a/k/a Permit Patty

Every so often (I try to time it to the reappearance of Halley's Comet) Peggy and I will get into one of our driving machines and cross the city line, entering Baltimore City, where the pace of life moves as fast as the ambulances and police cars can move it along.

We take our own water, but in case we didn't, there are plenty of corners in the city where people of all ages stand on hot days alongside giant foam coolers full of ice cold bottles of water.  And for a dollar, you can buy one.

If you've ever been hot and thirsty as only Baltimore can make you, and you don't have a bottle of water handy, paying a buck for one hardly seems steep at all.

And I've seen bottled water for as little as $2.88 for a pack of 30 bottles, which means a cost to the purveyor of 9.6 cents each, meaning that if you can get a dollar for it, your profit is 91 cents, minus the cost of ice. Not bad money for standing in the miasma of summer heat and exhaust gas.

I see this as one of those deals where everyone makes out fine.

But out in Oakland, California, a lady named Allison Ettel (since dubbed Permit Patty, to play on the B-B-Q Becky trope for a woman who complained about people firing up a grill) called the police when a little 8-year-old girl was hawking water to raise money for a trip to see Disneytown.  And it wasn't so pretty, once the word got out that Ettel was whining to the police that a child was vending water on a hot day without a permit.

The very IDEA!

Ettel, who was involved in the curious industry of making and selling marijuana-laced dog treats, saw her entire world crumble in the course of 24 hours. First, people who had been selling her doggie delights dropped her as a business partner right off, and then some other women who are making a film about women entrepreneurs in the burgeoning marijuana industry announced that she was being cut from the film.

Just as predictably, Ettel apologized, sort of, and says she acted out of stress and hopes that people will not judge her harshly, since she feels she is the victim of discrimination.

At least she didn't blame it on Ambien.

People are sick and tired of others calling the police on minor matters that don't even rise to the level of crime. If people are having a cookout and you don't care to be there, haul your buns and hotdogs to another location.  If a little girl is selling water, buy a water and walk away.

Just keep walking; we'll tell you when to return.