Thalidomide might be what you're thinking of. Didn't realise until now that it wasn't approved in the US until the risks were well known.
But in the UK at least "thalidomide was (supposed to be) safe too" is an easy argument you'll hear fairly often.
>... a subsidiary of Distillers Co. Ltd (now part of Diageo plc), marketed thalidomide throughout the UK, Australia and New Zealand, under the brand name Distaval, as a remedy for morning sickness. Their advertisement claimed that "Distaval can be given with complete safety to pregnant women and nursing mothers without adverse effect on mother or child ... Outstandingly safe Distaval has been prescribed for nearly three years in this country."
>Experts estimate that thalidomide led to the death of approximately 2,000 children and serious birth defects in more than 10,000 children, about 5,000 of them in West Germany
Well, not sure if typo, but the margin of error is the point surely?
It's fine that 23 year olds who look 26 slip through as long as 17 year olds who look 23 don't.
Otherwise the store is effectively saying "we expect your judgement to be up to 7 years too high and account for that" but also "you're in trouble if your judgement is 1 year too high"
It's possible the only reason we would disgree if the rest of the world took this attitude is our own greed.
To me what's more obviously wrong whether I'm rich or poor is leaking personal info on employees, HR correspondence etc. I don't know whether this group would since they say it hasn't got that far yet but other groups have.
Extortion, mugging, burglary etc are worse than the "perfect theft" where you move some numbers from one account to another.
I wonder if the people involved believe their own spin that "your boss is the one at fault, would rather you suffer than pay"
I don't think I would see anything wrong with gallons per 100 miles if I was used to it. Especially if it was "gallons per megamile" or whatever.
You see (at least in the UK) dishwashers say they only use x litres of water per wash or even things like "this only costs 10p an hour running costs".
It feels like one less step to get to "how much would this car cost me for my 250 miles a week" - which seems more common than "I can afford exactly 2 gallons of petrol a week, how far can I get with this car".
Maybe I'd feel differently if we bought fuel in the same units we measured its consumption in!
>... a subsidiary of Distillers Co. Ltd (now part of Diageo plc), marketed thalidomide throughout the UK, Australia and New Zealand, under the brand name Distaval, as a remedy for morning sickness. Their advertisement claimed that "Distaval can be given with complete safety to pregnant women and nursing mothers without adverse effect on mother or child ... Outstandingly safe Distaval has been prescribed for nearly three years in this country."
>Experts estimate that thalidomide led to the death of approximately 2,000 children and serious birth defects in more than 10,000 children, about 5,000 of them in West Germany