McEmergency

Dear Congressman,

I am sure there are times that you have had to meet and field questions from people that made you wonder how they managed to accomplish the feat of tying their own shoes that morning. Here is another example of such an individual.


ALOHA, Ore. – An Oregon man spent Memorial Day in jail after dialing 911 (999 in the UK) to complain that a McDonald's worker was rude and didn't give him an orange juice he ordered. The individual was accused of improper use of the emergency telephone number.

The Oregonian newspaper reports that the 20-year-old bailed out of the Washington County Jail on Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.

A Washington County Sheriff's Sgt. said the individual ignored deputies who told him the emergency number isn't to be used for straightening out fast-food orders.

A McDonald's employee also called 911 during the incident to complain that the individual and the people with him were blocking the drive-thru lane and knocking on the restaurant windows.


So, we have two identical problems here.

First, the individual who does not understand conceptually understand the true nature of emergency. Just for the record, there are probably very few laws on the books against rude behavior. I personally have been treated abusively by a fast food employee, but being that I planned on consuming whatever they gave me in the bag I thought it best not to upset them further, lest I end up eating something usually dished up on the TV show "Fear Factor".

Second, when did blocking a drive through lane and knocking on a window comprise an emergency situation? He probably would have gotten away with the phone call to 911 if the McDonald's employee hadn't called the same number to complain about their rowdy behavior, so if I was the Police on the scene I would have arrested both callers. Last time I looked, most Police and Sheriff departments have a non-emergency phone number in the local phone book. And if the McDonald's management did not have this number posted somewhere....well.... hey, there's an idea for ya!