OT: Red Wings fired Al Sobodka for peeing into drain
I mean who hasn't urinated in a drain. No link because freep.
Ex-Detroit Red Wings Zamboni driver Al Sobotka fired for peeing into drain
A lawsuit has laid bare the reason Al Sobotka no longer drives a Zamboni for the Detroit Red Wings: He got caught peeing into a drain and was seen by another employee.
Sobotka's lawyers state in the case filed in Wayne County Circuit Court that Sobotka's rights were violated under Michigan's Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, arguing that Sobotka was discriminated against on the basis of his age (68) and disability.
According to the lawsuit, Sobotka has been diagnosed with benign prostatic hypertrophy, which causes a frequent and uncontrollable need to urinate.
On Feb. 2, Sobotka drove one of the Zamboni machines into its garage at Little Caesars Arena after cleaning the ice at the main rink. Sobotka, according to the lawsuit, experienced at uncontrollable urge to urinate. The nearest facility was 60-70 feet away, so instead, Sobotka used one of the drains that lead into a sewer, designed to handle the ice runoff from Zamboni machines. The area is closed to the public, and access limited to the all-male ice crew.
Sobotka was urinating between two Zambonis when he was seen by a male employee.
Two days later, Sobotka was called into a meeting with his supervisor and a human resources representative. Initially suspended for a week, Sobotka was terminated Feb. 17.
Seems pretty weak. Dude has prostate issues--cut him some slack.
Agree. It's not like he pulled a Gary Moeller.
Or a Red.
This guy was fired immediately, not after the season. Remember this is his lawsuit, so ofcourse he's gonna give reasons for his bad behavior. I'm guessing the "employee" was a female and saw his package, and I'm guessing the response to his lawsuit will have other accusations. The fact that they claim it was an all male ice cree area raises my eyebrows.
"Sobotka was urinating between two Zambonis when he was seen by a male employee."
That tattle-tail male employee should be taken between the Zamboni's and have his ass kicked.
According to his lawsuit. What about this line: access limited to the all-male ice crew. No reason to put that if there were no woman in the area.
I'm still not understanding your skepticism. You're right, it's in his defense -- painting the picture for why is actions are justifiable. They put that in there because how else are readers supposed to know this fact could have factored into his decision in the moment.
I'm sorry. A guy relieves himself at into a drain at work. I could understand an alley behind a bar. But work?
Word to the wise. Never ever assume nobody is watching.
The "nobody" here is a backstabber. And the Red Wing organization is spineless, and they obviously wanted him to go. Sucks.
April 21st, 2022 at 12:14 AM ^
That is not a reasonable conclusion.
It does annoy my wife and daughter when we're out hiking and I feel the urge, just rack 'em up and cut 'em loose. If you're a woman, it might. . . piss you off that you can't, most of the time, do the same. Also, peeing into a drain might not be your most sanitary move sometimes. If the word was he was far from a bathroom, that's one thing, but 60-70 feet. . . I mean, what does he do when he's sitting on his Zamboni during games and the uncontrollable urge hits? I'm almost always on the side of labor as a matter of principle, but I'm not convinced that this guy was fit to perform his job. Maybe he strikes a halfway decent deal with management and happily toddles home?
I was in a tree archery hunting when I was 16 years old and a line of snowmobiles drove past.
The last snowmobile stopped about 25 yards away in plain view. It was driven by a very large woman.
She stopped and dropped out of her snowmobile suit and leaned back on a tree and let fly a lengthy urination. I could have scared the heck out of her but but chose to endure the interruption in silence. It lives with me to this day.
There must be more to the story or the tattler is just a douche.
as a long-time bow hunter i can both clearly envision your encounter with the moose, and it is taking all my self-control to respond with decorum. oh, the mischief your 16 yr old self could've had....
Yes I’m probably less mature now.
Certainly a cell phone (nonexistent) and a loud cougar call would have made a viral moment.
Would that be against the law? You could blur out the face if there was not any identifiable parts.
Are you referring to the woman as a moose?
April 20th, 2022 at 11:39 PM ^
Yes, he's exercising self-control and responding with decorum.
" It lives with me to this day."
Some things in life are so profound they will rent space in your head forever.
So you read the part where it says what his lawyers said, right? Lawyers can use questionable tactics, but I doubt these guys are trying to paint a female as a male. And they didn't say it was an "all male area" - they said it was an area restricted to the ice crew, which is all male (currently). Those are two very different things.
Context matters.
I have mixed feelings about this case, though. On one hand, I feel some of his pain at having to pee. And I personally don't think peeing into a drain in a secluded area hidden between monstrous machines is all that bad. But I also recognize that you can't go around peeing into drainpipes in a public building.
There is no winner in this case, and both sides are going to look bad.
This is right. As a lawyer you have a duty of candor to the court. Obviously lawyers argue of what different facts and circumstances mean, but to put a easily provable falsh-hood in a pleading could jeapordize a lawyers bar license. Most of them won't do that.
i've seen a boatload that wouldn't bat an eyelash at putting total manure in pleadings. sadly, it's pretty rare that there are repercussions about it.
^ this ^
I have a very liberal policy on peeing outdoors. I can't for the life of me understand why you would go inside at your place of employment when the restroom is about 25 steps away.
On the other hand, if his issue is that severe, why wasn't he wearing a diaper?
This was my thought. There are so many situations at any work, where a bathroom might be 60-70 feet away (not just in a private-ish area between big machines) where if this was a real issue and not just a lawerly excuse, you would think he would need to wear some form of adult diaper.
Counterpoint: he could have walked 60-70 feet to the bathroom. That's really not that far at all, no matter how bad you have to pee.
I agree, but what's worse is this person who told management. No excuse for that guy
I wonder if the punishment would have been different if it had been a shower drain. Asking for a friend.
Yeah, but they left out the part where afterward he took out his crank and swung it around like a dead octopus.
Used to make the guys laugh, but times are tough down there at LCA now days.
" ... he took out his crank and swung it around like a dead octopus."
Thank God nobody threw it on the ice first.
What this says to me is that he was not very well liked by the people employing him. Just seems like an instance where they wanted a reason to get rid of him. Maybe it was his attitude, maybe it was his age, maybe they could find a guy to drive the zamboni for half the salary. This is one of those things where you would probably get a pass or just a suspension if you were on good terms with your employer.
Maybe part of what made him unlikable was pissing on the floor.
To me that always signaled someone was a good time and down to party,
Hardly fair. It's not like he did something egregious like say he wouldn't eat chicken salad.
"Urine trouble, Al."
"Now go clear off the Klingons circling Uranus."
"Urine trouble, Al."
You had to figure there was more to this story and it was only a matter of time before Sobodka's lawyer leaked this to the press.
So you don’t think this was leaked prematurely? Personally I think they should have held it in a little longer.
Only took a wee bit of time.
I've been anticipating a constant drip of stories like this being released by both parties.
Looks like we may soon be getting a pretty steady stream of information
thought they would splash this all over the front page.
sometimes you just can't shake a story like this.
Yellow journalism at its worst!
They'll probably let the whole story dribble out slowly.
I think they should shower it all out at once.
i think this will be a tit-for-tat played out through sympathetic media channels and this news was merely number #1 in a series of counternarratives
I can see why Al is pissed.
It depends on if they only plan to run this story down one leg of the media or flush it through all the outlets.
A release of his medical records could void the lawsuit. As one who is approaching old age, I shiver at the thought of such repercussions