What a "tragedy"

The Associated Press had a story the other day about the reopening of New York's opulent Plaza Hotel. The $400 million project resulted in the creation of 282 hotel rooms, which start at $1,000 a night, and 181 apartments. All but one of the apartments has been purhcased, and someone paid $50 million, yes $50 million, for one of them. Amid all the hoopla of the reopening, the Plaza already is dealing with one very unsatisfied customer. Joanna Cutler, who is subletting one of the apartments, apparently got stuck overnight in a room where garbage is disposed of when a door became stuck. If it were me stuck in the garbage room, I probably would have curled up on the floor and sacked out when it became apparent I was going to be there awhile. I also might ponder the fact that being forced to spend a night in the garbage room of a fancy hotel might not be quite as bad as living under a bridge, camping on a heating grate or living in tenement squalor surrounded by thieves, drug dealers and killers. It seems that did not occur to Ms. Cutler. When she was freed the next morning by a worker who heard her hollering, she wasted no time in hiring an attorney to help her handle her immense pain and suffering. Cutler's lawyer, one Susan Karten, says a lawsuit is forthcoming. Gee, what a surprise. My secret hope is that while Cutler and Karten are crossing the street to attend the first court proceeding on their lawsuit, they fail to see a taxi hurtling toward them. Then maybe they'd really have something worth suing over.