The Chris Moeller Archives

The McNugget defense

By now, many of you have heard the harrowing saga of the Florida woman, Latreasa Goodman, who called the 911 emergency phone line this week when her local McDonalds "ran out of McNuggets." Perhaps I'm the only one, but I think that at least a case can be made that Goodman's action was justified. Yes, you read that right.

First of all, most of the headlines pertaining to this story are incomplete or misleading. To be more accurate, she didn't call 911 because they ran out of McNuggets, she called because she ordered McNuggets, they took her money, and then refused to refund it when they discovered they had run out, instead trying to offer her another item of equal or greater monetary value.

But Goodman didn't want another item, she wanted McNuggets. Those were the terms of the agreement. Consider the fact that every financial transaction is considered one of equality. The seller determines that a specific product will be surrendered at a given, often listed, price, and the buyer then agrees to exchange the matching amount of legal tender when purchasing. Now what if this dispute had been in the reverse-- the McDonalds employee surrendered the McNuggets, but the woman refused to pay, walking out the door with her meal in hand. The woman has then violated the spirit of the transaction. She's committed theft, and I'm certain all would agree that the restaurant would be justified in reporting to the police that a crime has taken place. How then is the restaurant's violation of the transaction agreement any different? In this spirit, businesses can be just as guilty of theft as individuals.

Now, as to the dialing of 911, the situation in question doesn't strike most people as an example of a true "emergency," but what phone number should she have called then? She's being robbed. Granted, the robber in question is not in a position to run away, but what's the non-emergency police phone number? I don't know that number for where I live. Do you know it? Do you keep it listed in your car? I have long treated 911, not as the emergency number, but more accurately, as the number for the police. It takes the police long enough to show up if it's an emergency. I'm guessing that if this woman calls any other number, one that few of us even know, she has basically committed to spending the rest of the day at McDonalds.

The defense rests.

posted by CM @ 12:09 AM