Vanity license plates are all the rage right now. I don't think I'd ever get one, because there's nothing I love enough to get on the plate, and my last name is pretty common so it's probably already taken. But to some people, vanity license plates are the end goal, and they'll do whatever they can to get the one they want.
Unfortunately for one man in Canada, his request to have his last name on a plate has been denied, all because of what his name actually is.
David Assman, pronounced oss-men, has been fighting with the Saskatchewan's Government Insurance Bureau because they deemed the plate inappropriate because it contained an "unacceptable slogan."
"It's my last name. I've always had it," he told the CBC. "I'm not ashamed of it. There's nothing bad about it."
Assman obviously didn't agree with the SGI's decision, saying people need to learn how to take a joke.
"I know there are a few people out there that are wondering why I'm making such a big deal about getting denied my last name as my license plate!" he wrote on Facebook. "The reason SGI gave me for denying it was because someone may find it offensive. As I told one reporter there are too many snowflakes out there that get their feelings hurt about nothing! People need to learn to suck it up once in awhile, just because you don't like or feel something is inappropriate, you don't have to make a big deal about it !If it isn't illegal or going to harm someone mind your own business and carry on with your own life!"
Instead of waiting for the SGI to approve his appeal, Assman decided to make it right all on his own. In a post on Facebook, he revealed the newest addition to his truck.
"Just as Sgi anticipated me appealing my denial I also anticipated them refusing my appeal!" he wrote. "I could have got a plate for the front but I really wanted a vanity plate on the back of my truck! Thank you eternally etched."
"See, I hate to say it but I'm kinda a sarcastic ass and well I just wanted to go big!" he said in a direct message to the Ottawa Citizen.
The Saskatchewan Government Insurance bureau is standing by their decision, saying that just because it's pronounced differently, ASSMAN still doesn't go on a licence plate.
"Even if a word is someone's name and pronounced differently than the offensive version, that's not something that would be apparent to other motorists who will see the plate," SGI spokesman Tyler McMurchy said, noting that they will always err on the side of caution.
Assman's post about his new truck decal has over 4,6000 shares with most people agreeing that if he can prove it's his last name, there's no reason he shouldn't be allowed to have the licence plate.
