Woman Arrested for Calling 9-1-1 to Complain About Hardee's Burger
A Tennessee woman was so dissatisfied with her Hardee's hamburger that she called police twice to complain, resulting in her arrest on the charge of abusing the 9-1-1 system.
Donna Marie Nichols, 50, called police in Rockwood, Tenn., March 28. Audio of one of the 9-1-1 calls was posted on the Smoking Gun website. In the recording, Nichols tells the dispatcher, "I had ordered some food from Hardee's over here and the food is no good, and the girl told me when I called her back that I could bring it back and get my money on it. Now she's telling me she can't do anything until tomorrow.
"I had to work for seven hours today to get that money just to eat a sandwich and I just got out of the hospital yesterday and they can give me my money back. I only took a small bite out of the burger and it's nasty," she said.
An officer went to Nichols' location to talk to her. In his sworn complaint, he said she told him the burger "tasted funny."
The officer arrested her and took her to Roane County Jail. She was held on $1,500 bail and released Monday, according to The Smoking Gun.
Nichols is hardly the first person accused of abusing the 9-1-1 system for a fast-food meal.
A Florida middle-school teacher was arrested in December after she allegedly got into a dispute with a McDonald's employee about her order and pelted the employee with hash browns.
Simone Paolercio, 39, was arrested at her Lakeland, Fla., home on misdemeanor battery charges. She denied any wrongdoing.
Also, police in Florida arrested a man in 2009 who called 9-1-1 to complain that a Burger King in Boynton Beach did not have lemonade. When employees offered him Coke for his combo meal, rather than the desired lemonade, Jean Fortune, 66, got upset.
Fortune's call to 9-1-1 lasted for five minutes, and as he persisted with his complaint about the food and the server's perceived rudeness, the dispatcher grew noticeably frustrated. "Customer service is not a reason to call 9-1-1," she told Fortune. "9-1-1 is if you're dying."
He was charged with misusing the 9-1-1 system.
