Salt Lands McDonald's Employee In Jail

[MA-Caver]

From the "How Stupid is THIS?" files.

Salty burger lands McDonald's employee in jail
Police officer says oversalted meat made him sick; worker faces charges
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20677230/
UNION CITY, Ga. - A McDonald’s employee spent a night in jail and is facing criminal charges because a police officer’s burger was too salty, so salty that he says it made him sick.
Kendra Bull was arrested Friday, charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct and freed on $1,000 bail.
Bull, 20, said she accidentally spilled salt on hamburger meat and told her supervisor and a co-worker, who “tried to thump the salt off.”
On her break, she ate a burger made with the salty meat. “It didn’t make me sick,” Bull told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
But then Police Officer Wendell Adams got a burger made with the oversalted meat, and he returned a short time later and told the manager it made him sick.
Bull admitted spilling salt on the meat, and Adams took her outside and questioned her, she said.
“If it was too salty, why did (Adams) not take one bite and throw it away?” said Bull, who has worked at the restaurant for five months. She said she didn’t know a police officer got one of the salty burgers because she couldn’t see the drive-through window from her work area.
Police sent samples of the burger to the state crime lab for tests.
City public information officer George Louth said Bull was charged because she served the burger “without regards to the well-being of anyone who might consume it.”

Now wait a second... okay, uh, got a burger with too much salt on it (actually it's a salt-n-pepper mix) and the officer decides it's worthy to arrest the cook? And then a Judge deems that it'll cost her $1000.00 to bail out?
Sum-ting-wong here.
Now I'm trying NOT to be biased because I work at a McDonalds (at the grill even) and know that sometimes mistakes happen (though not by me *ahem* ). We had a lady last week complain that her fish fillet (sandwich) was over salted... it was, and we promptly replaced it with a fresh cooked fillet and sincerest apologies.
So this officer couldn't just do the same? Is it just me or am I smelling a little abuse of power here? I mean it was just the officer that complained from what I read, if others had come up about the same time and complained then perhaps it could be deemed "without regards to the well being of anyone who might consume it."
Granted, the employee should've just chucked the burger(s) out if the top of the shaker opened up and a crap load of the seasoning mix got all over everything. It was irresponsible to just "bump" the excess off and put them up in the heating area for serving. But I hardly think it's worthy of an arrest and a bail of a $1000.00 bucks! Surely the judge must've seen something wrong with the report?
Misdemeanor reckless conduct. Ohh-kay... was it intentional? Oh, duh, of course it was she served it up anyway. She made a mistake with preparing the food, the officer got sick... okay, but obviously not enough to prevent him from arresting her.
Mebbe I'm not getting it. I just can't see the sense in this whole thing. Even if I didn't work at a Mickey D's I just can't phantom an LEO actually pressing the charge or even making it in the first place. Logic says to take the burger back, complain (loudly if it'll make you feel better) and ask for a refund or another burger, or hell, even BOTH.
All due respect to the LEO's here on MT but I think this cop is just plain stoopid or throwing his weight around a bit much.
What am I missing here? Also, is this going to set a trend for others to follow? Think: Hot Coffee Lady who won a lawsuit against McDonalds.

 

[PatMunk]

I couldn't agree with you more .. it is/was an abuse of power on the part of the officer ... I am a retired officer from a county just north of where this happened ... and I was shocked that he went this far ...

Besides that most of those places to eat give the officers FREE or GREATLY discounted food and he probably didn't have to pay for the darn burger in the first place since he was on duty and in his patrol car at the time he got the burger ...

I can't wait to see what happens on this one ... probably will have an officer looking for a new place to work ...

Law Suit here we come ...

 

[morph4me]

Shouldn't someone who is charged with the responsiblity of protecting the public be smart enough to not eat food that he thinks is too salty, sweet, doesn't smell right, doesn't look right or for any other reason he might think would have a deleterious effect and get a replacement or complain at the time he tastes it?

 

[CoryKS]

It may be that, in the course of discussing the problem with the employee, there was something in her behavior or tone that led the officer to suspect that it was an intentional act. There was an article a few years back in one of our alternative newspapers about the risks of somebody with a grudge tampering with LEOs food. Some of the officers quoted for the piece said they tend to frequent only a few, well-trusted places.

In other words, maybe she attempted a salt.

 

[crushing]

Shouldn't someone who is charged with the responsiblity of protecting the public be smart enough to not eat food that he thinks is too salty, sweet, doesn't smell right, doesn't look right or for any other reason he might think would have a deleterious effect and get a replacement or complain at the time he tastes it?

"Hmm. This first bite was pretty salty, I wonder if the next bite will be too. It sure was, I'll bet the third bite will be better. Dang, it wasn't. It's got to get better with the fourth bite. By golly, that fourth bite was every bit as salty as the first three. Heck, I've ate most of the burger, I might as well finish it off. And while I am at it, I hope no one makes me take this single bullet out of my shirt pocket!"

 

[exile]

OK, wait a second. There's something very strange here. Ms. Bull reported the incident to her supervisor, who was therefore aware of the incident. That person in effect authorized Ms. Bull to keep serving burgers made from the oversalted mixture. Doesn't the chain-of-command in such places mean that accountability rests with the supervisor, not the cook? If so, why was the supervisor not charged for authorizing the sale of the excessively salty burgers?

 

[Big Don]

I couldn't agree with you more .. it is/was an abuse of power on the part of the officer ... I am a retired officer from a county just north of where this happened ... and I was shocked that he went this far ...

Besides that most of those places to eat give the officers FREE or GREATLY discounted food and he probably didn't have to pay for the darn burger in the first place since he was on duty and in his patrol car at the time he got the burger ...

I can't wait to see what happens on this one ... probably will have an officer looking for a new place to work ...

Law Suit here we come ...

When I worked fast food I worked the graveyard shift and would have loved to had a few more cops around, I tried giving them food and they refused! I tried giving them discounts! Finally, I ended up just "accidentally" ringing their order up wrong, usually half price or so...

 

[grydth]

So, we have : A cop with a beef against Bull for As(salt) with a burger?

:flame: broiled and lightly seasoned!

 

[grydth]

OK, wait a second. There's something very strange here. Ms. Bull reported the incident to her supervisor, who was therefore aware of the incident. That person in effect authorized Ms. Bull to keep serving burgers made from the oversalted mixture. Doesn't the chain-of-command in such places mean that accountability rests with the supervisor, not the cook? If so, why was the supervisor not charged for authorizing the sale of the excessively salty burgers?

As you note, we are clearly not dealing with the Sherlock Holmes and the Iron Chef. Stupidity is the main ingredient in this story.

This scenario usually arises in much more serious contexts, with people becoming ill from tainted food... or with customers suffering from sabotage by the staff.

I have seen enough restaurant related outbreaks of various diseases in our city to know the usual sanction is closure for a period by the local authority - here places have been permanently put out of business. The health inspectors have no sense of humor, nor should they. Even without that, you'd figure the customer base will soon wilt when they see this story... this manager has killed her own business.

The cop probably thought they'd been intentionally targeted with tampered food..... though, as others have noted, why Inspector Clouseau continued to eat the thing is anyone's guess (if it was poisoned food, could the cop be charged for attempted suicide, or as an accesory to their own poisoning?). The actual cases I have seen, however, are no laughing matter, the additives used being unmentionable. In those cases arrests were certainly justified.

 

[Kacey]

Y'know, I once ordered a cheeseburger, no catsup or mustard, at McD's, and it was mismade; the order was transmitted to the cook as extra mustard - I took one bite, took it back, they gave me a new burger - no problems!

Now, if it was a drive-through order, I can see not wanting to bring it back - but if it's that bad, don't eat it; if it's not bad enough to avoid eating, then what's the problem? :idunno:

 

[MA-Caver]

As you note, we are clearly not dealing with the Sherlock Holmes and the Iron Chef. Stupidity is the main ingredient in this story.

This scenario usually arises in much more serious contexts, with people becoming ill from tainted food... or with customers suffering from sabotage by the staff.

I have seen enough restaurant related outbreaks of various diseases in our city to know the usual sanction is closure for a period by the local authority - here places have been permanently put out of business. The health inspectors have no sense of humor, nor should they. Even without that, you'd figure the customer base will soon wilt when they see this story... this manager has killed her own business.

The cop probably thought they'd been intentionally targeted with tampered food..... though, as others have noted, why Inspector Clouseau continued to eat the thing is anyone's guess (if it was poisoned food, could the cop be charged for attempted suicide, or as an accesory to their own poisoning?). The actual cases I have seen, however, are no laughing matter, the additives used being unmentionable. In those cases arrests were certainly justified.

True but the gal/cook said it was accidental and me thinks someone didn't tighten the season-shaker lid tight enough... My co-workers think this is pretty stupid going both ways. One for the obvious stupidity and over-reacting from the officer and secondly and primarily of the employee to try and bump the burger clean and of the stupidvisor for allowing it to happen. Now if it was in a rush like a bunch of people and orders are cranking out as fast as we can cook 'em (I work the grill sometimes... and it's not unusual to be cooking a 100 hamburgers in less than 20 minutes -- both regular and 1/4 pound patties)... well in the middle of the rush you just don't make time or you fall behind. So that may have been the case... but if it was a slow period then absolutely NO excuse what-so-ever!
If it had happened to me I'd chuck the whole batch (cook roughly 16 at a time) and start again as the burgers are cooked (from raw & frozen state) in less than 35 seconds -- which is an eternity in fast food time.
But like I said earlier and others have pointed out ... what was wrong with taking a minnit to take the burger back and say :"HEY!" This is way too salty!" ... especially after the first coupla bites. At most he would've been inconvienced by about two minutes tops.

Oh by the way,

Cory KS, on the "a salt" .... GROAN!

Crushing, :lfao: on the Barney Fife comparison.

Exile, Yes you're right the stupidvisor should've faced the actual charge when she okay-ed the "sale" of the food. But alas didn't happen that way. Still, he/she should've tried to make amends to the officer by a free meal or refund ... oh wait... that'd be construde as bribery wouldn't it?

 

[arnisador]

I think it's more serious than this. It's a common story for LEOs to get discounts, yes, but it's also a common story for someone to mess with their food just to "get" a cop. I've read several stories over the years of cops getting food or drink spit on and actually having it tested for saliva at a lab. to verify that; I remember other cases of other substances being put on that would be unpelasant though less than lethal (e.g., marijuana was purposefully put on a burger once, I recall). I can see this being an accident but I can also see why the LEO would be suspicious about whether or not it was an accident.

I could also easily imagine he didn't go in and get her because he thought "too much salt" but rather "clearly something's wrong but I can't be sure just what" (including that they might be trying to cover up bad meat with heavy seasoning--it wouldn't be the first time a store tried this).

I don't see this as a case of an over-aggressive LEO. I'm not sure the employee did anythjing wrong, but if the authorities don't investigate places they discover are serving possibly tainted food, who will? If it had been tainted meat and he had ignored it saying "eh, too salty for my taste--I'll try the Wendy's down the block" and then 20 people got E. Coli poisoning at the McDonalds, imagine the story they'd be writing about him now.

 

[MA-Caver]

I think it's more serious than this. It's a common story for LEOs to get discounts, yes, but it's also a common story for someone to mess with their food just to "get" a cop. I've read several stories over the years of cops getting food or drink spit on and actually having it tested for saliva at a lab. to verify that; I remember other cases of other substances being put on that would be unpelasant though less than lethal (e.g., marijuana was purposefully put on a burger once, I recall). I can see this being an accident but I can also see why the LEO would be suspicious about whether or not it was an accident.

I could also easily imagine he didn't go in and get her because he thought "too much salt" but rather "clearly something's wrong but I can't be sure just what" (including that they might be trying to cover up bad meat with heavy seasoning--it wouldn't be the first time a store tried this).

I don't see this as a case of an over-aggressive LEO. I'm not sure the employee did anythjing wrong, but if the authorities don't investigate places they discover are serving possibly tainted food, who will? If it had been tainted meat and he had ignored it saying "eh, too salty for my taste--I'll try the Wendy's down the block" and then 20 people got E. Coli poisoning at the McDonalds, imagine the story they'd be writing about him now.

Well yeah, that's true. Still, this mornin at work a couple of LEO's came in for breakfast and knowing one of them as a regular patron I went out to say hello and joked that we're putting NO salt on any of their food. He got the joke, chuckled and said that he read that article as well and simply shook his head with a grin.
Not trying to defend the employee or the store but just speaking from experience here, it's nigh impossible for a "cook" to know who's coming through and ordering this or that when it's from the drive-through. Occasionally we'll see who's dining in or taking out... but even so the cook(s) just cook the food as needed and places them on the prep/warmer trays and the "front-line" handles making the sandwiches/orders, and even they rarely get to see who orders what, just look up on the overhead monitors for the next order and go from there.
I'm going to stand with "it's an over-reaction to a bad mistake." A mistake that shouldn't have happened and bad judgement on the stupidvisor's part for letting the meat get served if they were aware of the grill mistake.