(Savannah, GA) After ordering fries at the small chicken and fries restaurant Li’l Chick, Gail (who refused to provide her last name) called 911 because her fries were cold and the owner of the restaurant wouldn’t refund her money or provide a new order of fries.
Now, TCS has the 911 call from the bizarre incident. After a Savannah 911 operator answers the call, Gail says, “I ordered something. My order is not right, and I don't like the way the food tastes, and they telling me they can't give me a refund, and they can't replace it either. I don't think that's right."
The 911 operator doesn’t ask many questions, only where the woman is located and then says, “Alright, don’t leave. Police are on their way.”
We talked with the owner of Li’l Chick and Metro Police yesterday. After seeing the story on TCS, the woman called our news room and agreed to talk with me. I asked her why she would call 911, when 911 is for emergencies. She replied, "To me, that was an emergency because on the other hand, had I walked off with the food and not paid for it, they would have said that I was stealing."
Only Gail had already paid for her food, so she couldn’t have been accused of stealing. Every story has two sides, so today we went back to Li’l Chick to talk to the owner again. “She saw us bring up some more french fries, so she went back to the window and told the girl at the counter she wanted hot fries. Hers were cold," says owner Jospeh W. Weeds.
Weeds mainly caters to truckers, and he cooks big batches of food at a time – never special orders. He admits he’s had complaints of cold food in the past, but never to this extreme.
I asked Gail if she ever felt her life was in danger, because again, 911 an emergency number. She replied, “No. I wanted someone to come in and mediate for me because I didn't want it to escalate."
Believe it or not, this isn’t the first time a call like this has happened. Back in March, a Florida woman called 911 because McDonald’s ran out of chicken nuggets. Another woman called 911 when Burger King got her order wrong. Here’s how that 911 Operator responded: “Ma’am, we’re not going to go down there and enforce your Western Bacon Cheeseburger.”
“What am I supposed to do?” asked the caller.
“This is between you and the manager. That’s not a criminal issue…there’s nothing criminal there,” said the operator. Police were not dispatched to that scene.
However, Savannah-Chatham Metro Police were dispatched Wednesday afternoon to the scene at Li’l Chick. Ultimately, an officer gave the woman $6.00 of his own money to calm the situation.
“The officer out of the kindness of his heart gave me $6.00 so I could get my children something from somewhere else," says Gail.
