McD's Employee Arrested for Oversalting Meat!

Published on September 9, 2007 By Gideon MacLeish In Current Events

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070909/ap_on_fe_st/odd_salty_burger

In Union City, Georgia, a McDonald's employee was arrested because meat that she had oversalted was served to a police officer. The officer claimed it made him sick, and samples of the burger were sent to a state crime lab.

Kendra Bull is free on $1000 bail. She is charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct.

The rest of the news you can get there. What follows is my opinion.

This story is an example of absolute insanity and the overreach of our criminal justice system. Oversalting a hamburger is not and should not be a crime. The police officer, in my opinion, should be stripped of his badge and charged with abuse of power, as well as fined enough money to pay Ms. Bull's loss of pay plus the bail money she had to fork over for her freedom pending trial.

But that's not enough. Because she was tried, this means a district attorney found enough evidence to bind her over for trial. And a judge refused to throw it out at her arraignment.

Laws were not made for the purpose of intimidating the public and holding them in fear. The purpose of laws is to create an orderly society by protecting the general public from those who will not obey the rules.

When a low paid employee runs the risk of being imprisoned because a police officer didn't like his burger, something's seriously wrong.

And let's go a little further. The burger was sent to the state crime lab (I'm more worried about what they'll find in the MEAT, personally!) This means Georgia's citizens will also have to foot the bill while a crime lab puts a serial killer's DNA test on hold to test a burger that Officer Friendly found unpalatable.

The officer represents the worst of the worst in law enforcement, in my opinion, and has no business serving in a public capacity. He dishonors the thousands of men and women who put their lives on the line to deal with REAL crimes, not a lousy burger!

Comments (Page 1)

JillUser

on Sep 09, 2007

What ever happened to sending something back if you don't like it? Are they trying to say that she put so much salt on the buger that is was poisonous? If so, do you know how much salt that would take? The officer could take one bite and take the thing back and complain. If McD's wanted to fire her for over salting, that's one thing. Having a trial over it is simply ridiculous. But then again, our country is well known for ridiculous law suits.

Gideon MacLeish

on Sep 09, 2007

But then again, our country is well known for ridiculous law suits.

Law suits are one thing...criminal action's even worse.

I really hope the cop and DA lose their jobs over this.

foreverserenity

on Sep 09, 2007

"Laws were not made for the purpose of intimidating the public and holding them in fear"

Time and again this state seems to be way off when it comes to its laws. The fact that the district attorney actually found anything valid in this is beyond words!

Zydor

on Sep 09, 2007

Its insane, even if the employee did it as a "poke in the eye of a cop" - I guess some are dumb enough to do that - to go to trial over it beggars belief. Lets hope the Judge has more common sense, throws it out as a waste of court time, and reminds the DA that the Law is there to deter and rehabilitate not to be used as a personal return poke in the eye for a mythical sense of pride.

Locamama

on Sep 09, 2007

I personally think the supervisor who knew the meat was oversalted should be held responsible not the counter worker. People do mess with police officers food and that is wrong. I personally would not send food back if I were a police officer because I would assume that it would come back with some extra boogers and lugies on it. I think pressing charges was probably taking this situation too far but I do think it warranted a response. A few extra shakes of salt does not make someone sick.

Gideon MacLeish

on Sep 09, 2007

I think pressing charges was probably taking this situation too far but I do think it warranted a response.

Only in the form of questioning, Loca. From the story, it doesn't appear the cop was targetted.

And even if he was, I don't think it merited more than a stern warning.

Sure, if this cop came in every day and had tampered food, someone should answer for it. THAT's what these laws are for. But a mistake on the part of a low paid worker doesn't meet the standard.

I would even question being too stern with the supervisor. Owners are notoriously strict at times on waste percentages. Perhaps the supervisor had come back from a meeting the day before lecturing her on waste percentages. And one must remember, these supervisors aren't paid THAT much more than the people they supervise (at the McD's here, the differential is 50 cents!)

foreverserenity

on Sep 09, 2007

The thing is couldn't it just have been that the food that day, or that hour, or that batch was too salty? I've had salty food before and just either get a replacement or not eat it at all.

The next thing is, could it have been the food itself not being good that made him sick or his is allergic to salt and if so, why eat food outside? Stupid rhetoric question, but his fault if this was the case.

Third, when my daughter worked at a fast food place, McDonald's, she said they had to salt the fries to a certain degree, if it was undersalted, the workers got in trouble. The reason why? Customers complaint too much when they were not salty enough so that was one of their inside rules on cooking the fries!

Its probably just a freak thing that happened to him, that should not have gotten to that level, but we live in a happy sue anybody society so....

Gideon MacLeish

on Sep 09, 2007

Its probably just a freak thing that happened to him, that should not have gotten to that level, but we live in a happy sue anybody society so....

But he's a police officer, is my concern. This is an abuse of power. If he had SUED McD's, I would have considered it silly, but to ARREST a worker who's making as close to minimum wage as that market can get away with paying? Unbelievable!

danielost

on Sep 09, 2007

you guys have missed one little problem with this story.

mcd employees do not salt meat.

Gideon MacLeish

on Sep 09, 2007

mcd employees do not salt meat.

Actually, danielost, yes, they do. McD's had a type of seasoning salt that is supposed to go onto every patty. The lid pops off very easily, which may be what happened here.

I know because it wasn't long ago that I had a temporary second job with McD's. It's not pure salt, true, but it IS a mixture that has salt IN it.

danielost

on Sep 10, 2007

ok sorry it has been almost thirty years since i worked there

Gideon MacLeish

on Sep 10, 2007

ok sorry it has been almost thirty years since i worked there

yeah....they were probably using real meat back then, too...lol!

Not a problem, really. Just wanted to clarify. Also to put in a statement that the way they're set up, it's actually pretty easy to accidentally oversalt.

danielost

on Sep 10, 2007

yeah....they were probably using real meat back then, too...lol!

their afraid someone will sue them if they use real meat today.

Gideon MacLeish

on Sep 10, 2007

If any of ya had actually read the story, you'd have seen the meat was salted accidentally when salt was SPILLED on the meat. A supervisor tried to shake the excess off, and told the employee to cook and serve it anyway.

I did read it, and apparently so did Loca. That's why she said if anyone should have been chastised, it should have been the supervisor, who said to serve it.

The meat at McD's IS salted, though. The shakers are very easy to spill, and if you fill them by the grill, which happens at rush times, they can topple very easy because they're designed to sit in the tray with the shaker side down for easy application. My guess is this is probably pretty close to what happened.

It still doesn't merit an arrest, IMO

lifehappens

on Sep 10, 2007

And common sense is lost once again.....

If it was bad enough to make him sick and it wasn't too much trouble to drive back and throw a hissy fit, why couldn't he just stop eating ? Idiot.

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