I am not a crank, you pimps!


This morning, whilst being on time for work the second day running, I saw the oddest thing at Tara Street station. Tara Street Station for those of you that don’t take rail transport to the city centre, is the busiest train station in Dublin; full of prosaic overweight rail workers, dislocated junkies, and tired commuters. A bit like any rail station in any western city. If you are on time for work when you leave the depot, you are greeted by the regular buskers, either trad-guy with beard and tin whistle or trad-bird with beard and squeezebox, some pigeons, pretty corporate whores handing out leaflets, or pretty corporate whores handing out free stuff. The free stuff, besides being a good incentive for being on time for work, is normally food. This morning, the free stuff was a leading anti-cold drink.

So what? It’s cold, people are sick. They’re only marketing their product. A product that just happens to contain paracetamol. Is it not a tad irresponsible to stand outside the busiest train station in Ireland peddling a product that should not be taken unless you’re sick? It is not a prescription drug, granted, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was the first time I’ve been spammed without receiving an email. I should send an letter to the pharmaceutical company in question.

“Dear Sir/Madam,

When leaving Tara Station today, some pimp tried to push your best selling cold remedy containing paracetamol on me. Doesn’t an overdose of this stuff give you liver and kidney failure? Are you allowed do this? Perhaps it was a competitor trying to get you into hot water (ha ha!). If you are going to give your product away on street corners, can you get pretty girls to do it like everybody else, instead of some dopey looking guy with a backpack. Does the FDA know about this??

Assholes!

I am not a crank,
Yours etc.,”

But I don’t care that much.