McDonald's Denies Prof's Claim Staff Attacked Him For Wearing Digital Glasses 627
Sparrowvsrevolution writes "In an update to a story posted on Slashdot earlier this week, McDonald's has responded to the claims of Steve Mann, a University of Toronto professor and augmented reality pioneer who says McDonald's staff in Paris assaulted him tried to pull off a computer eyepiece he's worn for decades, then threw him out of the restaurant. McDonald's confirms that Mann was ejected from the premises, but denies that there was a 'physical altercation' with staff or that they destroyed any of his property. That last claim is especially dubious, since Mann has posted photos taken from his eyepiece that show McDonald's staff ripping up a doctor's note that he showed them to explain his need to wear the device. The company still hasn't explained why Mann was removed from the restaurant, but Mann has speculated that it has a policy against recording."
hey ronald... (Score:5, Funny)
And looks like someone failed hamburger college!
Supersize Me (Score:5, Informative)
In regards to their policies against video recording, I suspect they don't want a recurrence of the movie "Supersize Me" which did great damage to their image around the world. It was about a film-maker who spend an entire month (or more?) eating only McDonalds food. Whenever they asked him if he wanted supersize, he had to agree. The health results were predictably grim for the film-maker.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:hey ronald... (Score:5, Insightful)
What's really bad about this is that a fast-food restaurant like McDonald's should, in theory, be the last place you might get food poisoning. The whole way FF restaurants work is by turning the preparation of food into an industrial process, and eliminating all the art from it (and all the variables), so they can maximize speed and profit. It's like an assembly line back there. Contrast this to a regular kitchen at a sit-down restaurant, where it's really all about human skill, and especially the head chef's skill in managing everyone. At a FF restaurant, everything's supposed to be dumbed-down so much that any moron can just follow the instructions and churn out Big Macs at breakneck speeds, in combination with the specialized equipment they use, so eliminating methods for contaminating foods should be part of the process. Of course, one main vector is by employees not washing their hands, but even so they usually wear gloves, so who knows what the problem is, probably a management failure in making sure employees wash hands and also wear gloves when handling anything.
Re:hey ronald... (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, part of the problem is that people wear gloves -- and handle the same things they did before. So the gloves look clear but they aren't.....
Re:hey ronald... (Score:4, Informative)
> Well, part of the problem is that people wear gloves -- and handle the same things they did before.
Yes, especially money. I have seen that many times, and I would assume it is always against company policy, and for good reason.
Re:hey ronald... (Score:5, Funny)
Well, part of the problem is that people wear gloves -- and handle the same things they did before.
That reminds me of an old joke:
The Waiter and the Spoon
I took some friends out to dinner last week, and I noticed a spoon in the shirt pocket of our waiter as he handed us the menus. It seemed a little odd, but I dismissed it as a random thing. Until our busboy came with water & tableware; he, too, sported a spoon in his breast-pocket. I looked around the room and all the waiters, waitresses, busboys, etc. had spoons in their pockets.
When our waiter returned to take our order, I just had to ask, "Why the spoons?"
"Well," he explained, "our parent company recently hired some Andersen Consulting efficiency experts to review all our procedures and after months of statistical analyses, they concluded that our patrons drop spoons on the floor 73% more often than any other utensil at a frequency of 3 spoons per hour per workstation. By preparing all our workers for this contingency in advance, we can cut our trips to the kitchen down and save time...nearly 1.5 extra man hours per shift."
Just as he concluded, a "ch-ching" came from the table behind him, and he quickly replaced a fallen spoon with the one from his pocket. "I'll grab another spoon the next time I'm in the kitchen instead of making a special trip," he proudly explained.
I was impressed. "Thanks. I had to ask." "No problem," he answered, then he continued to take our orders. As the members of my dinner party took their turns, my eyes darted back & forth from each person ordering and my menu. That's when, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a thin, black thread protruding from our waiter's fly. Again, I dismissed it; yet I had to scan the room and, sure enough, there were other waiters & busboys with strings hanging out of their trousers.
My curiosity overrode discretion at this point, so before he could leave I had to ask. "Excuse me, but...uh...why, or what...about that string?" "Oh, yeah," he began in a quieter tone. "Not many people are that observant. That same efficiency group found we could save time in the Men's room, too." "How's that?" .. "You see, by tying a string to the end of our, eh, selves, we can pull it out at the urinals literally hands-free and thereby eliminate the need to wash our hands, cutting time spent in the restroom by over 93%!"
"Oh, that makes sense," I said, but then thinking thru the process, I asked, "Hey, wait-a-minute. If the string helps you pull it out, how do you get it back in?"
"Well," he whispered, "I don't know about the other guys; but I use my spoon.
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Sure, why not? If it provides your body with the fuel and nutrients it needs to continue, then it's "food". It may not be "good food", but even slop is still food.
Finally, in theory, an industrial process should be able to produce very good food too. In fact, many higher-end restaurants, while not refining it down quite as much as McD's, still do make food preparation as industrialized and mechanical as possible. Recipes call for very specific steps, very specific amounts of ingredients, and very specif
Re:hey ronald... (Score:4, Funny)
Have you actually gone to a McDonald's restaurant where they actually make a consistent product?
I know I haven't at least.
I avoid McDonald's except when drunk or otherwise desperate, but I wouldn't criticise their consistency: they've been identically crap ever since I can remember.
Re:hey ronald... (Score:5, Informative)
That's food poisoning, and I kid you not I have gotten food poisoning twice from McDonalds (both times in the USA).
Maybe you did and maybe you didn't; a lot of "food poisoning" type bacteria have fairly lengthy incubation times [hart.gov.uk]. People always assume it was the last meal they ate but often it was really the meal before or even something from the day before.
Re:hey ronald... (Score:4, Insightful)
I've eaten McD about 5 times a week for the last decade. Probably closer to two if you include BK and Wendys. Yeah seriously. My Dr might have his own heart attack if he knew.
The only time i've gotten food poisoning is from the hot dog at 7-11 at 3AM in florida oddly enough.
The problem is the more big chains try to standardize their food the more stupid children ignore the rules. Steak fries might need 7-10 minutes but the thin McD fries need 3:12 (or whatever) and a 30 second variance means overcooked or soggy fries. You DO get consistent quality if the procedures are followed exactly. Last time I checked minimum-wage jobs are not the best place to get people to perform admirably and consistently.
Re:hey ronald... (Score:5, Informative)
People definitely like to call things "food poisoning" whenever they have a violent stomach flu after eating something they wondered about in the first place.
About a year ago I had a horrible, coming-out-of-both-ends "food poisoning type" incident I was ready to blame on a local restaurant I ate at that day. It turned out my co-worker had it 2 days earlier, and my girlfriend got it 2 days later. Became pretty clear about the incubation time and the fact it wasn't food poisoning at *all*...
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The weirdest part is, your body doesn't care, it still decides that the last thing you ate was sickening.
For instance, one time I got pretty bad food poisoning after eating a gyro, and now I can't stand the way that gyro place smells. The thing is, though, that I'm like 80% sure that the food poisoning was from some undercooked beef that I'd made earlier in the week and and eaten for lunch that day. My body doesn't care though, it thinks gyros = bad just because it was the last, most fragrant thing I ate be
Re:hey ronald... (Score:4, Funny)
95 times out of 100, anyway.
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Perhaps they read this part...
Perhaps you were joking too, your post had no tags though so I couldn't tell!
TAGS: COMMENT, ATTEMPTED HUMOUR, FAIL
Yeah... (Score:5, Interesting)
Ok, McD's... let's see the security footage.
You're in the court of public opinion and it ain't lookin' good.
Re:Yeah... (Score:5, Insightful)
What they should do is promptly apologize and sent that staff on customer service training.
(But then again, what can you expect from McDonalds staff? If they were so smart, they'd have my job.)
Live in Reality (Score:4, Insightful)
This is a PR nightmare for McDonald's and they're only making it worse.
Nonsense. I read a number of newspapers and Internet news sites, and this is the first I've heard of it, and like most people, really don't care that much. I frequent Burger King (Home of the Whopper), but I think that realistically, only a very tiny number of McDonald's customers know about this, and of those, few care.
Your first paragraph is entirely hyperbole.
Re:Live in Reality (Score:4, Insightful)
I'd have to agree with you. It's not changing my feelings towards McDonalds in general - mostly towards that one location. Every franchise has locations with great employees and locations with the laziest, dumbest idiots you'll ever meet.
Re:Live in Reality (Score:5, Informative)
I read a number of newspapers and Internet news sites, and this is the first I've heard of it,
MSNBC: http://www.technolog.msnbc.msn.com/technology/technolog/cyborg-steve-mann-details-alleged-mcdonalds-assault-889595 [msn.com]
Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2012/07/17/cyborg-discrimination-scientist-says-mcdonalds-staff-tried-to-pull-off-his-google-glass-like-eyepiece-then-threw-him-out/ [forbes.com]
The Huff: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/17/steve-mann-attacked-paris-mcdonalds-digital-eye-glass-photos_n_1680263.html [huffingtonpost.com]
NYT Daily: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/cyborg-professor-claims-assault-paris-mcdonald-digital-glasses-article-1.1116246 [nydailynews.com]
Canadian news: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2012/07/17/tech-mann-digital-eye-glass-assault.html [www.cbc.ca] and a few others.
Plus El Reg, CNET, Network World, and the usual tech news sites. And the story is the second top google-news results for "McDonald's".
It's also the second article on Slashdot itself about the incident. http://news.slashdot.org/story/12/07/17/0335227/man-physically-assaulted-at-mcdonalds-for-wearing-digital-eye-glasses [slashdot.org]
Re:Live in Reality (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Live in Reality (Score:5, Insightful)
Once again, An innaccurate headline fools most of the slashdot readers. Seriously folks, click on the article and just scroll down to the full McDonald's letter. It is seven sentences long and says essentially that the employees deny Dr. Mann's account but that McDonald's is still investigating. Dr. Mann has not yet responded to their queries. Nowhere is it even implied that they are denying Dr. Mann's claims.
Re:Yeah... (Score:4, Informative)
No, this [go.com] is a PR nightmare. And just like with super-sized drinks, removing it from their menu "had nothing to do with" this information hitting mainstream media.
Post hoc ergo proper hoc? (Score:4, Informative)
Didn't McDonald's remove pink slime about 3 months before the story became mainstream?
Re:Yeah... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Yeah... (Score:5, Funny)
Wait, Rodney King was armed during his beating?
Yes.. he had two of them.
Re:Yeah... (Score:5, Informative)
I think I see your problem. He was on PAROLE for having committed a robbery armed with two weapons. He fled because he was drunk, because he knew that being caught driving under the influence would be a breach of his parole agreement. Though he did reach speeds of 115 mph, he was in fact unarmed (not counting the car he drove recklessly.) The LAPD reported that he was under the influences of PCP, that he was violent, aggressive and that they needed to taser him after he viciously attacked them. The video on the other hand showed that the officers tased him immediately on leaving the car, once on the ground, they kicked him in the head repeatedly, beat him with batons for over a minute, then tackled and cuffed him when he stopped moving. Later when his blood work came back there were no traces of PCP. Its an easy mistake to make, the way the story is written in some sources, the Parole Violation and chase get combined.
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Whoooosshhh?
I would explain the joke, but I am laughing hysterically over here at how many people are not getting it.
Re:Yeah... (Score:5, Informative)
Hey, it seems like you have some info Wikipedia is lacking.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_King#Confrontation [wikipedia.org]
Feel free to share whatever it is you got, or to retract. In the latter case you might also want to kick whoever told you that in the nuts, for making you seem like a racist to complete strangers :P
Re: (Score:3)
Hey hey, no original research!
Re:Yeah... (Score:4, Insightful)
How does being wrong about the Rodney King incident make you a racist? Pretty sure it just makes you wrong.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
How does seeming like a racist make you a racist? I'm pretty sure it just makes you seem like a racist.
But you're right, make that "asshole". Why? A bunch of white cops brutalize a black dude, poster says "he had a gun on him" -- implying it was neither police brutality nor racism.
How would someone get this wrong via a honest mistake? Where would one get the idea from that Rodney King had a gun? They kinda have to be either into authority or against blacks, and cut their thought and evidence collection proc
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Some people always choose a certain kind of incidents to be wrong about. We call those people racists.
Re:Yeah... (Score:4)
Wrong + white = racist
Maybe they thought he was the (Score:5, Funny)
These are both reasonably plausible expla (Score:3)
nations.
Br (Score:5, Funny)
--
o
I record everything I see and hear (Score:5, Insightful)
...using organic video and audio sensors, onto a storage medium consisting of neurons and synapses. Does this mean they would throw me out, too?
Re:I record everything I see and hear (Score:5, Funny)
how old school
what a luddite
Re:I record everything I see and hear (Score:5, Insightful)
Not likely, since any footage captured by your "recording device" cannot be reliably played back.
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Steps in a McDonalds experience (Score:5, Funny)
I always thought of the McDonalds experience as follow:
1. You know their food is shit before you start.
2. It tastes like shit while you eat.
3. You feel like shit afterwards.
4. (They) Profit
Now they've apparently added steps:
1.5 They treat you like shit while in store
Nice to see they're still working to grow the general shity-ness of the experience.
Re:Steps in a McDonalds experience (Score:4, Insightful)
You aren't a parent I take it.
My daughter loves mcd's chicken nuggets. When she was still very young, she got tired of only getting 4 in the children's happy meal, and upgraded to the adult size nuggets instead without fries (she doesn't like fries). The toy's inclusion was immaterial.
Sure some kids go for the toy, but the truth is, mcdonald's food is prepared to be very palatable and generically tasty without any strange flavours a simple palate won't recognize.
An Ridiculous Policy (Score:5, Interesting)
MacDonald's hostility to photography, like that of Starbucks, is ridiculous.
Modern digital cameras easy to conceal. Besides, anyone with genuine interior design talent could visit one of their business, eating a burger while seeming to be doing no more than casually glance around. They could then go away and recreate what they saw almost as precisely as a photograph.
These blunders are probably the result of lawyers getting involved. A lawyer will attempt to deny anything that he thinks the other side can't prove. MacDonald's lawyers apparently aren't aware of just how much got recorded.
One suggestion to Slashdot readers. If you're in a situation like this, do your best to use your phone to record what's happening without being noticed. That'll help the good guy in the dispute. You might even practice what you should do, from starting up a camera app to perhaps slipping it in a shirt pocket with the lens able to see everything that's happening.
--Michael W. Perry, author of Untangling Tolkien
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"One suggestion to Slashdot readers. If you're in a situation like this, do your best to use your phone to record what's happening without being noticed. That'll help the good guy in the dispute. You might even practice what you should do, from starting up a camera app to perhaps slipping it in a shirt pocket with the lens able to see everything that's happening."
Good idea, and you might even get a viral video out of it.
A Ridiculous Policy (there I fixed it) (Score:5, Insightful)
anyone with genuine interior design talent could visit one of their business, eating a burger while seeming to be doing no more than casually glance around. They could then go away and recreate what they saw almost as precisely as a photograph.
But that couldn't serve as evidence against health code violations (or proof of customer assault). When a company forbids taking pictures at their store (even for a kid's birthday party) but also says that they are recording you, one should wonder what they are trying to hide.
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You should, however, be familiar with various laws regarding such things where you are. In the US, laws vary a lot, but generally, the inside of a store isn't a public place, and if they have a policy against photography/filming, you could possibly face criminal charges if you're caught.
And in some states, audio recording (which your cell phone will likely do by default) without advance persmission from everyone is a felony.
You may not agree with the law, but you know as well as I do you're not ready to go
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Re:An Ridiculous Policy (Score:5, Insightful)
>I don't know how to get the message across that this is a very bad attitude to take and wins him no friends.
This is a prosthetic sight and memory augmentation device he wears due to a medical condition ! Throwing that out is no better than throwing out a paraplegic because you worry his prosthetic leg may scratch the floor tiles. As it stands, the device he uses doesn't even keep recordings for more than few seconds, what it does is to simply slow down the world a bit so he has time to process what happens. It's like a slow-motion-replay for reality. Just because he designed it himself doesn't make it any less a medically apt prosthesis.
In fact, it wouldn't normally have HAD recordings of the event- except that when they broke the device they disabled the onboard computer, which meant the cleanup algorithm that would have wiped the pictures couldn't run.
They themselves turned a medical prosthesis from a slowdown device into a permanent recording of the very breakage by which they changed it's nature.
The company hasn't explained (Score:3)
The company still hasn't explained why Mann was removed from the restaurant
It's pretty obvious - we've all seen the photo of Mann and his headgear. That McDonalds obviously has a "no shirt, no shoes, no service" policy in place.
DPA (Score:4, Interesting)
Why doesn't he do a Data Protection Act (all EU members have one) request on the CCTV footage, he will have to pay a small fee but he can get any footage he appears in.
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No Kidding! (Score:5, Insightful)
There is a policy against recording (Score:3, Interesting)
At least when I was there...
I was in a Paris McDonalds in 2005, and pulled out my camera to take a photo of the menu board. Before I could even focus a man tapped me on the shoulder, point at the camera, and shook his head. He had on a McDonalds uniform but I think was security. He didn't leave my side while in the store. I just wanted my Royale with Cheese photo!
policy against recording (Score:5, Interesting)
The company still hasn't explained why Mann was removed from the restaurant, but Mann has speculated that it has a policy against recording.
Not sure about the arches (have refused to eat there for the last 36 years - that's my right, don't mod me down because you eat there), but I've seen a sign on company owned Burger King restaurants that forbid customers from using cameras on the premises. This warning is on the same door sticker that advises customers that the store is recording them! I asked the manager and he said, yes, it does apply ever to someone wanting to record a child's birthday party there. When I said "It makes you wonder and worry about what the company is trying to hide" he just laughed and said "Yea.".
Steve's credibility problem (Score:5, Interesting)
I am skeptical of Steve's side to all of this.
Note the following:
*I see many commentors claiming that Steve's apparatus is screwed to his skull and is necessary. Many of Steve's students have routinely seen him walking around without a computer. I have never seen any evidence that he has any sort of implants, and am pretty certain he doesnt have stuff screwed to the skull. Notice how he doesnt clairify these things.
* As far as I can tell, his single entry blog is the first place I've seen him refer to his HMD as Eyetap Digital glass. This is undoubtadley for him to associate with the Google Glass project.
*Take a look at his wikipedia entries under "gloggee". He has a penchant for making up neologisms an claiming to ha e invented things that he wasnt really involved with.
2nd Report of Getting Physical at Same Location (Score:5, Interesting)
This is the 2nd report of physical assault by McDonald's staff at that same location to hit the news:
http://onyoursi.de/2011/08/whats-your-problem-assaulted-for-taking-a-photo-of-le-menu/ [onyoursi.de]
McDonald's insists Sheldon wasn't touched during the confrontation. But Sheldon remembers it differently.
"She grabbed me by my arm and jacket and threw my back against the open door, all the while grabbing at different parts of my coat with one hand and pinning me there with another," Sheldon told me.
And McDonald's explanation of what occurred does not match the photo. If lying about the situation seems to work, then of course the employees at that location are never going to feel like assaulting customers has any consequences.
Re: (Score:3)
I love this response from McD's from the article.
I checked with McDonald’s and it said an investigation was underway. But today, you received a reply from McDonald’s France that said your version couldn’t be substantiated. Interviews with employees and a client suggest you had nothing more than a polite disagreement with the employee.
And then a few paragraphs later.
But she also said the confrontation shouldn’t have happened, and that a manager at the restaurant “had a conversation with the employee in which he emphasized that crew members are to remain calm and professional at all times, in all circumstances.”
Which strikes me as odd, if it was a polite disagreement why did the manager have to have a conversation with the employee?
This isn't the first time (Score:5, Interesting)
Dr. Mann has had this sort of thing happen to him his entire professional career. Here's one from 2002
http://it.slashdot.org/story/02/03/14/2051228/airport-security-vs-cyborg-steve-mann [slashdot.org]
This isn't hard (Score:3)
The company still hasn't explained why Mann was removed from the restaurant, but Mann has speculated that it has a policy against recording.
Now that's where his credibility falls off a cliff. Let me reinact his version that would reach that end result: "Sir, we're asking you to leave but we're not telling you specifically why. Try to speculate on why it may be while you're in the parking lot."
Here's my version: "So...this paper says it can take pictures? GTFO, perv! You can't covertly snap photos of people with a camera hidden in your glasses, it's making our customers uncomfortable."
Which sounds more reasonable to you?
"Our goal is to provide..." (Score:3)
"Our goal is to provide a welcoming environment and stellar service to McDonald’s customers around the world."
No shit! =]
Mr. Mann saw stars for hours after visiting a McDonald's ! =P
McD's in Beijing didn't like my camera either (Score:3)
Read the statement (Score:3, Insightful)
Am I the only one that read the statement? It seems to me that they are collecting information. In fact McDonald's doesn't deny they attacked him, they only state that their employees denied it. It's an important distinction. Their employees are quite naturally saying, "We're innocent!" while Mann's saying "They're guilty." Mann provided proof that one of their statements - namely that they didn't damage any of his property - is incorrect. But it doesn't seem McDonalds, as a whole, is calling Mann a liar. Here's the statement:
Re: (Score:3)
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And if the European Union were a nation, the citizens would be referred to as European -- and while the term would still apply to those of Europe as a whole, it would also apply to those of the nation with the word in its name. Unitedian? Statesian? No, citizens of the United States of America are -- following me camera guy? -- American.
If your usage of the term is ambiguous you use North or South American. Referring to both continents at the same time is about as common as referring to Europe and Asia
Re: (Score:3)
Of course I'm mocking that term. It doesn't exist in English, and pissing over the proper term in English is foolish.
The Germans don't call themselves German, in German. It's Deutschlander. That doesn't mean that I get to call the Germans stupid for calling themselves something other than German.
Fun Fact. New Guinea is part of Australia. The continent, not the nation. Australia is also a nation, and its citizens are Australian. There's no confusion there, is there? No? There's no confusion when ref
Re:there are signs (Score:5, Funny)
There's an old conversation about the word "Yankee". If you're in Mexico, anybody north of the border is a Yankee. If you're over the border, its someone from above the Mason-Dixon line. If you're above the Mason-Dixon line a Yankee is someone from New England. If you live in New England, you know a Yankee is some one from Maine. You go to Maine looking for a Yankee and they'll tell you its an old hard tack farmer out in the country. Finally, if you go up to Maine, find yourself an old hard-tack farmer, and ask him where you can find a Yankee? He'll tell you "Well, yuh take thet ruhd theh, noth 'bout 12 miles, till yuh come tuh the fok, n'beh right, go 'nother 8 miles till yuh get t'the end. When the ol gent with the shotgun comes out t'meetchuh, why thet's a Yankee. Eyuh."
Re:there are signs (Score:5, Insightful)
Funny story: when I was a sixth-grader, I made it all the way to the Maine state spelling bee, which was hosted at UMaine Orono. I was living in Castine at the time, so it was a big deal to go to the "big city" (Bangor... oh the irony). The winner got a college scholarship. Anyway, they made us draw straws to determine the order of the spelling bee lineup. I got #1.
So, we're standing there on stage, before the curtain opens and they decide to throw us a practice round. I get the word 'banana'. Piece of cake. B-A-N-A-N-A. After the practice round, they whisk open the curtains, say some things to the crowd, and then we're off. Again, I get the first word. The judge says "The word... is 'biggert'."
"'Biggert'?" I ask.
"Yes," say the judges.
OK, I've never heard this one before, but... here we go...
B-I-G-G-E-R-T
"Wrong. The correct spelling of 'biggert' is B-I-G-O-T."
I was crushed, and humiliated, because I was out on the first word in the first round. My mistake was twofold:
1. I should have asked for the word in a sentence, and
2. The Law of Conservation of R's means that New Englanders take the R's out of some words, but they always end up putting them back in somewhere. For example, "Law and Order" is pronounced "Lohr and Ohdah".
Re: (Score:3)
Hehe, EXACT thing happened to me in the 1985 San Diego County spelling bee. I got up there and (I have rather good hearing - though poor eyesight) the guy said clear as day "suet" and I thought to myself - "no way, that's a baby word" so I asked him to repeat it and he said it exactly the same way so I simply spelled "SUET, S-U-E-T, SUET" and he said "That is incorrect" and then spelled the word SUINT and then the son of a bitch (lol) even pronounced it properly by saying "Soo-int" insted of "Soo-it." A f
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None of the Colombians (or Mexicans for that matter) I asked said "gringo" would refer to a Canadian - that's reserved strictly for Yanquis from my experience.
I'm going to take a wild stab and guess that Yanquis are New Yorkers who move to Quebec?
Re:there are signs (Score:5, Funny)
how often do you really use, say, "Eurasian"?
Maine biggerts use it a lot when they see the mail ohdah brides they wah shipped.
Re:there are signs (Score:5, Insightful)
there are signs on every McDonald's across europe (no pictures/no dogs/no smoking)
Yes, restaurants usually hate dogs on premises, but even in France, a restaurant can be fined from 150 to 450 Euros for refusing service to a disabled person because of their service dog [chiensguides.fr] (at least, that was the fine in 2003, that fine may have gone up since then). And in the end, it really doesn't matter what the sign supposedly says. A sign at the door can never supersede what the law of the country you're in dictates.
And it doesn't matter if the person at the food counter doesn't believe in someone's disability. Usually, a Medical Doctor is asked to make that call, not some fast food minimum wage worker. This point is important because many people can be considered legally blind even if they're only half blind, or have a form of blindness that doesn't make them appear blind to the casual observer.
The same goes if you don't believe someone's medical documentation. It's not your call to tear it up, even if you believe it's BS. If you have any doubts, just call the police and ask them to investigate it. Do not take the law into your own hands. A McDonald's T-shirt doesn't imbue you with special authority to just tear up other people's medical documentation.
Re:there are signs (Score:5, Funny)
A McDonald's T-shirt doesn't imbue you with special authority to just tear up other people's medical documentation.
But.. But.. what about Mayor McCheese and Officer Big Mac?
Re:there are signs (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't know the specifics about why this guy has a camera attached to his head, but it's a part of his day to day life and has medical documentation confirming that the device is attached to his head. I don't know what else the documentation says, but this is enough. Now, if the store in question didn't like it they should have asked him to leave, not tried to physical remove said item. Personally, I'd call the damage an assault and would press criminal charges.
Now, granted he may have wanted this device implanted for nothing more than his own amusement, no reason for physical assault by employees. Let's change the specs a bit based on a report I saw posted the other day on slashdot. What if the person assaulted was blind and the camera was used to generate a visual image that was sent directly to the optic nerve? What would it look like? Who's to say it wouldn't look just like this? So a blind guy goes into McDonald's using his augmented visual device where the employees destroy his device and throw him out of the resteraunt. No being this guy is from a foreign country and doesn't have a cell phone hooked into the local grid he's blind and on the side of the road asking for someone to locate some help for him. Next, since his glasses are now broken and are expensive 60K I believe to replace he no will spend months without vision while he files insurance paperwork to have the glasses replaced.
So your opinion is/would be, well he shouldn't have gone on private property knowing that someone might attack him? Maybe he shouldn't leave his house? Obviously this guy traveling to a foreign country is just a big loser, he should have stayed at home in order to protect himself. Yep, if that rape victim wasn't at the bar she wouldn't have been raped, it's all her fault.
Thanks for playing.
Re:there are signs (Score:4, Interesting)
Like I said, I don't know the specifics, but as far as glasses go, you take my glasses you are coming in contact with me. Even if I don't start spouting blood out of numerous wounds, it's assault, perhaps even theft. Since the glasses he was/is wearing are probably worth over a grand, I believe that is also a felony.
Seriously, I've worn glasses since I was 9 years old and I can't remember one incident where it's ever been acceptable for someone to take the glasses off my face without my authorization. Perhaps they just didn't do it when I was overseas because I was in the military and they didn't want me shooting a cruise missile at them? Or perhaps, it's not acceptable anywhere to grab someone's glasses from off there face, except of course in McDonald's at a certain location in Paris.
As posted in another message here, this isn't the first incident at this particular McDonald's either.
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They do not have the right to physically assault him(forcibly trying to take off his glasses) or to damage his personal property(tearing off documentation). If you have problems grasping that, it seems to me that you are the jerk here.
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Or perhaps he just wrote that comment because he was trolling since his original message wasn't moded down as far as I can tell. He appears to be just trying to stir up controversy.
Re:there are signs (Score:5, Insightful)
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T
Re:I stand behind McDonalds (Score:4, Interesting)
But it's cool for McDonald's (and most retailers) to record you, with their own security cameras?
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You're not as fucking interesting as you tell yourself.
Re:I stand behind McDonalds (Score:5, Interesting)
If you REALLY want to have some fun, try calling any major corporation (Comcast, Sprint, Microsoft, Marriott, whomever) and announcing to the CSR that you're recording the call for training and quality purposes. Assuming they don't hang up on you INSTANTLY, the conversation isn't going to progress beyond "I'm sorry, we can't continue until you stop recording."
Pointing out to them that THEY'RE doing the exact same thing to YOU will get you nowhere. Telling them that you'll discontinue recording when THEY do will get you hung up on. Telling them you'll quit recording when they tell you how to obtain your own copy of their recording later will get you hung up on. Simply put, no corporation will EVER voluntarily or knowingly allow you, a peon, to record your conversation with them, even though they feel perfectly entitled to record their conversation with YOU, and use it against you if it suits them.
There should seriously be a law granting consumers the automatic reciprocal right to silently record any conversation where the other party announces that the call is being recorded & makes it clear that you do NOT have the option of continuing the call unless you agree to let them do it.
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In some states you can go ahead and record all of the calls that you want and you do not have to tell anyone.
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In some states you can go ahead and record all of the calls that you want and you do not have to tell anyone.
That's what I heard, too -- that in those places, there has to be the consent of at least one party for the call to be recorded.
So you can't just wiretap random strangers speaking to each other... but if you're calling a company, and you (as one of the participants to the call) give consent to recording the call, then record away!
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The most common wording I've heard is "[Calls] may be recorded [for quality and training purposes]". Which then unintentionally gives you consent to record them.
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Tell them you're recording the call at the same point their pre-recorded voice tells you "calls may be recorded...". Just say it back to the recorded voice.
Re:I stand behind McDonalds (Score:4, Interesting)
It sucks, but that's just the world today. In a related way. notice how employment contracts mention that you're liable for any damage you cause to company property, but they're not liable if they damage your property? Or how they expect you to consistently work unpaid overtime; expect you to be available on call when you're at home/on leave; and generally expect it to be no big deal to impose on your own time outside work. But if you have to spend some work time to deal with even an minor personal issue then suddenly there's a huge stink made about the impact it's having on business continuity; costing the company time etc. I'm talking about small things like phoning the doctor to make an appointment (using your own mobile!), personal conversations with other staff (they want team bonding, but you can only talk about things immediately relating to work?), being ten minutes late become of unexpected roadworks, etc.
It seems we're just here to be used by companies (either as customers or employers), we exist only to make other people wealthy.
Re:I stand behind McDonalds (Score:4, Interesting)
And their normal (at least in the UK) notification to you that "calls may be recorded..." is giving you permission to record. If they did not want you to record then they should announce "WE may record calls..."
Recording customer service calls (Score:3)
My experience in Germany is that the announcement is along the lines of "We listen in to or record selected calls for quality control and training purposes. If you do not wish this, please say so at the beginning."
Now, this could be because German companies care more about your privacy (or about the PR effects), so they make this explicitly opt-out. Or it could be legislation.
Perhaps you could try influencing legislation where you live to demand an opt-out approach to call recording?
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Buy a ski mask or walk at night.
Re:Do they really show st ripping up his doc note? (Score:5, Insightful)
yeah, it's obviously one of the thousands of pieces of paper that McD employees routinely tear up during any normal shift.
Re:Here is a better question .... (Score:5, Informative)
He hasn't released detailed video because he wants to give McDonalds the chance to respond first. He's only posted some images with the faces edited out and basically made the threat to release the rest.
And I hope he does release the rest now.
Re:McD in Paris? (Score:5, Funny)
I would eat there. But only so I could order a 'royale with cheese'
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What do you do?
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Weigh all the evidence before leaping to judgment. This is the last "restaurant" I would consider for any meal in Paris. Perhaps he had tastebud implants, too?
IF you are an American, perhaps Canadian tourist, McDs has a subconscious connotation in one's mind at being:
1. Fast
2. Relatively cheap
3. Somewhat filling
Which is why they place them in tourist areas. Mentally, the decision is McDs (Fast, Cheap, Filling) vs "French Food" (Good, Slow, Expensive).
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The responses from all the asshole ugly Americans here doesn't surprise me one bit. This country (USA) isn't civilized anyway, it's more like what you'd get if Zimbabwe won the lottery.
What surprises me is that this happened in France. I guess France isn't as civilized as I thought.
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Dude did piss his pants apparently.
http://blog.laptopmag.com/exclusive-cyborg-steve-mann-on-alleged-mcdonalds-assault [laptopmag.com]