Burger King workers smash windows after prank call in Minnesota

[Sunlei]

Source: Associated Press

COON RAPIDS, Minn. -- A prank caller tricked workers at a Minnesota Burger King into smashing the windows of the restaurant to keep it from exploding, police said Saturday, mirroring similar deceptions at Burger Kings and other fast-food restaurants in other states in recent months.

Police said employees at the restaurant in the Minneapolis suburb of Coon Rapids got the call Friday night from someone claiming to be with the fire department. The caller said the restaurant could explode, so they needed to relieve the pressure. The manager and other employees believed the caller and smashed all the windows on the ground floor.

"Officers arrived and found that the manager and employees of the Burger King were smashing out the windows," Sgt. Rick Boone told the Star Tribune. "The manager explained they'd received a phone call from a male who identified himself as a fireman who said there were dangerous levels of gas in the building and they had to break out all the windows to keep the building from blowing up."

Boone said there was no immediate cost estimate for the damage. The restaurant was boarded up Saturday, and investigators were trying to identify the caller.




Read more: http://www.torontosun.com/2016/04/09/burger-king-workers-smash-windows-after-prank-call-in-minnesota

---

Someone placed a similar call to a Burger King in Shawnee, Oklahoma, on Thursday night, claiming there were high levels of carbon monoxide in the building. KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City reported that the window damage there was estimated at $10,000

[Travis_0004]

1. time to find some new employees.

If gas levels are dangerous Im going to leave the building.

[jtuck004]

33. We spent millions and years schooling them to do what they are told, and then left them

with only jobs in which thinking for yourself can get you fired - because everything - everything - is timed and described.

How could they do anything else?


For some of them it might have been just dessert. Just deserts. Just an excuse...

[Travis_0004]

35. Im sure they will find something

Maybe taco bell needs a few more employees.

[jtuck004]

38. And a new drive through. n/t

[jtuck004]

73. They is us. Those are just some of the millions we put out there.

Based on Milgram's experiments, perhaps about 60% would repeat this same behavior.

[Travis_0004]

74. Then 60% will probably end up being fired for stupidity.

[jtuck004]

75. 60% of our workforce? They don't disappear- so they will be at a business

near us all, soon. Say handing out food, no problem there.

Add this to the ones who strip an employee in the back office because the "police" called and told them to - and those were the managers. The smart ones:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strip_search_phone_call_scam

What if they call and say a substance needs to be put on the food before it is handed to your family?

Firing them doesn't solve the problem we created.

We could teach people it's ok to think for yourselves, but then they might quit doing what they are told. That characteristic is prized more than almost anything, it appears.

[Blue_Tires]

95. +1000

[Zira]

34. +1

[brush]

49. Right. No one thought that a spark from breaking the windows could trigger . . .

an explosion?

Check that, no one thought at all.

[LisaL]

53. And they are breaking glass. The glass shreds would be flying.

They could have injured themselves or someone else. Common sense should have told them that fire department isn't going to tell people to break windows. If need be, fire department will do it themselves, not tell fast food employees do it.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

55. I would not have thought that. Does breaking glass cause sparks? nt

[brush]

58. The implement used could accidentally hit the metal window frame when breaking the glass

I mean we have to admit we're not talking about the sharpest knives in the drawer here.

[ManiacJoe]

97. Breaking glass does not cause sparks.

[brush]

98. You've tried it in a room full of gas with a metal object?

Last edited Mon Apr 11, 2016, 10:09 PM - Edit history (1)

[ManiacJoe]

99. Are you suggesting that you can get glass to spark with a metal hammer?

[brush]

100. Never been stupid enough to try it with a room full of gas.

Have you? If you do try it make sure you don't hit the metal window frames with whatever piece of metal you use.

Might be a good segment on the show "Myth Busters" if it were still on the air.

[ManiacJoe]

102. Now I see what you are getting at.

Yes, if you hit the metal frame, you may or may not get sparks.

Hitting the glass will not spark; glass does not do that.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

92. Did they smell rotten eggs? That would have raised a red flag for me!

[liberalmuse]

2. It's a bit disturbing...

to find that a large number of the human population behave as if they're no better than a mindless herd of what we would describe as "less intelligent species". We're supposed to be better than that, but most of us aren't. There are only a few humans who have managed to break free of the hive mind and do something spectacular. We all have the capability to do this, but we choose not to. Why???

[LiberalElite]

3. If there were dangerous levels of gas in the building they would smell it -

maybe it's time to remind them of that fact.

[passiveporcupine]

6. More important than that

They would have been ordered out of the building immediately, if it was a person from the fire department or any government agency.

Their lives would have been at risk. Or did they smash them from outside? Even then, if it blew, they could have been killed from flying shards of glass.

I don't know how people can be so stupid. Seriously, I am a coward at heart, and I'd still know better than to do something that stupid and that it had to be a hoax. I'd get everyone out of the building first, and then call 911. And then I'd feel embarrassed for even calling 911.

[LiberalElite]

8. Good points nt

[Igel]

19. Sorry.

First instinct is to say that having some basic knowledge and common sense (like knowing that information your five senses tell you) takes priority over passing responsibility to somebody else.

The first person responsible for me is me. The first person responsible for each BK employee who believed the prank caller instead of having any basic common sense is that person, not the wisdom of knowing that somebody is looking out for you.

Truly, we not only have sheep, we want them to be increasingly like sheep. The dumber, the better.

(If I were in the BK and some government employee called me to tell me that the place was filled with natural gas, I'd want to know (a) how he knew when he wasn't there, and (b) why there was no mercaptan odor. I'd expect most government employees, who just do what somebody else or some machine tells them to, to ask, "What's more captain?" At that point, I'd probably start humming "Komm, susser Tod" after losing the will to live in such a society.)

[passiveporcupine]

21. Sorry to hear you're so jaded

Yeah, we all get that way at times, but I hope this isn't how you feel all the time.

[uncle ray]

60. what does carbon monoxide smell like?

in some of the many successful pranks the caller stated that carbon monoxide was the dangerous gas in the building.

[LisaL]

61. If somebody calls you and tells you to break your windows (because of whatever gas) are you going to

do it? Fire departments aren't going to call anyone and tell them to break windows.

[uncle ray]

62. "I" would not. I also did not state that they should have.

I pointed out that not all dangerous gasses have an odor.

you made the same error as the workers: you did not assess the facts in front of you before acting.

[LisaL]

67. What facts didn't I asses before acting?

And what exactly do you mean by "acting?"

[Travis_0004]

93. It has no smell

Sometime you can smell the fuel burning, but generally there is no smell.

That said, there is very little explosion risk. The best thing to do is leave the building. If a prnk call said there is carbon monoxide, I would wonder how they knew and why the alarm is not going off.

I wouldnt even fault an employee for leaving the building and calling the fire department, but to start smashing windows is just stupid.

[brush]

101. If the building was full of carbon monoxide no one would . . .

be conscious to answer the phone.

But since the people, including the supervisors in this unfortunate incident, weren't the sharpest knives in the drawer, that little detail wouldn't have crossed their minds as they rushed to break the windows instead of just clearing out of the building.

[vkkv]

4. One prank call is not illegal. Neither is stupidity... eom

[Merlot]

7. Prank calls aren't illegal, but impersonating a govt official probably is

[vkkv]

14. If the telephone prankster isn't asking for money nor showing any false gov't ID (obviously)

I don't think any charge would hold up in court.

By "suggesting" that anyone break the windows due to a possible gas explosion is not technically a crime I'm quite sure.

No judge or jury is going to rule that way... I'd hope, anyway.

Is it a decent thing to do? No, but neither is inciting hate from the lies that right wing radio spews out.

[fullautohotdog]

16. Person claimed to be a firefighter...

That's a crime (if they are not a firefighter, that is. If they are, that's professional misconduct, also a crime). It will totally hold up in court.

[Marty McGraw]

41. Perhaps maybe

Associated to a Bomb Scare?

[Hassin Bin Sober]

83. You don't have to provide ID to break the law.

It's against the law to represent yourself in a way to convince other people.



2015 Minnesota Statutes


609.475 IMPERSONATING OFFICER.
Whoever falsely impersonates a police or military officer or public official with intent to mislead another into believing that the impersonator is actually such officer or official is guilty of a misdemeanor.
History: 1963 c 753 art 1 s 609.475; 1971 c 23 s 49; 1986 c 444
Copyright © 2015 by the Revisor of Statutes, State of Minnesota. All rights reserved.

[Renew Deal]

31. So is inciting a panic

[Yo_Mama]

40. This certainly is illegal. I believe it can be charged federally, due to use of the phones

But in Minnesota:
https://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/statutes/?id=609.713

Subd. 2.Communicates to terrorize.
609.713
Whoever communicates to another with purpose to terrorize another or in reckless disregard of the risk of causing such terror, that explosives or an explosive device or any incendiary device is present at a named place or location, whether or not the same is in fact present, may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than three years or to payment of a fine of not more than $3,000, or both.

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=609.475

609.475 IMPERSONATING OFFICER.

Whoever falsely impersonates a police or military officer or public official with intent to mislead another into believing that the impersonator is actually such officer or official is guilty of a misdemeanor.

It's an "intentional damage" (or attempt at intentional damage) 609.595 applies:
609.595 DAMAGE TO PROPERTY.

Subdivision 1.Criminal damage to property in the first degree.

Whoever intentionally causes damage to physical property of another without the latter's consent may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than five years or to payment of a fine of not more than $10,000, or both, ...

[LisaL]

48. While I believe they can certainly charge this prankster, they will have to find him first.

[Yo_Mama]

69. Yup. And the chances they will are probably not good. n/t

[Hassin Bin Sober]

85. We'll see.

It's a national AP story. Some enterprising detective might make a project out of it?

How hard is it to track phone records? I don't know but I suspect it's fairly easy.

[ohnoyoudidnt]

87. that depends on how the call was made.

There are ways to make calls online that make it extremely difficult to trace.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

88. Yes. Definitely.

But if it was just some kids fucking around, they might not have thought about the big news it would make.

Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if they were dumb enough to put it on YouTube.

[vkkv]

72. Okay.. "police or military officer or public official"... 'Public Official',, So if you dialed a

wrong tel # thinking that you called the county health department and you are told "Yes, you can put that septic tank right on you r property line next your neighbor's well a.s.a.p." Is that person who YOU CALLED by mistake committiing a crime by playing along and making a joke? Surely, one would have to be very stupid to move on those words - just like the Burger King employees.

And either way, it is still the kid at the Burger King's word against a guy that can deny that he EVER SAID that "I'm a fire-fighter" It is still 'hearsay', no hard proof.

No jury would convict the prankster. It is not inciting terror or making threats. 'Bomb scares' laws were written different for very different reasons.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

84. The law, especially fraud and impersonation statutes, protects stupid or gullible people too.

Not everybody can be as smart as you.

You have a point a flat out denial would make it "his word against the prankster"

Though there's a good chance the first words out of his mouth, if contacted by authorities, would be "it was just a prank." And then his goose is cooked.

[ronnykmarshall]

5. Can they please smash the creepy ass Burger King dude?

Hate that asshole.

[passiveporcupine]

9. Thanks

That made me laugh. Yep, he's a creepy dude alright.

[awoke_in_2003]

27. His creepiness...

is why I like him. I'm a bit odd, though.

[wildbilln864]

10. dumb asses! n/t

[Cassiopeia]

11. The stupid is strong with these people.

The employees? well they were likely instructed to do this and if my boss was stupid enough to tell me to smash the windows of my workplace, hell give me a hammer.

The manager? well, that will look good on a resume I'm sure.

[petronius]

43. Yeah, I am wondering how many employees (aside from the manager) were

actually fooled, and how many went along for the fun of it. Thinking back to my own high school entry-level food service employment, I have no difficulty believing that some of our corporate-drone managers would have taken the bait, and it's an equally small stretch to believe that some of my coworkers would have reveled in the opportunity to smash...

[Cassiopeia]

44. I would like to think

I would have been quick enough to roll with it back in those days....

[LisaL]

51. They could have injured themselves or customers, while breaking big glass windows.

So if they believed it was a prank, one would hope they wouldn't have done it.

[Cheese Sandwich]

12. This is why we have to give the NSA everybody's facebook password.

just kidding

[RoccoRyg]

13. This reminds me...

Of the guy who called fast food places saying he was a cop and a female employee stole money from a customer. He would then persuade the restaurant staff to molest the girl, using his "authority" to convince them that they had to do it or else they would be in trouble.

It's amazing what less-thoughtful people will do if someone with authority, or claimed authority, tells them they must. Remember the Milgram experiment?

[Jamielee1991]

42. I was thinking the same thing

To try and make a point that How much people can be brain washed by other people especially someone with authority

[tblue37]

64. The Milgram experiment showed that most people will obey a person they perceive

as an authority, no matter how outrageous the act they are instructed to perform.

[Reter]

15. Millennials born after 1990 aren't the sharpest tools in the drawer

So no surprise.

[surrealAmerican]

17. What makes you say that?

We don't know the ages of any of these people. Even if we did, there would be no reason to think they represented their whole generation.

[PersonNumber503602]

23. I suspect it was more of a throw-away jokey comment.

[PersonNumber503602]

22. hehehe.

I had similar thoughts, but I'm not sure if that just me getting "old".

I've also known more than few bright ones.

[Odin2005]

29. What a disgusting, offensive post.

[Travis_0004]

36. .

[Cassiopeia]

45. Yeah,

I've seen a lot of old people do and fall for stupid shit as well.

I'm not a millennial, but I've felt their pain when I was a member of newest generation. Everyone thinks the newest generation just can't do as well as they did......

[tblue37]

66. Yep. Phone scams deliberately target the elderly. nt

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

54. What about millennials born BEFORE 1990? nt

[Reter]

80. They're still smart

They at least grew up with some old technology. Newer stuff makes people lazy who have never used the old stuff. Many don't even know how to mail a letter.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

18. Sounds like Pranknet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pranknet

They have done this same thing before.

[L. Coyote]

20. New Policy: All new hires must have a grade school education.

Life in the USA is beyond stupid some days.

[PatrynXX]

24. Yeah which became instant fodder for those anti $15 an hour people

hello there's more than just fast food workers making $7 an hour smh

[Odin2005]

32. Implied in that crap is that "stupid" people don't "deserve" a decent standard of living.

Which I think is a horrifying attitude, sadly it is one all too common among educated Libertarian-minded techie types on places like Reddit.

[PatrynXX]

39. yep...

which is just childish bully namecalling. and whoever is stupid is really up to the person calling them stupid.

such as people still assume if you open all the windows in the house with a tornado bearing down that somehow the house will be saved from most of the damage.


(or my dad who thinks Wireless internet is way faster than Wired Internet glistening over numbers like 1300 mbps which is of course nonsense as the speed of the network is only going as fast as the ISP is allowing which for us is 100 mbps down and 50 up. think dad rebooted the router near 9 times tonight because Vudu didn't play on his wireless laptop. sigh. he can hook the wire up. just a waste . So whats stupid . break the windows out on a prank call or think the bigger the number the faster it is on the net. Hey that might be something on 220 volt vs 120 volt but not quite. Course then again if you plug a 120 volt device into a 220 volt system that might be rather silly. and I have ADD so it takes me awhile to say huh?

[jwirr]

25. While this may seem crazy I think that there has been a

history of gas line explosions in that area. So this was not easy to ignore. It had to be very scary for them.

[LisaL]

47. Common sense should have told them that fire department isn't going to be calling

people telling them to smash out windows.

[ButterflyBlood]

59. Not to mention if there's a real gas leak you LEAVE

Nt

[dchill]

26. Republican education goals have been reached!

[Codeine]

28. Goddamn people are fucking stupid.

I hate firing employees, but I'd have to in that circumstance.

[LisaL]

50. I wouldn't fire employees. Presumably they were told by the manager to break windows.

As for the manger, that's a different story.

[Codeine]

63. That's an absolutely fair point. nt

[Odin2005]

30. Not the sharpest people, I take it?

Sadly I'm already seeing this used by wing-nuts to make fun of the $15/hr movement, which is not only offensive because it implies that all low-pay service industry workers are as stupid as these people, but it also implies that only smart, educated people deserve a decent standard of life and that people with double-digit IQs are less worthy human beings, which is a disgusting, psychopathic mindset, something a follower of Ayn Rand would suggest.

[Turin_C3PO]

96. Yes!

I love this post. I'm sick of elitist crap on DU. To start off with, many minimum wage people I've known are just as clever as people with degrees, if not more so. Second of all is it doesn't matter what their IQ is, they're human beings deserving respect. My cousin has an IQ of 88 and he's one of the best people I know (a Bernie supporter also!). IQ is the only genetic trait that's it allowed to be bigoted against on this website.

[Ford_Prefect]

37. What was that line about fooling some of the people all of the time?

...And all of the people some of the time?

[Umbral18]

46. Good, I hate those Canadian bastards!

Slathering gravy all over their already soggy fries!

[LisaL]

52. Canadian? Burger Kind was in US.

[Umbral18]

94. Burger King moved it's head quarters to Canada as a tax inversion, they're unamerican scum. nt

[rgbecker]

56. I think I'd start by interviewing the local Glass company employees.

[Califonz]

86. Yep.

I've read about plate glass repair/installer companies driving around and randomly shooting business window fronts with a BB gun to drum up some business when things got slow.

[Sunlei]

57. They have been phone pranked before, remember when managers were told to take clothes off employee?

was several years ago, I forgot the details.... Every employee should be taught in an emergency contact 911 before you start taking directions from a voice on a phone.

[cannabis_flower]

65. And to realize it has happened more than once!

[LisaL]

68. In another case, a manager actually rammed his car into the building.

The mind boggles.

[csziggy]

70. Are restaurants required to have smoke, gas and carbon monoxide detectors?

If they were that would make it easy for an employee who go a call like this to know when to tell the caller to stuff it.

[csziggy]

71. This DU post nailed why the employees would do what the caller directed:

pinboy3niner (47,440 posts)
5. Compliance...

Compliance is a 2012 American thriller, based on true events, written and directed by Craig Zobel, and starring Ann Dowd, Dreama Walker, and Pat Healy. The plot focuses on a prank caller who pretends to be a police officer and convinces the manager of a fast-food restaurant that one of her employees committed a crime, and gets her to carry out intrusive and unlawful procedures on the employee. It is based on the strip search prank call scam that happened at a Mount Washington, Kentucky McDonald's restaurant in Bullit County. Dowd's performance as Sandra was very positively received and won her the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress.

A message displayed before the action starts refers to the Milgram experiment, and says that the story, inspired by real events, is so shocking it is hard to believe, but that nothing was exaggerated.

...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compliance_(film)

Strip search phone call scam
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strip_search_phone_call_scam

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1018&pid=856427

In addition: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment



It's not "millennials" or any other class of people that are cowed by authority figures the same as any group that is put in charge can abuse their power. It is the nature of humans.

The best way to keep these things from happening is to teach children to have critical thinking skills, to use those skills to logically assess situations, and that blind compliance is irrational. The problem is that police today tend to consider those steps as a challenge to their authority and that they need quash any non-compliant behavior.

[jayfish]

76. Thank you for posting this so I didn't have to.

This isn't the DU I signed up with. A place that attacks the working poor for following the orders of authority figures and management?
Nope...

[csziggy]

78. What I am afraid of is that children are being taught to comply

I grew up in the 1960s when the mantra among teens was to not trust authority. Now kids have to be lockstep to be successful in school - even or even more so in Christian schools, charter schools and home schooling.

Occupy and Black Lives matter are wedges that I hope will open people to less acceptance of mindless authoritarianism but the stakes keep getting higher and too many people are getting killed for not giving instant compliance.

As for how DU is reacting - it is part of the compliance to authority. Bystanders are expected to denigrate the victims for not having the perfect response, especially if they are the victims of scams. Plus I believe we have a good number of trolls at any time especially during campaign season.

[anigbrowl]

82. Hmm...

Any time I question things about the Occupy movement I get piled onto by people who are not prepared o tolerate any critique of it whatsoever. Frankly I think it's just as ideological as any existing power structure, and I think there's a good argument to be made that it was dysfunctional by design.

[JustinL]

91. exactly!

When I saw the OP, my first thought was "What kind of sociopath would pull a prank like this?" To my dismay, most of the other posters in this thread instead chose to express contempt for the victims of the prank, whom they apparently consider to be their social lessers.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

81. Critical Thinking Skills? No problem ...

... now, which standardized multiple-choice test measures those skills?

[WhiteTara]

77. Wow, that was some prank!

[tabasco]

79. I hope they catch the asshole prank callers.

Not funny.

[Aerows]

89. At Burger King?

There isn't going to be hordes of people standing in line.

I call it Ptomaine king.

I'm likely to die at a McDonald's, but at least it won't be of food poisoning.

[truthisfreedom]

90. In honor of Burger King I went to a local one here in Minnesota today.

I had myself a Whopper. Not too bad, either.