The line from National Lampoon's Vacation comes to life today in the pages of Britain's Telegraph. First, there is a report of a lawsuit where a former butler alleges that his former employer treated the Butler "like an animal."
A butler had insults and walking sticks hurled at him before being thrown on to the streets by a diplomat's "despotic" widow, an employment tribunal heard.
Lady Killearn, the widow of Britain's ambassador to Cairo during the Second World War, owns a £10 million home in Harley Street, London, and Haremere Hall, a 17th century country house set in 145 acres of East Sussex.
She and her Eton-educated husband, Sir Miles Wedderburn Lampson, who became the 1st Baron Killearn, developed a reputation as society hosts and their guests included Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle.
However, Paolo Sclarandis, an Italian butler, claims he found 98-year-old Lady Killearn, whose husband died in 1964, living in squalid conditions when he took up employment at her London home in Sept 2004.
He told the hearing in Ashford, Kent: "Lady Killearn is despotic, she still thinks she is living in the glory days of the British Empire, but she lives in squalor, with dangerous wiring, piles of clothes in her cramped bedroom and her bathroom falling to pieces. And she treated me as her slave."
He said she would call him a "toad", "monster" and "selfish prat" during his 67-hour working weeks.
He added: "She was violent to me on many occasions. One time she threw walking sticks at me. I was treated like an animal."
The countercharges by Lady Killearn are just as lurid. Which is why the press is covering it, of course. Meanwhile, in more pet like news, a British couple was barred from boarding a bus. Because the man was treating the woman like a dog.
A Goth who walks his girlfriend on a leash has complained that he was discriminated against by a bus driver who refused to allow him to board.
Tasha Maltby, 19, and her fiance, Dani Graves, 25, were not allowed to get on a bus in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, and claim the driver told them: : "We don't let freaks and dogs like you on."…
……Miss Maltby, from Dewsbury, who describes herself as a 'human pet' told the Daily Mail:
"It is definitely discrimination, almost like a hate crime. "I am a pet, I generally act animal like and I lead a really easy life," she said.
"I don't cook or clean and I don't go anywhere without Dani. It might seem strange but it makes us both happy. It's my culture and my choice. It isn't hurting anyone."
I fail to see the problem. Public conveyances have rules against people bringing pets on board. (The bus company is claiming the leash is a safety issue. That is quite legitimate. A sudden stop could break her neck.)
Regarding the Goth couple, I’ve no problem with their lifestyle (Hey, I live in Los Angeles, after all), but that they’re living off the dole and planning to have a familiy –also at public expense– gets my goat.
I wonder if the kids will have black leather diapers.
You just can’t make this stuff up. Is it just me, or does the guy look like Lucius Malfoy with dark hair?
I agree with Gaius, if she wants to be treated like a pet and pets aren’t allowed on the buses, then she should be happy that she was treated like any other pet. She is complaining because she wants to be a pet but have the priviledges of a human being – have her biscuit and eat it, too. Either she’s a pet, or not. Can’t have it both ways. And, yes, Sam, he does look a bit like a slightly younger Lucius with dark hair (I always suspected Lucius dyed his hair anyway).