Who would do this, and why?
Who would do this, and why? An anonymous individual makes a seemingly outlandish claim, warns the public to act, and pleas for help... but leaves no means of contacting them to follow up on any of this. Awkward. Or fishy.
A disgruntled (ex-)employee exacting revenge? An immoral competitor tossing a new low in low blows? A personal vendetta gone public? The unfortunate and seemingly malicious result of someone's mental imbalance? Is this residual fallout in fears over listeria?
This sign has been spotted in the Annex, near Bloor & Bathurst, on hydro poles, newspaper boxes, and mailboxes. And it promptly ended up the blogTO Flickr pool today and in short order was all the Twitter as well... leaving everyone wondering what this was all about.
A phone call I made to the popular Middle-Eastern restaurant at 5:30pm yesterday was answered by an employee and I was passed on to the senior employee present. Upon being notified about the postering (which we can only assume is untrue, and if so, libelous), he sounded surprised and mildly upset by the news. He assured me that no one had died in the restaurant.
This morning, I spoke to the owner, Sam, who expressed shock and disbelief. "We've been a part of this community for 17 years. I have no idea why this is happening," he explained. "I'm shocked. We love the Annex, and through the years have had nothing but rave reviews and happy regulars," he continued. "I can't imagine who would do this."
Dinesafe shows the restaurant had some problems but was granted a conditional pass on February 19th. Problems were quickly addressed and they were given a full green pass on February 20th.
If I see any of these seemingly libelous posters in my travels in the Annex, or anywhere else in the city, rest assured - I'll be yanking them off.
UPDATE: Sunday, March 15th:
Last night I stopped by the restaurant and Tweeted along with a fuzzy cell phone snap: "Half way through a shawarma at Laila's and my date is still alive":
UPDATE: Sunday, March 15th:
I just got an email from Torontoist editor David Topping, who told me that one of their writers has been working on this story for almost a week. Please see a far more comprehensive look at this issue in Kaori Furue's article on Torontoist.
Photo of poster in the Annex by blainekendall.com. Fuzzy photo of half-eaten shawarma by me.
Comments (64)
Jerrold: are you a journalist or an activist? You wrote a great article, but now I question your impartiality.
I think your last line ("If I see any of these seemingly libelous posters...I'll being [sic] yanking them off") negatively affects your credibility.
@Moneesha
I beg to differ. I feel that leaving the posters up would be compromising my credibility and integrity as a member of the community. The posters are anonymous, state lies, and are cowardly.
I don't think Jerrold has credibility. In addition to the above comment, shouldn't you dig into the reasons for their previous health inspection problems?
The info on that DineSafe report makes the place seem disgusting! Why go to a place that was given a conditional pass, when there are many nice places in the city? I wouldn't risk going there knowing their history.
Moneesha: Are you serious? Are you the one that put these posters up? Do you even realize the severity of this issue? I certainly am questioning YOUR credability at this point. If you are a fear-monger and want to believe every little piece of crap someone tells you, then I assure you that you will be much happier living in an area a bit farther south than here where your opinions will be a bit more widely accepted. You might want to switch the fox news off a little more often, it's obviously affecting your sanity. IF I SEE THESE SIGNS IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD AGAIN, I WILL RIP THEM DOWN...AGAIN!
@donburi
What? I mentioned AND linked to the restaurant's specific Dinesafe infractions in the article.
You can't put a sign up like that without leaving contact deets to get more information. I'm going to rip them down too. I love ripping stuff down.
tough call, but I'd have to say that the last line shouldn't have been put in. Nothing wrong with thinking that way Jerr, but the way you made the call to the owners, and checked out dinesafe, it shows me the due diligence of journalism -- which is then put to a screeching halt with the bit about taking part IN the story and tearing the signs down.
Jerrold -- As a journalist, I want you to give me all the facts. With all due respect, there are times where I'd love to hear about your personal connection to the community, but in a case like this, I just want the facts.
I'd like to have seen a call for the folks who postered to back up their claim, or even have had the question posed to your readers "Would you tear down the sign?". Perhaps even information aside from dinesafe, where folks who have issues with restaurants can turn to, so folks don't turn to random, anonymous postering.
While tearing down the signs might breech impartiality, and some of us have issues with that -- let's also look at the notion of elevating the posterer's agenda by publicizing their handful of signs. Just as much as we're going to question Jerrold, let's talk about whether a couple signs on hydro poles warrant our attention at all. This post may be giving more credibility to the posters than they deserve.
as for the restaurant being disgusting based on the dinesafe report. I dunno.
first, it was given a conditional pass. So it couldn't have been THAT nasty. And secondly, there didn't seem to be anything in there that you probably wouldn't find in any local restaurant or grocery store. It almost reads like they didn't have toilet paper, and someone hadn't flushed the toilet during the inspection.
So let's try and find a way to both protect the public, and to also protect small business.
Jerrold,
How do you even know what this person is claiming to be true? What if it is? I bet you'd feel REALLY guilty if you tore down the poster and then someone else got REALLY sick or worse, died from eating at this place?
Having looked at their (Laila's) inspection history, they've received 2 conditional passes twice in the past 2 years, the most recent of those conditional passes being issued on February 19th 2009.
Am I defending this person's actions? No. If it's untrue, it's libel. Plain and simple. If it is true, then why didn't we hear anything about it? Surely it would have been in the news, and this place would have been shut down.
But Jerrold, I am questioning your integrity as a journalist by saying you will rip down the posters. Your excellent article was effectively ruined by your last statement. Please don't rip down the posters and pass judgement.
May I note, just because someone's friend died there, it doesn't necessarily have anything at all to do with the food itself. A fellow died in a restaurant two years ago, at a Brampton mall.
It was just a case he had health problems, and they just so happened to come to their climax when he was there. Nothing to do with the food, it was just his time.
Cool -- see, that's what I'm talking about. Pose the question to the readers and let them decide Jerr.
Aren. I think that's an awesome point. Maybe rather than tearing them down, write something on the posters asking for proof, and make it just as legible as the claim so that passer-by would be reminded that there's no evidence being presented. If the sign writers actually have something, they should be sharing it, rather than making baseless accusations.
@Justin
If what the poster claims is true, the owner of the restaurant would know about it. Police would have been involved. The person who posted the poster wouldn't be hiding under the veil of anonymity or talking about "giving them your money".
What I've said here in this blog piece still leaves things for the reader to decide. It doesn't mean that I can't be honest about what I feel has gone on here, and it doesn't mean that I can't state clearly I've decided to do in response.
If I see these, I'll pull them down. My prerogative. If you read this piece and feel differently, just walk on by them when you see them. Your prerogative.
There's a provocative debate going on here, but I wonder if the terms of opposition established by the first commenter on the article are not rather naive. The steadfast belief that journalism and activism are polarized relies on a problematic faith that impartiality 1.) is possible and 2.) always desirable. Perhaps this particular comment stems from the widespread misunderstanding of the term 'bias.' Contrary to what many think, being biased does not mean being partial, opinionated and/or interested. Rather, it is the failure to be impartial and disinterested when one has stated -- implicitly or explicitly - that this is his/her goal, as would be the case in most 'front-page' news. Insofar as Jerrold has been most explicit in his interestedness, I find nothing troubling about this post whatsoever. I suppose, however, that the fact that I also write for BlogTo might serve to call my intended impartiality into question. But, once again, that is up to each reader...
Given the ambiguitous nature of this public letter, it defeats the whole purpose of it being a warning, and the word "Help" at the very end sorta triviliazes it even more because the 'cause' of warning others can't be helped in any concrete way given that there is a void of information and contact information.
This blog did all that it could in my opinion by investigating the surrounding factors as best as it could. But think...if you start tearing "these kinds" of warnings down then it wouldn't have given rise to this awareness in the first place, only a person whose eaten there before can attest to whether their food is sickening.
For those of you attempting to substantiate this piece of paper, just let me say you've
a) fallen for some of the most absurd propaganda that exists and b) fail to note were this factual it would have to be made up by the most horrible friend ever. Imagine you're dead and all your pal can muster up is a home office printout slamming a restaurant. Nice tribute.
It's fake and is the paper equivalent of trolling; readjust your sleuthing caps and snap a nice one of whomever puts these up.
For those criticizing Jerrold about his closing comment. I'm pretty sure this is a BLOG, not Reuters. Lighten up. Let's not forget that most nation-wide news outlets have editorial sections and opinion pieces.
With no actual contact information or further way to inquire, the poster is pretty illegitimate. I'll be tearing them down if I see them too.
And since postering like that isn't legal, yanking them off isn't illegal..so how does that compromise journalistic integrity in any way?
I'm with Ryan L. I love BlogTO, but I've never really thought of it as an example of journalistic integrity, it's a blog written by citizens of Toronto. These kinds of things are more about the person writing than news, it's all editorial.
I wouldn't give too much credit to anybody just because they post something on the Internet, the people commenting above me certainly included.
Should I offer a reward for the coward that put these up?.
If a restaurant killed/was responsible for the death of a family member/friend then you bet your arse I will be suing them. I would call the health department and so forth. This is just a coward, or an ex-employee.
Again, if you find out who it is, send it over. I am so interviewing this coward for my podcast.
I will continue to get a chicken-burger (frozen, but fried in delicious falafel-grease), fries, and a pop for $3.99 here, as I have been for years. My only question is why the 9-11 conspiracy tem used to meet up there...and if they will continue to do so post-Obama.
If this were a 'serious' case, they would have SOME sort of contact info / ANYTHING credible ; P
It was probably a person who didn't like their f.sandwich, was drunk, and had credit at Kinkos...
Long Live Laila!
jonathan@blogTO
It's been said a thousand times now already, but yeah: no contact information, no details, no police involvement in the alleged death, no familiarity with the situation from the staff and owner all culminates in no way this is serious. I don't have any decent explanation for why somebody would put this up, probably a poorly conceived practical joke or something, but really it's not terribly important. When was the last time you saw something written on a bit of paper stapled to a telephone pole that actually modified your restaurant patronizing habits? This will all amount to nothing, I guarantee it. Unless it's the start of some weirdly obscure bit of viral marketing or something.
What's more interesting to me than the posters is people's reaction to them. People are putting the screws to Jerrold for saying he'll take them down, suggesting that it's a sacrifice of his journalistic integrity. But that's not what gets me. What DOES get me is why tear them down at all? Unless you're personally aligned with the posterer or the restaurant I don't see how anyone would have enough of an investment in the situation to care about who is saying what about whom. Even if the claims of the poster are bold-facedly untrue, where did it become your duty to regulate what other people say about neighbourhood restaurants?
Anyway, that's all I have to say on the matter for now.
ALTERNATIVE THEORY: The posterer's friend died... metaphorically?
Calling the restaurant for a response was above and beyond in my book, so kudos to you Jerrold for digging into this for us. It's great that they've been given a chance to respond to this accusation somewhere (it's not like they can go to the streets to yell out, "It's not true!")
I've always thought Bathurst and Bloor was the place to go if you wanted to experience something new food wise, and according to Laila's website, they've won the Best Falafel category every year since 1995 , so they must be doing something right,(though I haven't been able to find any NOW Best of TO archives to verify).
I'm sticking with the "this is not a joke" rule; ie, it's exactly the opposite when those words are used.
I think Jerrold had every right to state his opinion that he would tear down the posters if he came across them. The onus is on the person who put the posters up in the first place to substantiate their claim. If new posters go up in the future that somehow prove these claims are true, then that would be a different story.
The restaurant has had a history, receiving a C for failure to ensure food is not contaminated. Maybe the posterer was food poisoned? And out of anger fabricated this because Laila's was able to reopen a day after receiving its conditional pass.
overall, this one instance isn't going to change my reading habits or set the world on fire. Still much love for all the work everyone does on the site.
But I was intrigued by the article, and really curious about what was going on -- the person telling the story seemed to decide it was done, and made their judgement, and now I'm left with a less than satisfying ending.
If faceless anonymous posterer has their claims taken at face value and elevated here, and the restaurant owners have their rebuttal taken at face value, i suppose justice has been done. but I'm not entirely sure we know anything more about what's really going on.
Tearing the signs down, despite their legality or illegality, could have an interesting result, too:
DUDE! Don't you have anything better to do with you're time? WTF!!! How is this even on here? Who decides what articles get posted on here? I think they should be fired. Fuck this website sucks. Good Bye!!!
The samosas at Laila's are to die for.
If someone did die in the restaurant, it would have made the news/blogs rather than only being heard about on the telephone poles.
If the death was related to something the restaurant did/didn't do, the restaurant would have been closed, not simply given a conditional pass.
Thank you, Jerrold, for reminding us that it takes all sorts of people to make a city as fascinating as ours.
man this is what you get when you live in a comfortable middle class bubble. random posters by some crazy person / bored teenager gets you all messed up.
I see 70 year old crazy ladies doing the same thing, ripping posters off of telephone polls. Step back from the abyss.
"random posters by some crazy person / bored teenager gets you all messed up."
You SERIOUS? Of course some of us are going to get riled up. What if you owned a business and then all of the sudden someone - for the sake of sh*ts and giggles puts up posters like this - you likely COULD be ruined because of these posters. It's insane! It's up to our social media networks like BlogTo to tell us about these things that may not make the bigger papers.
It worries me tremendously, and I hope that the business doesn't suffer.
"I see 70 year old crazy ladies doing the same thing, ripping posters off of telephone polls. " So why don't you go tell your wife to stop doing that.
I have no problem with Jerrold inserting himself into the story at the end: this is a blog, I don't expect "journalism".
But the story is somewhat incomplete. You can't expect the restaurant owner to admit if something bad happened. If someone died there, 911 would have been called and there would be police and EMS involvement and therefore evidence and people to contact. Someone very well could have died for reasons completely unrelated to food-handling or health and safety in the kitchen. Choking, or a severe allergic reaction, for example, something DineSafe wouldn't record. No restaurateur would want to be associated with a food-related death, no matter how incidental.
You know, Jerrold, one of the laws of short attention span theatre says that you're doing a disservice to the restaurant by dramatically extending the reach of the postering campaign to include the web. The posters might go away but now whenever someone Googles the place, this story is going to come up too. We still don't know if anyone DID die as a result of eating there, or at the very least died IN the place. So merely having the question out there might dissuade people from going there.
Anyone who takes this sign seriously is an idiot.
The person who put them up is an idiot.
It's an idiotfest. Yayyy.
"A phone call I made to the popular Middle-Eastern restaurant at 5:30pm yesterday was answered by an employee... He assured me that no one had died in the restaurant."
Sounds like credible journalism to me. Now all you have to do is investigate the other suspicious flyers around town, like if we can really learn to think in Spanish or get my essays wrote properly.
Andrew et Al.
Leave the guy alone man...Its a blog!
I have seen less relevant stuff on CP24 then this!
if people want to go around freely posting whatever garbage they want, then other people should be free to go around ripping those postings down. public space is something we all share. would you give jerrold a hard time if he ripped down a picture i posted showing me taking a dump on the front steps of that restaurant?
Too many people hide behind "It's just a blog" these days.
BlogTO is a relatively influential site. It's cited by the mainstream media often and it appears on Google News.
That being said, Jerrold did not compromise the story by adding in that last line. His comments didn't change the facts presented. What they did do was change the article from a news piece to an opinion piece.
I'll admit that I was taken aback by that line. The story read as a very good piece of journalism until then. I don't think Jerrold did anything wrong by including the last line, but he is doing his own hard work a disservice.
Some research was clearly involved in the article. Jerrold called the restaurant owner and researched their past DineSafe history. That was solid journalist work. Adding that last line in disrespected the hard work Jerrold put in.
Now it reads as an opinion piece. It's still a very good, informative one, but it deserves to be more. Without that last line it's a pretty credible journalist piece.
BlogTO has killed me many times over!
One day, in the future-times, someone will come up with a journalistic integrity rating system for content. Some blogs try to be credible, others don't, some dabble, it's all a mess right now. Jerrold can be as scrupulous or careless as he wishes. One day we'll look back on our current wild west internet and marvel at its chaos.
I'm amazed by the response here. One line of opinion in this here blog entry has elicited as much response in the comments as the very issue revealed in the post (the sign libeling the restaurant).
I had no idea so many of you have the expectation that I reserve my own personal opinion to preserve my "journalistic integrity".
Should I apologize for being a blogger that likes to do a little digging before revealing my opinion? Should I really not make my opinion be heard, so that readers can "form their own opinions"? blogTO would not be much of a blog if we were to all hold back our opinions now, would it?
Comments on this topic, from the blogTO Twitter:
"I love Laila's. What a stupid crappy thing to do. Good on you for taking down the posters." ~ toddtyrtle
"nice! was thinking of going there myself tonight." ~ tukutela
"did you see any of those "notices" about Laila? how's the shawarma? I am going tomorrow" ~ miroslavglavic
Your response to this situation is very telling.
Obviously a lot of people enjoy your writing and feel that this was a very good post. I haven't read anywhere on here that people are asking you to apologize for anything. No one, at least not me personally, is asking you to "reserve your own personal opinion."
I don't get why you seem to be personally insulted by this. Much like you are able to voice your opinion in the piece, the readers of this blog are able to do the same. That's why there is a comments section.
"One line of opinion in this here blog entry has elicited as much response in the comments as the very issue revealed in the post"
We (the readers commenting on this post) could say the exact same thing about you.
"Some reader comments in the comments section of this blog entry has elicited as much response from the writer of the post as the very issue revealed in the post."
You're right. This is a blog. Opinions will be expressed here. If you didn't want readers commenting on your posts, blogTO should not have a comments section.
There will be no issue where everyone will agree. Ever. We are stating our opinions like you are stating yours. That's the nature of your medium.
But your reaction, indignation that anyone would dare speak out against your writing style, reeks of self-importance and egoism.
First I've been criticized repeatedly for revealing my personal opinion in the original blog post, and now I've being criticized for my response to the criticism. If the next comment is critical of my being critical of those criticizing my criticism, my head might explode. :P
Kaori Furue over at Torontoist has been looking into this for almost a week, and has a lot more digging than I: http://torontoist.com/2009/03/laila_probably_doesnt_kill.php
That's funny, you think linking to that person's *good* work means you've done your part? (re: TOist comment)
Also, "Kaori spent almost a week working on this piece, which I think is great. I spent an hour or two."
You explained here why you got a lot of criticism about this post.
"We all do what we can with the resources we have."
Why did you bother if you couldn't do the story justice like Kaori?
Clearly this has spiraled out of control, so I have a solution.
On one side, we have the "this is a blog" camp. Yes, this is a blog. However, having stories linked to and even featured verbatim in national publications makes this a bit more than just a blog. It's now seen, at least in part, as a reputable news source. This puts a twist on the Average Joe's viewpoint of BlogTo when they see Op-Ed pieces such as this one.
The solution: a little logo next to the poster's name that says something along the lines of "Editorial." That would of course cover a helluva lot of the site's posts, so perhaps more fitting titles such as 'Feature' for Morning Brew, or 'Investigation' for posts such as this would clear up some of the confusion.
Regardless of the fact that this is an approach to take people by the hand who may not fully grasp the concept of a Blog, a standardized grouping like this could work:
While labels such as City, Food, and Announcements focus mainly on the general topic of an article, a label further identifying the motivation of the writer may force people to abandon preconceived notions of what the site should represent overall, and put the focus back on the subject matter at hand.
Disclaimer: this is only my opinion.
the original post was good. that sign, even if it was true, is completely ridiculous... no details, no contact, nothing...
and i've never understood why comments on this site are so spiteful.
also, read the torontoist post...
so jerrold spent an hour and the torontoist person spent like a week and they both came to the exact same conclusion, is jerrold really the villain here?
Jerrold, I am also offended by your decision to tear down signs.
You are a journalist, so if you see someone attacking a child with a knife, your job is to report the facts from a neutral perspective, not to interfere. Don't stop the murder and certainly don't call the police, as these actions might discredit your impartiality. Just sit back, watch carefully, and maybe take some photos. That's how you can best serve your community as a journalist.
I have stumbed upon this conversation. I am a business owner in the Annex, and i do actually remember hearing of a young man, passing away in the restaurant, people in the neighbourhood to talk and gossip does fly, any going on's we all find out sooner or later. From what i have learned of this incident is that a young man with severe allergies went in with friends for a bite to eat. He shared this fact with the cooks/server etc... and somehow he ended up having a severe allergic reaction, do to their neglegence... i have heard nothing more of the incident, so i have no follow up.... im sure there must be some legal actions going on with this situation, and im sure no one is going to ever admit to wrong doing, or posting such flyers....
Lina is correct. The man who died was one of the best friends of one of my friends.
Severe food allergies can be life threatening. There needs to be more awareness about them.
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