<p>My D sent me this. She’s also a “refuse-nik” when it comes to burgers. Still, three calls does seem a little over the top.</p>
<p>[FOXNews.com</a> - Florida Woman Calls 911 After McDonald’s Runs Out of McNuggets - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News](<a href=“http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,504125,00.html]FOXNews.com”>Fox News - Breaking News Updates | Latest News Headlines | Photos & News Videos)</p>
<p>Jay Leno used to have a feature on his show called “Dealing with the public”. There was a similar 911 call from a lady who was upset about her burger.</p>
<p>I once went on a date with a paramedic. He said that the majority of calls are totally unnecessary and would shock anyone with good judgment. For example, a (young, middle-class) woman called 911 and when the paramedics got there, she wanted them to pick up her prescription from Walgreens instead of going herself.</p>
<p>She misused 911 but I think McDonalds owes her an apology and should have given her the refund. Seriously. The manager should be fired. Immediately. McDonalds stole from her.</p>
<p>Yea, her reaction was a little excessive but I’d be mad too and would want to take my money elsewhere if I was set on chicken nuggets.</p>
<p>JustAMomof4, I agree. But may be there is more to the story.</p>
<p>A few months ago John McCain’s brother was driving his vehicle and called 911 to ask why the opposite direction lane was flowing but his lane was not moving. When the operator suggested his call might not be an emergency, he cursed at the operator. I guess McCain’s brother would have been another Billy Carter if McCain had been elected.</p>
<p>start charging these people for these nuisance calls and see how fast they stop</p>
<p>I used to laugh so hard at Jay Leno’s 911 calls. My favorite was a woman who called 911 on Thanksgiving to find out how to cook a turkey. The operator assumed she dialed the wrong number–nope, it was an emergency because she’d invited 20 people for T-day dinner and had bought a turkey but didn’t know how to cook it!</p>
<p>I heard this story somewhere (the three 911 calls part) but didn’t realize that they wouldn’t refund her money. That’s ridiculous. I would be furious but don’t know what I’d do in that case. I can see that she felt helpless and wanted the police involved because she had absolutely no power in that situation. I feel sorry for that lady, but, yeah, three calls is too many.</p>
<p>I realize I sound so ridiculous, but Mickey D’s should have never taken her money in the first place.</p>
<p>[Woman</a> Says She’s ‘Embarrassed’ By McNugget Meltdown - Local News Story - WPBF West Palm Beach](<a href=“http://www.wpbf.com/cnn-news/18856490/detail.html]Woman”>West Palm Beach News and Weather - Florida News - WPBF Channel 25)</p>
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<p>Yes - McDonald’s took her money and refused to return it when the product was not available - </p>
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When you feel that you’ve been mistreated or misused or robbed out of your money, you have the right to call 911," Goodman said. “That’s the purpose of 911, so I thought.”
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she has a point. I would never call 911 for this but - with the advent of universal 911 in the past generation “we” have been conditioned to call 911. Every police and ambulance has 911 emblazened on the side. I have never seen an ad campaign that says to call 911 only for life and death emergencies.</p>
<p>I suppose she could have called the non-911 police number and gotten the front desk. She likely would have been ridiculed there as well if she had even gotten a live person. </p>
<p>Other than walking away - which was unacceptable to her as she felt she had been robbed - her choices were few.</p>
<p>It is ridiculous how people misuse 911 but what is the alternative? many times there isn’t one.</p>
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<p>I’m curious – how many people actually know this number or have it handy without referring to the phone book?</p>
<p>I do feel that she’s been seriously misrepresented in the media–which at least on the news I saw framed it as her insistence on getting her McNuggets. Perhaps calling 911 was wrong, but what was her recourse? Basically, McD’s had stolen from her. I’m not sure what I would do if they wouldn’t give me my money back–it’s hard to imagine a business thinking it can get away with that kind of dishonesty, but apparently they can.</p>
<p>I am wondering, if people seriously don’t know what an emergency is. Maybe to the woman that was an emergency. Otherwise why will she call more than once?
In NY people use 311 for non emergency. I wonder if the woman has that option.</p>
<p>It does sound silly over McNuggets, but turn it around - what if a customer reached behind the counter at a McDonald’s and stole $3 from the cashier. Would the cashier call 911 over a theft? I guess maybe the lawyers here can answer whether offering food in-kind is considered adequate compensation. </p>
<p>Or, on a blog I read, someone posed this hypothetical: “So, I pay an escort service to bring me the hottest, hunkiest guy, and then Don Knotts shows up. Am I obligated to accept the substitute?” LOL.</p>
<p>I agree that this was incorrect use for 911, but I don’t think she was completely out of line for calling the police…the McDonald’s staff handled it very poorly and should have refunded her at once, no matter what their policy is.
McDonald’s should be just as embarrassed about this situation as the woman who was arrested over this incident.</p>
<p>It was obviously ridiculous to call 911, but I don’t think she would have been out of line to call the non-emergency police # if that’s what it would take to embarrass them into acting properly. After all, if she took an item off a store shelf and then refused to pay full price, or pumped 10 gallons of gas and only paid for 5 gallons and drove off, they’d call the police. I’m also fairly sure that if she had made a really big scene and refused to leave, that they would have called 911 and she might have been arrested for disorderly conduct or something.</p>
<p>My thought is that this is a case of a clerk following poorly-articulated policy. “If we don’t have the item they offer, say we’re all out and apologize. If we run out between when they place the order and when you pick it to deliver to them, apologize and offer something else.” And so on. The clerk is discouraged from immediately giving refunds or from immediately calling the manager to deal with it, and this is what results. I remember this kind of thing happening when I worked as a clerk on the main floor of Filene’s in downtown Boston, several decades ago.</p>
<p>A few months ago, I ordered some chicken tenders at McD’s drive through, paid for them, and drove home. I didn’t discover that they had given me nuggets by mistake until I was a couple of miles away. Nuggets are several dollars cheaper. Since it was late at night–which was why I was buying food at the all-night window in the first place–I just ate them anyway. The next day, since I was going to be in the area, I went back with the empty box and receipt and explained, saying that I’d just like a refund for the $3 or so difference between what I ordered and what I got. The clerk immediately called the manager over, and he gave me a refund for the entire order, although I protested that that wasn’t necessary. </p>
<p>That is how they should have treated her.</p>
<p>Calling the police sounds like a perfectly reasonable response to me. The McDonalds clerk definitely stole her money. </p>
<p>If the first 911 operator had given her the number of the local police station and said “this is theft, not a life or death emergency, and here is the number you should call,” this whole round of silliness could probably have been avoided. The customer wanted her money back. Her request was perfectly reasonable.</p>
<p>And Pizzagirl has a point:
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<p>In my town you call 911 for almost everything and they will dispatch appropriate personnel like police officer, animal control etc to your place. Even when you call the police department, they will direct you to call 911, emergency or not. Maybe this is the case with the woman?</p>
<p>I thought 311 was the taxi and limousine commission for New York.</p>
<p>I guess they don’t teach that the customer is always right in Burgerflipping U. The manager should pay her $100,003. $3 in compensatory damages and $100k in punitive damages.</p>
<p>Reading these stories, sometimes I think we consumers should unionize.</p>