEN, Colo. - A former supervisor at a Budweiser distributorship says he was fired for drinking a Coors beer in public.

Ross Hopkins, 41, filed suit in Weld County District Court, saying American Eagle Distributing Co. has no right to tell him what kind of beer to drink when he is off-duty. Hopkins said he was fired in May 2003 after the son-in-law of the distributorship owner saw him drinking Coors in a Greeley bar.

Jeff Bedingfield, an attorney for American Eagle, declined to discuss the specifics of the lawsuit but said "there are two sides to every story."

In its court response, American Eagle said Hopkins was fired "for conduct that relates to a bona fide occupational requirement that is reasonably and rationally related to the employment activities and responsibilities of a particular employee."

The court filing does not directly challenge Hopkins' claim that he was fired, at least in part, for drinking Coors in public.


As Jamie over at The Shrewdness of Apes will no doubt concur, Coors drinkers should take this warning to heart. Perhaps this story also proves that being associated with Budweiser, indeed being associated with any cheapskate European style beer made from rice, reduces one's critical faculties. In any event I think this makes the case for avoiding both Coors and Budweiser if reasons of flavor alone were not enough.

Indeed, it makes one recall the pithy words of George Bernard Shaw*:
"Why is Coors Light like having sex in a canoe? Because both are fucking close to water."
(*Or someone else.)
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6 comments:

Listmaker said...

weasel, you better be careful. that jackass brendan who has been harassing jamie over there at the shrewdness of apes might be offended at your classist taste in beer.

Wisdom Weasel said...

Light beer, Mockney my ale convert friend, is a consequence of the horrors of prohibition, fear of a healthy beer gut, and the blistering mind destroying heat of the deep south and midwest. I have not one American friend who doesn't drink one of our fine local IPAs and pooh-poohs 'lite' beer.

Listo, what can I say; I'm a beerlitist. Should Brendan deign to rear his soul patched, bereted head around these parts I will be forced to forcibly make him consume a suitcase of those 'ironic' beers like PBR, Old Millwaukee, and Schlitz that he no doubt affects to love while he's theoretically being down with the workers and ol' Allan Lomax.

Mondale said...

Hey, This is an entry just asking for Bowles to wade in and drag someone from an undersized bathroom.
If you are going to drink beer please drink real beer. beer full of alcohol and calories. That's the point. thank you.

Wisdom Weasel said...

Another thing; I firmly believe that draught beer should not travel any further than 150 miles from brewery to pub. Flavor, quality, and beer diversity suffers from the trucking in of bespoke brews. It's why I can't drink Pete's Wicked Ale on draught here in Maine, despite loving the stuff. No, its Gearys, Atlantic Brewing (never the blueberry. Euch), Gritty McDuffs, Shipyard or our own Andrews when out on the piss.

Mondale said...

The Brooklyn Brewery here in , well, Brooklyn produces a marvellous range of beer. I've always been a creature of habit and used to drink Abbot ale like it was going out of fashion. Now my choice has to be Brooklyn lager which is one of the chewiest brews around. I must admit that it can result in some rather choice after affects and if abused the hangover can be a touch fruity. If it's a clean taste and less chance of hanging the next day I choose Becks.

Jim said...

Weasel, your last comment on TSOA was amazingly brilliant, notably the reference to Canadian Bacon and the O. Henry twist. (I wanted to e-mail you this love letter, but I realized I don't have your e-mail address. And I think any further comments on that particular TSOA post should all be Brendan-centric.)

So, uh, to make this comment relevant to your post about pisswater beer, I'll just say that I admit to unironically enjoying PBR and Schlitz now and then. But yes, it is preferable for beer to actually have some substance and taste. You should come visit Brooklyn and bring some bottles of your favorite Maine microbrews so we can compare them to Brooklyn Brewery beers.

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