Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Boy's prom invite gets him banned SHELTON, Conn., May 12 (UPI) -- A Connecticut high school senior who invited a girl to the prom by posting the message on the outside of a school building ended up banned from the dance. Advertisement James Tate, a student at Shelton High School, told Hearst Newspapers he taped the letters in a "safe and thoughtful way" late Friday and even wore a helmet while he climbed a ladder. But school officials apparently decided sneaking on campus in the middle of the night was out-of-bounds behavior. Tate's message read: "Sonali Rodrigues, Will you go to prom with me? HMU Tate." Tate and his two assistants were given one-day suspensions. Shelton High rules are that anyone suspended after April 1 is banned from the prom. "I tried to appeal -- tried to just get a detention instead," he said. "I even offered to do community service -- like cleaning up the litter outside the school. Now I have a date for the prom, but can't go." Advertisement Rodrigues still plans to go to the prom. Her date is another girl whose boyfriend was also suspended for another incident. Saudi men say mall bans unfair JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, May 12 (UPI) -- Young single men in Saudi Arabia are crying foul over a shopping mall policy banning them unless they are accompanied by a female family member. The men said shopping in the country is difficult due to the policy, which is designed to protect solo female shoppers from harassment, Arab News reported Wednesday. "Whenever I want to go and buy anything for myself, I have to call my mother or one of my sisters to join," said Adel Sahhaf, 26. "It's sad that I can't just walk into a shopping center and buy whatever I need. I have been facing refusal from many security guards to enter the mall, even in the early morning when no one is around." Jaber Abdullah, a security officer at a Jeddah shopping center, said the policy only applies to young men because they are seen as more likely to harass women. Um Said, a 58-year-old mother, said the policy is unfair. "I just hate it when my son forces me to accompany him to the shopping center just to get one item and leave again," she said. "On the other hand, I have to take him with me when I want to shop just to avoid harassment too." Advertisement Boy dons skirt to protest shorts ban IMPINGTON, England, May 12 (UPI) -- A British 12-year-old said he wore a skirt to class to protest his school's dress code banning shorts for boys. Chris Whitehead, an eighth-grader at Impington Village College, marched to school with supporters Tuesday and spent his school day wearing a skirt borrowed from his 11-year-old sister, the Cambridge News reported Wednesday. Whitehead said the act was a protest against the school's dress code, which bans boys from wearing shorts. He said he planned the protest after discovering the school's anti-discrimination policy allows boys to wear skirts like their female classmates. "I wasn't embarrassed to wear the skirt. It was a bit of fun. It just felt like wearing shorts with a big gap in the middle," the student said. "I realized I could use this silly loophole to my advantage. Wearing shorts is better because it keeps us cooler especially when it's really hot." Robert Campbell, head teacher at the school, has promised to review the shorts policy in September. Manager who punched customer gets payout MELBOURNE, May 12 (UPI) -- An Australian restaurant manager who broke his wrist when he angrily punched a customer has been awarded thousands in workers compensation, officials say. Advertisement Matthew Styles, who has previous convictions of assault, battled with the customer in the front of the Red Rooster restaurant in Melbourne, the Melbourne Herald reported Wednesday. A Melbourne Court magistrate said Styles, who was fired after the fistfight, is entitled to a compensation payout despite using foul language and escalating the dispute, ruling that the angry customer "was the verbal and physical aggressor." On a night in 2008 when three staff failed to turn up to work, Styles became engaged in a confrontation with a customer unhappy about the wait for his food and the situation turned physical. Red Rooster said Styles was not entitled to any compensation because he did not honor its "employee behavior standards." However, the magistrate ruled his injuries arose "out of or in the course of the employment" and awarded Styles 13 weeks in lost pay.
