36th District Court Rudeness

**maxx** · March-09-12, 04:16 PM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation...F1R_story.html

That doesn't mean it's not ghetto.

I've heard lawyers say the people associated with the 36th District are rude and judges often don't show up until 10 am.

**dawn26** · March-10-12, 08:34 AM

yes, more often than not, ghetto implies black, but seriously??? i'm sure she used the term ghetto to mean poorly run, not up to standards of other courts...sad to see someone lose their job over a poor choice of words.

**Detwa** · March-10-12, 08:45 AM

She lost her job for speaking the truth. 36th is the worst. I hate that place. The employees act like they work at a fast food joint, bad attitudes, inefficient service, and they seem uneducated. They treat everybody like criminals, even if you're just there to pay a ticket or pick up paperwork from a window. And the judges ARE tacky and GHETTO. Too bad she let her guard down and spoke the truth to someone who probably ran and told on her because they were offended at the truth.

**313WX** · March-10-12, 09:27 AM

It's very hard to find any place in this city that isn't "ghetto."

It's hardly limited to the 36th district court.

**ejames01** · March-10-12, 09:46 AM

Originally Posted by 313WX

It's very hard to find any place in this city that isn't "ghetto."

It's hardly limited to the 36th district court.

That isn't true

**JBMcB** · March-10-12, 09:50 AM

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ghetto

4th definition, I believe.

**313WX** · March-10-12, 10:01 AM

Originally Posted by ejames01

That isn't true

I disagree.

**Zacha341** · March-10-12, 10:11 AM

Hah! That's a description of many first level, first touch point government municipal employees downtown and suburban. The ye ole "CAN I HEEELLLPPP' YOU" snarl on the phone or thru the bullet proof glass!

Originally Posted by Detwa

"The employees act like they work at a fast food joint, bad attitudes, inefficient service, and they seem uneducated."

**ordinary** · March-10-12, 10:32 AM

I've been in there a few times for minor stuff like tickets and, while these kinds of places are often slow and bureaucratic, I felt I was treated well.

**poobert** · March-10-12, 11:55 AM

Interestingly, living in the city, in a middle class predominantly black neighborhood, I more often hear the term ghetto coming from my black friends and associates to describe other African Americans who, well, display behavior, habits, speech, and ill manners that are associated with the ghetto! It's a race thing but it's also a class thing. I think it could be likened to the term "white trash" or "trailer trash." It's offensive, but it isn't really a racial slur.
She should have been reprimanded, but fired? People casually use that term all the time. I am certainly guilty and will continue to be...just as I continue to deride the ill manners of the "white trash" of my own Caucasian persuasion.
Interestingly, what the article doesn't mention is that lady lives in the city. It isn't always city vs. suburbs; racial animosity still very much exists.

Can't find non-ghetto places in the city? Let's start with some acronyms...DYC, DAC, DSO, DHM, DIA, U-D...you clearly haven't been looking hard enough. Since we're on the subject, I find it pretty hard to find non-white trash places in the suburbs! Have you been the Meijer in Roseville or bars downriver? YEESH! I'm kidding, by the way, so please don't turn this isn't a city vs. suburbs thing.

**313WX** · March-10-12, 12:06 PM

Originally Posted by poobert

Interestingly, living in the city, in a middle class predominantly black neighborhood, I more often hear the term ghetto coming from my black friends and associates to describe other African Americans who, well, display behavior, habits, speech, and ill manners that are associated with the ghetto! It's a race thing but it's also a class thing. I think it could be likened to the term "white trash" or "trailer trash." It's offensive, but it isn't really a racial slur.
She should have been reprimanded, but fired? People casually use that term all the time. I am certainly guilty and will continue to be...just as I continue to deride the ill manners of the "white trash" of my own Caucasian persuasion.
Interestingly, what the article doesn't mention is that lady lives in the city. It isn't always city vs. suburbs; racial animosity still very much exists.

Can't find non-ghetto places in the city? Let's start with some acronyms...DYC, DAC, DSO, DHM, DIA, U-D...you clearly haven't been looking hard enough. Since we're on the subject, I find it pretty hard to find non-white trash places in the suburbs! Have you been the Meijer in Roseville or bars downriver? YEESH! I'm kidding, by the way, so please don't turn this isn't a city vs. suburbs thing.

I assumed the bolded part was directed to me. No one said there aren't ghetto places in the city, and there aren't ghetto places in the suburbs.

However, I have encountered, on the whole, better services and quality of service in suburbs than the city [[especially the further out you go).

The only fast food restaurant I know in the city that's consistently efficient is the McDonalds on Chrysler and I-75. Meanwhile, many of the retail establishments in the places are either severely understaffed/poorly maintained/poorly stocked or the employees hired apparently don't know the meaning of good customer service. In that context, I consider those places "ghetto." These are just places we visit regularly, not the DIAs of the city.

Others likely see this the same way I do, whether they admit it is a different story.

**poobert** · March-10-12, 12:30 PM

Originally Posted by 313WX

I assumed the bolded part was directed to me. No one said there aren't ghetto places in the city, and there aren't ghetto places in the suburbs.

However, I have encountered, on the whole, better services and quality of service in suburbs than the city [[especially the further out you go).

The only fast food restaurant I know in the city that's consistently efficient is the McDonalds on Chrysler and I-75. Meanwhile, many of the retail establishments in the places are either severely understaffed/poorly maintained/poorly stocked or the employees hired apparently don't know the meaning of good customer service. In that context, I consider those places "ghetto." These are just places we visit regularly, not the DIAs of the city.

Others likely see this the same way I do, whether they admit it is a different story.

Yeah, that's true enough.

However, as an aside, I don't know why people still go to fast food places with any expectation of good service/food and then feign outrage when the illiterate pimple-popper being paid minimum wage screws up your order and snarls through the tiny window [[I mean, you guys were getting along so well over that intercom, right?), city or suburb, Michigan or Alabama. I don't know why people still go to those stupid disgusting places to begin with...market forces, I guess...but that's another thread.

**JBMcB** · March-10-12, 12:33 PM

Originally Posted by poobert

Have you been the Meijer in Roseville or bars downriver? YEESH! I'm kidding, by the way, so please don't turn this isn't a city vs. suburbs thing.

Try any Chuck-E-Cheese's

**gazhekwe** · March-10-12, 12:41 PM

Back in the day, the term was "country," not ghetto. Example: People eating food or drinking jumbos while sitting on their front porch, and maybe tossing their bones in the yard -- "they country." I heard this term a lot at work for DSS, Lyndon office. Clients, neighbors, relatives all got called "country" when they acted in a manner the speaker deemed socially backward. It could apply to service as well, not getting good service, the worker was "country" [[doesn't know how to act).

**Bham1982** · March-10-12, 01:00 PM

Terrible choice of words, and she probably should have been let go, but doesn't mean it isn't true. The 36th is a bad joke.

**Neilr** · March-10-12, 02:00 PM

My experience with Ms. Leavey has been limited to watching her occasional presentations on the broadcasts of the City Council meetings. She appeared to well represent the city in a most professional manner. I did not, and still do not, feel that her using the term "ghetto" in that context at all justified her dismissal.

Having said all that...

A couple of months ago I received a summons for jury duty at the 36th District Court. In spite of understanding the importance of our jury system, I was not looking forward to the experience especially since several days prior, there was an incident of some woman swinging a TV camera tripod at someone outside the court.

To my surprise, I was picked for an assault trial that lasted several days. The entire case, the defendant, the plaintiff, and the witness were straight out of the ghetto with their low-class life style. They were all pathetic. It took us about 10 minutes in the jury room to unanimously vote to acquit the defendant and fill out the required forms.

However, every person I had contact with during my experience at the 36th District Court - guards, clerks, lawyers, fellow jurors, the judge - was absolutely helpful, respectful, responsive and all around first rate. Other than various wait times which probably were unavoidable, the only complaint I'd have was that the juror waiting room was overheated.

And the frosting on the cake: my $107 check for jury duty came the very next week!

**MidTownMs** · March-10-12, 03:40 PM

I'm gonna have to agree about the 36th District Court. There's a 36th District judge who comes on a radio show [[95.5) and answers legal questions for people who call in. She is beyond ghetto. I have never seen her on the bench. I just hope she does not come off like that in the courtroom but my gues is that she does. Some of the stuff that comes out her mouth [[which is very loud) is unbelievable.