12 M&Ms, one cup; or, the boss from hell

Court testimony in a corruption trial for Pennsylvania's former speaker of the house find him to be so unusual in his requests to underlings, Van Halen doesn't feel so bad about its infamous brown-M&M tour rider.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/regional/s_658877.html

(Yes, I know this about a political figure, but this is interesting just to see what past boss from hell you might think this guy resembles. Also, whether this guy has ever been treated for OCD.)

FTA:

HARRISBURG — With the assistance of his taxpayer-paid staff, Rep. Bill DeWeese led a life of privilege while a Democratic leader in state House, three of his former aides told a grand jury.

DeWeese, a former House speaker and majority and minority leader, used his legislative staff to run his personal life, his former chief of staff Michael Manzo said. They balanced his checkbook, paid bills, picked up dry cleaning, bought condoms, made sure lobbyists would take him to dinner and arranged dinner dates from a list of women, Manzo said.

...

DeWeese had some quirky demands, said Manzo and two other former staffers, Kevin Sidella and Scott Brubaker: His state-paid driver had to show up with the state car recently waxed; aides withdrew his money from ATM machines because he didn't know how to use them; and he'd ask for "a small coffee in a big cup," or "a sandwich cut in four" pieces, they said.

"Bill is obsessive. He has to have everybody around him doing something. He will hand you a cup and say, 'Get me 12 M&M's' — ridiculous requests," Sidella testified in June 2008.

Requests for such things as a "small salad in a big bowl" were part of what Brubaker in December 2008 called the "daily nuttiness that he put his immediate staff through."

 

Maybe he just really liked "That Was Then, This Is Now."

 

Typical liberal.

 

I heard a show on This American Life that there was a reason for Van Halen to make their M&M request.

They had a show that needed elaborate stage set-up in every town they toured. DL Roth's life was literally in the hands of the set up people. Instructions needed to be followed to a T. The M&M rider in the contract was a way for them to help determine whether the people involved in the show in this town were detail-oriented people.

 

When you think about it, would it really have been that terrible if someone had fucked up and Roth wound up dead??

 

I see no problem with a small coffee in a big cup, you need to worry about spillage.

 

As far as salads go, send him to Reggie's, everyone knows they don't have big salads there.