Dozens of shoplifters hit a Walmart in Grand Blanc, Michigan, over the past few months, but it’s the store’s other shoppers who will be making a clean getaway.
That’s all thanks to Genesee County District Court Judge Jeffrey Clothier, who sentenced the 48 shoplifters to four weekends of free car washes in the store’s parking lot.
"I came up with a wash for Walmart. Everybody who’s here in the courtroom today is going to be doing community service, washing cars, so the people that actually go to Walmart and pay for their goods, they are going to get a free car wash from the people that think it’s a good idea to go there and steal," the judge told a Michigan TV station.1
According to the Associated Press,2 the judge believes as many as 100 people will take part in the Walmart washes this March and April. And they’ll be joined by the judge himself.
Fast food fight
A judge in Ohio cooked up a creative punishment in 2023 after a Chipotle customer threw her burrito bowl at an employee because she didn’t like how it looked.3
Parma Municipal Court Judge Timothy Gilligan said the food-flinging customer could have her jail sentence reduced by 60 days if she spent two months working a fast-food job instead.
“I bet you won’t be happy with the food you are going to get in the jail,” he said.
What would you do?
It’s the middle of tax season, and any tax professional reading this is probably reminded of that one client that is trouble every single year. If you were judge for one day — April 16, let’s say — what punishments would you come up with? Mandatory paperless/PDF account statements for anyone who comes in with a box of unorganized paperwork? Two weeks of work with no days off for anyone who doesn’t give you their W-2s until after April 1?
E-mail us at editor@spidell.com with your punishment ideas and we’ll share them in a future issue. Here’s one from Mike Giangrande to get you started: “Spend 12 weeks reading the Internal Revenue Code for 8 hours a day. If you fall asleep, you have to start over.”
