The sad/funny thing about this is that Goodman had a valid complaint: the cashier didn't tell her they were out of McNuggets until after she'd paid, and then refused to refund her money (and claimed she was the manager). Goodman actually sounds pretty restrained on the calls, even as she calls again and again to request an officer.
It's too late to help Goodman, but the next time you have a fast food emergency, at least try 3-1-1 (after talking to the manager and perhaps calling corporate) before you call the first responders.
Update: McDonald's has apologized.
Fort Pierce Woman Calls 911 Three Times When McNuggets Run Out [TCPalm] (Hasaudio of the three calls)
(Photo: Morton Fox)
Or in this particular case she could have called information or gone home after the first or second try to 911 and look up the non emergency number and then meet the police at the restaurant.
]]>@Rectilinear Propagation: 112 is the European Union's version of 911.
Helpful to know if you're ever in danger of being abducted by white slavers!
]]>I wonder if they tazered the poor woman?!!
]]>@Lincolnsbeard33: As a native, I assure you that most of Florida's idiots are imported.
]]>Rather than calling the cops she should have just made it clear to other customers that the McDonalds was ripping people off.
I am pretty sure demanding she leave without offering a refund first would be theft.
]]>"Goodman's 10-piece selection has 460 calories and 29 grams of fat."
Wtf does that have to do with anything? The report also calls the incident a meltdown, but all three of the recordings are fairly calm and contain no expletives.
]]>Really now people - get a clue. There are so many things wrong with that story it is hard to know where to start. What a ridiculous world we live in.
]]>@adamondi: I've been to Florida a few times. Every time I've been down there, I've seen an old person flip their car on the highway.
]]>@MisterE87: Hypothetical situations rarely are directly applicable to actual events. Mainly because if they did, they would no longer by hypothetical, but factual in nature. Also, the situation would be applicable anywhere else too. Order a drink at a bar and don't pay, I bet they get a officer if they call 911 instead of 311.
Also, while it may not be their responsibility, did the 911 operator inform her that calling 311 was an option instead of the emergency number? Lots of police departments have "Call 911 for..." written on their cars, and in general 911 is more widely marketed than 311.
]]>America. Wow, that looked stupid.
]]>Donopolis
]]>@allstarecho: Ah but we do in Mississippi. we also have *47 for the highway patrol. It might be that educashun you gots up in oxford town. shuld uf gone too cowz college likes me.
]]>I don't think as many use it as you might think. Restaurant managers tend to have a phone book or a Rolodex with local numbers of importance, like say the actual police department.
I used to call my local boys in blue whenever I had a bar rush on the drive through late at night and had them pick up people with open bottles of beer in the car, but not at the expense of dialing 911.
Maybe they need to resurrect that Rescue 911 show with Shatner. It might do the public some good.
]]>Previous comments to previous articles about phone books seemed to indicate people think your crazy if you mention wanting a phone book, but this is exactly why I still keep one around, that and the yellow pages is still far easier to find local small business info then the internet.
]]>@MyTQuinn:
Well I don't live in the same place that I grew up, but in my hometown, there *WAS* two numbers, a non-emergency number and an emergency one. I never had to use it, so I don't know if they would tell you to call the emergency line just to file a police report or not.
It's funny...I ran into this kind of friction last time I posted about this. I'm not making this up. The key takeaway is - go find out what you're supposed to do in your own town.
If 411 gave you the non-emergency number for the PD, you would call it and then you can go right back up a few and read my original comment where they tell you if you want to file a report you must hang up and call 911 and if you leave a message asking to file a report it will be ignored.
This is what they - THE POLICE - want people to do here. You can call 7-digit numbers until your finger falls off, an officer will not take your statement unless you dial 911.
Funny side-story about calling 411...my wife had booked the social room in our local fire station and needed to call them to confirm some things but didn't have the number or the internet handy so she called 411 and asked for the number for the such-and-such fire company.
The 411 operator helpfully offered to put the call through for her and forwarded her to 911. True story.
]]>How long would it have taken to just make her some nuggets?
]]>@RonnieDobbs4President: She should have tried an R&B group?
]]>Do you think people are this stupid through Nature or Nurture? Age old question...
]]>That's at least how it works for the fire-service over here. However I would suspect it is the same for the police, as they share the same system, and are in the same dispatch office.
]]>@Ben_Q2: Doesn't really apply, since at most fast food places you pay in advance.
]]>First, I have to agree with her. These are McNuggets afterall.
Second, she should have called 911 but instead of complaining about the lack of McFat, instead informed the McOperator that she was making a citizen's arrest for fraud and needed the fuzz (the cops, not the stuff on the old fries).
Finally, the McGods at corporate need to follow up with the franchise owner and make sure her ass is fired. Otherwise they need to pull the franchise.
]]>Yeah I love when New Yorkers assume that every city in the country has 3-1-1.
]]>My mom, younger sister and I were on a trip to see "Noah" at Sight and Sound theater in Lancaster with our homeschool group and on the way back to Delaware the group stopped at a McDonald's for dinner. The clerk did the same thing and actually made the excuse that our group had "mobbed" the restaurant so they were thus unable to keep up with our orders. The sign outside the restaurant clearly stated that buses were welcome so I don't know why a group of 30 people was considered "a mob". Well anyway, my mom and the other parents who had been shorted on orders contacted McDonald's corporate and explained the situation the next day. McDonald's sent everyone involved coupons for free meals as an apology.
This was back in '99 but I'm sure corporate would have helped her, if she was smart enough to figure out where to find the number.
I've found from personal experience that restaurants, food, household cleaning supply and beauty aid manufacturers are always more than happy to rectify problems like this. When I call the customer complaint lines to tell them about the problem the reps always send me a voucher to replace what I lost and more often than not coupons for additional products.
AT&T on the other hand, has tried to rip me off on every bill for the past 3 months I've had them, thus requiring 2+ hours of my time on the phone to fix $50+ overcharges along with the previous months not fixed mistakes. For high speed internet they're the only choice aside from cable where I live so I'm kind of stuck with them. I'll take a McDonald's error over an AT&T problem any day!
]]>Sure, all sales are final... yada, yada, yada.
Oh, there is something called COMMON SENSE.
IF the business is unable to provide the product or service in a reasonable period of time then the customer is entitled to a full refund.
Obviously the McD employee/manager seems to lack any COMMMON SENSE.
Speaking of lacking COMMON SENSE, a woman in Ft. Pierce Florida is obviously lacks any COMMON SENSE.
Next time, just a suggestion, carry paper and pen with you.
Date, time and record the refusal to refund the $ and request the employee to sign your document. Of course any other customers in the business should be willing witnesses your documents as well.
Then walk away.
Next task, call McD Corporate. Franchise Owners just luv being bent over the table by Corporate and Corporate luvs doing it to them. So give Corporate a reason to screw the Franchisee. It is fun.
]]>And count me among those who have never heard of the 311 number but "Who's got the herb?"
Somebody stop me, I'm on a roll!
]]>Think of it this way. What would happen if you had eaten the food and said. Sorry I do not have any money. What would they say to you.
]]>If anyone's curious about the crazy neighbor saying "I'll fuckin' kill you" while approaching me all threatening, I exposed my concealed weapon and the situation was pretty much immediately defused. Didn't even have to pull it out.
]]>McDonalds would have called 911 if she had walked out without paying. Why should a customer not have the same rights and recourse as a merchant in a payment dispute?
]]>Even though at first glance it sounds like calling 911 is a bit extreme, she wasn't wrong in wanting to ask for help from law enforcement when she was unable to extract a refund from McDonald's on her own after they could not provide the food she ordered. She just didn't know any other options for contacting the police besides dialing 911, and maybe there aren't any other options where she lives. Maybe 911 in that jurisdiction does "triage" and decides what's a real emergency and what will be sent to a local precinct house or whatever.
She might also have limited understanding, but I'm not convinced she wilfully abused the system. She actually did need police assistance. Not everyone who needs a cop is bleeding out on the sidewalk (and thank God for that).
]]>Still, call 911 only if 1) someone's life is in danger, or 2) see number 1. If that's not the case, call information and ask to be connected to the local police department. If they tell you to call 911 over your missing McNuggets, then at least you tried the reasonable approach first.
]]>@Corporate_guy: "claiming all sales are finale" I'm not making fun of your spelling, but am mentioning because now I'm picturing a big, theatrical song-and-dance routine at the end of every fast food transaction.
]]>But yeah, they committed fraud, and she had the right to be pissed, though not calling 911 pissed.
]]>When you call non-emergency, they aren't required to deal with your problem, and can hang up on you or give you a runaround, which they did.
When you call 911, they are required to deal with whatever you're talking about, even if dealing with it involves sending a police car to arrest you for false reporting.
So lazy cop says "I don't want to deal with this, I'll send her to the people who have to."
911 says "Why didn't the fucking non-emergency cop handle this."
]]>how's that for an explanatory run-on sentance!
]]>Why couldn't she just take some other substitute? Food is food, lady! Everything there is the same slop anyway! Sounds like she should be institutionalized!
]]>It is a beautiful state we just have a ton of idiots.
]]>I had the same situation occur when my wallet was stolen in the fall -- except that then 911 rather harshly reprimanded me for not calling non-emergency first. And when I said I had done and non-emergency had said I had to call 911 to file a report, they got very snippy with me. I wasn't very happy with the whole situation.
]]>Oh well. Maybe next time. Because we all know there will be a next time, unfortunately.
]]>If you read the description, the woman was acting pretty crazy.
Nonetheless in some municipalities there is no 311/non-emergency service and the *ONLY* way to contact police if you need to file a police report/complaint is to contact 911. That's just the way it is. I've been through it in my own city when I called the "Police Non-emergency number" to report some overnight thefts. I ignored the message that stated "If you need to file a police report, please hang up and dial 911...your call will not be returned." and left a message which was, in fact, not returned. I called the 911 operator and apologized for wasting her time with this non-emergency request and she assured me that this was the correct course of action.
So...yeah...if someone stole my money in this way where I live, I'd have to call 911 to report it. That's what the police want me to do. I don't write the rules.
]]>@Cat_In_A_Hat: Oops where did the him come from.
]]>Is that not the exact same situation here?
]]>When I was a kid my head was filled with stories about how calling 911 when it isn't a dire, life-or-death situation would result in someone dying while I gabbed about whatever my stupid problem was.
The woman at the 911 line explained that they simply don't have a way to report car accidents on anything other than the emergency line. *shrug*
]]>If she reported this to the consumerist instead of 911, she would have probably made the front page. The consumerist should still report the customer issue even if she is crazy. I for one would be extremely pissed if a any restaurant tried to keep my money after telling me they don't have what I ordered.
]]>While calling 911 is a bit extreme, why wouldn't they just him the woman her money back?
]]>How is this not theft?
Think if this situation were reversed... a lady eats McNuggets and refuses to pay. The store would call 9-1-1 in that case, would it not?
So what, exactly, is the difference?
]]>That about sums it up. Seriously, who in their right mind would call 911 about a couple of dollars in fast food. If anything sue them and get a couple of hundred in small claims.
]]>