Food Order Wrong? Call the Cops!

I would never risk bringing down the wrath of Jack Shafer by calling something a "trend" without having data to back it up. So I don't know whether more people are calling 911 to complain about their fast-food orders or whether we're just hearing more such reports.

We do know that it has happened several times recently, with at least three such incidents just this year.

Perhaps the most famous one, though, was when a California woman sought emergency help in 2005 after a local Burger King got her kid's cheeseburger order wrong. In a display that, as snopes.com put it "fulfills all the stereotypes of the narcissistic, pompous, self-absorbed Orange County soccer mom," the woman told the dispatcher she called the police "because you're supposed to protect me." Sadly, she was turned back. "Ma'am, we're not going to come down there and enforce your Western Bacon Cheeseburger," she was told.

The audio of the call became a favorite Internet meme.

More recently, Jean Fortune, 66, called 911 in February from the drive-through lane of a Burger King in Boynton Beach, Fla. because the restaurant did not have lemonade. "Customer service," the dispatcher informed him "is not a reason to call 911. 911 is if you're dying. Do you understand that?"

Apparently, he did not and was arrested.

In March, Latreasa Goodman called 911 three times because, she said, McDonald's employees in Fort Pierce, Fla., told her they were out of McNuggets. She had already paid for her McNugget meal, and employees told her she could something else off the menu, but they could not refund her money.

Despite this atrocity, Goodman sounds strangely calm in her calls to 911. TMZ branded her "McNut," and Perez Hilton described her as "loco 4 pollo."

She was given a summons to appear in court for misusing 911.

Later, she told WPBF-TV that she was embarrassed by the whole thing. Still, she said, when "you feel that you've been mistreated or misused or robbed out of your money, you have the right to call 911. That's the purpose of 911, so I thought."

McDonald's, though, admitted it was wrong to not issue her a refund. So they did, along with an apology.

And it just keeps happening. On Saturday, Jeremy Lloyd Martin, 23, was charged with improper use of 911 in Clakamas County, Ore. He called to complain that his order was not complete and was told to pull around to obtain the missing food. He was told it wasn't a police matter. But then he called back and demanded the presence of a police officer. "This is a 911 emergency," he said. "I got robbed for eight dollars."

"Well, arrest me at (expletive) 82nd and Sunnyside Road," he responded, according to KATU News. "Please send a cop right now. I swear to God all my life ..." Apparently, he was unable to finish his sentence, perhaps having been cut off by the dispatcher. Then he called again as did a McDonald's (MCD) employee who told police that Martin and two other men were screaming at employees through the window.

What I want to know is, should I call 911 on the morons blowing off M-80s across the street every night?