Once- I almost took two whoppers and walked! MUST READ!

I know everyone know knows about Steven Slater- "took two beers and Jumped!"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/11/steven-slater-jet-blue-fl_n_676139.html

Well- I do not blame this Starbucks employee for kicking this woman out the other day after refusing to respond to simple questions to clarify her order

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/16/columbia-professor-kicked_n_683159.html

She ordered a toasted mulit-grain bagel- she was asked if she wanted butter or cream cheese on it and got huffy- called the employee and A-hole and then yelled at staff till the Manager called the cops.

Starbucks staffer- I feel your pain.  I too was once the victim of a this type of crazy person.

True Story-

back in the day during college - I was a swing shift manager at a Burger King. enjoyed this job mostly except on days like this.

One slow late afternoon-the drive thru beeped and I greeted the person and they proceeded to order- "1 coke, 1 diet coke, and a hamburger with onions."  Since in the past I have had issues with folks not recalling that BK hamburgers come with ketchup/mustard and pickle by default- I asked a clarifing question.
I said- "got the coke and diet coke- on the hamburger- do you want ONLY onions or onions in addition to the ketchup/mustard and pickle?"

I did not receive a plesant response- I got a man SCREAMING HIS ORDER EXACTLY THE SAME WAY!  I did not let this phase me- I simply and very politely asked the question again but first saying- "Sorry sir- I just want to make sure the order is correct and maybe you did not hear me, the speaker can be garbled sometimes." then I asked the above clarifing question again.

He AGAIN- SCREAMED HIS ORDER THE SAME WAY.  I then decided- this needs to be handled face to face- gave him a total and asked him to pull up to the window.

He got to the window and I - very calmly, which if you know me, was hard!- said to him- " sorry sir maybe the speaker was malfunctioning but I am simply wanting to be sure we have your order correct so you get what you want..." then asked the clarifiing Q a third time.

Did I get a useful answer- HELL TO THE NO!  He proceeded to threaten to pull me through the window- kick my ass and kick my teeth-in, then was going to ask to meet my manager outside and do the same to him.  I was also called numerous words that the only repeatable ones are stupid and fat.

After a few minutes of this- I said to him, "Sir you must be having a bad day and for that I am sorry but I am now asking you to leave. try and have a nice day."  He started to pull away and I vented- thinking he couldn't hear me and screamed an expletive.

HE HEARD ME!  Then backed up to the window again and proceed with more verbal abuse and physical threats. the Funny part is- I am 6' 2''/300+ lbs and he is about 5' 8''/ 150lbs wet.

After this round I again asked him to leave or I will phone police to arrest him.  He screamed and left.

I told my manager all about it the next morning- even admitting I lost my cool and swore at the guy but only after the first round of abuse and threats.  He understood and appreciated my honesty and considered the issue closed.

UNTIL-

The next morning- I was called over for a chat with my manager. Turns out this guy did not call him or our regional manager- he called Burger King coproate in Miami, Florida!

He got the CEO's assistant- who told him the CEO was in Japan. This guy wanted to call him in JAPAN!
Well,  she knew he was nuts-so she gave him to the head of PR- Who also determined he was nuts and then called my boss and told him the story. He let her know that he knew- since I told him right away- and both agreed the guy was nuts and I was justified for losing my cool with this WACKO!

I do not know what happened to that guy but WOW he needed to "take to beers and jump"...in a LAKE!