I have lived in Cobb County for most of my life. It is a nice place to live.
However, with growth, came the complications of urban life.
Traffic, crime, crowded schools, and Burger King getting your order wrong. Those are all examples of the challenging environment we now experience in Cobb County.
I know I sound old, but in the good old days, you could go to Burger King and have it your way.
Hold the pickles.
Hold the lettuce.
Special orders don't upset us.
Back then, Burger King loved you and your crazy preferences when it came to hamburgers, which were always flame broiled.
If you wanted hamburgers the way THE MAN wanted them, you went to McDonald's. And the ice cream machine wasn't working back then, either.
It is not that way anymore. Today, a man can't even trust that Burger King will get his order right.
The Marietta Daily Journal reports that in March 2023, Cobb County Sheriff deputies raced down Veterans Memorial Parkway in Mableton (which could have been a city then; I don't know; I can't keep up with every place in this county) with "sirens blaring."
The reason: Burger King did not get Craig Owens's order right. Mr. Owens said, "I wanted to order her (Mrs. Owens) a Whopper, with no mayo, cut in half."
It has been my experience that most of my orders are not close to what I ordered, but they are close enough for jazz. I like a Whopper without lettuce and tomato. But if I get a Whopper with lettuce and tomato, I remove it and eat the burger. But then again, I'm a loser.
I don't know what they got from Burger King. It probably had mayo and wasn't cut in half. He probably should have ordered it with mayo and ordered it not to be cut. Then, they would have gotten a Whopper with no mayo cut in half.
There is an important fact I haven't mentioned: Craig Owens is the Sheriff of Cobb County.
I grew up watching "Adam-12," which always started with, "One Adam-12, One Adam 12. See the man with the wrong order."
The Marietta Daily Journal reports the deputies originally went to the wrong Burger King. I hope they did it with sirens blaring because that would be so Cobb County.
When the deputies found the right Burger King, Sheriff Owens was there. He told the deputies, "the order he placed for his wife was not what he received. Owens said he informed the assistant manager of the burger blunder, who claimed to have corrected the mistake."
But, according to the Sheriff, it wasn't corrected. He said the assistant manager was a “straight up a- -”* and didn't make things right.
The Sheriff said, "All I need is the owner name, or whoever owns this d- - - facility, or the manager. I want a name so I can call and complain. That’s all I need. I don’t need no d- - - money back no more, I just need to find out who own this place so I can do an official complaint to complain about the service. And maybe some onion rings."**
In case you haven't noticed, this is an election season, and the Sheriff is running for reelection. His opponent found body-cam footage of this incident and posted it on social media. It has hit the news media because, let's face it, I never saw Kojak bust somebody for too much mustard on his hamburger.
Sheriff Owens says, "The type of call referenced in the video is a business dispute call. This is a call that ANY citizen can make, and law enforcement will respond. At no point did I indicate my position, nor did I ask the responders to do anything that they would not, had not, or have not done for anyone else who makes a business dispute call. I regret that this call, which is made regularly by citizens, is being politicized in an attempt to win vote.”
What is our lesson from this event?
One, when the Sheriff wants it his way, he wants it his way.
Two, any citizen can make a business dispute call. I didn't know I could do that, particularly with a hamburger.
Third, using your employees who are supposed to be doing something like, oh I don't know, fighting crime, instead of trying to make sure Burger King does it your way is not something to regret. No, it is the politicization of it, because that's wrong.
Fourth, McDonald's had better get ready because if the ice cream machine isn't fixed, things are about to go down.
* This was taken directly from the Marietta Daily Journal's article about Whoppergate. This ain't Netflix.
** I just added the part about the onion rings.