Burger King ejected 25 low-income residents who were waiting for the Red Cross to arrive after their Minneapolis apartment caught fire and burned to the ground. An assistant manager explained that the fire had slowed foot traffic to “virtually nothing,” and that the crowd had to either wait somewhere else or deal with the police.
They were dealt yet another blow when the Assistant Manager received a call from the Manager of Burger King, telling staff to close the restaurant due to the traffic slowed to virtually nothing. Street traffic had been blocked off for a 1-block radius. When the Assistant Manager informed the Manager that the Red Cross was processing the residents that had been evacuated, according to my source, the manager told her to ask everyone to leave and if they didn’t comply, to call the police. The Red Cross worker ended up talking to the manager, and a rescue bus was called to the scene.
Why not dress up the assistant manager as the king and send him over to the displaced folk to apologize with a few free whoppers? They’re waiting at the Days Inn over on University Avenue.
Fire, Ice And Tears [MPLS Mirror]
(AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)
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@humphrmi: I wouldn’t expect someone who has to get teenagers to work to make creative decisions. Do that job for a month and see how creative you are, lol.
@goller321: Wow, talk about a nasty comment. Grow up.
@Maulleigh: Here’s the thing: Burger King is a business. They are not beholden to poor tax payers. If they’d all shown up at a doctor’s office, would we be any less/more sympathetic? How about an vet office? A day-care center?
If the business owner can look outside and see 1) residences are on fire, and 2) there are several feet of snow on the ground – fucking right I’d expect any place that accepts public foot traffic to let them wait for the Red fucking Cross.
As for whether I’d let them into my own home, maybe. If I didn’t I’d probably still make some coffee and take it out to them, blankets if I had them. (I’m paranoid about anyone coming into my home.)
Capitalism should not be an acceptable excuse for being a rude asshole – the fact that it is regularly accepted as such is indication of a warped, pathetic mess of a society.
Another reason why I don’t go to Burger King. That, and it is by far the DIRTIEST fast food restaurant i’ve ever been to. (multiple locations) I’m not expecting a 5 star restaurant, but when I see unwashed tables, fries on the floor, trash overflowing, and not to mention the rude employees, (having personal conversations when I’m trying to get my food…I haven’t eaten in one in several years.
@smarty:
Burger King operations are not ALL franchised locations. A good portion of the stores are corporate owned.
@socalrob: I may actually be able to top your story. I went into labor with twins in 1984. At the time I had no extra money, so I had no phone. Not to be too gross but let’s just say my water broke, I woke my 2 year old son up from his nap, and tried knocking on doors to use a phone, since it was during the day, nobody was home. We went down to the rental office and I asked if I could use their phone because my water broke and I needed to call my doctor, they told me the phone was only for business and I had to leave. One of the workers kind of felt bad and gave me a quarter to use the pay phone across the street. So I had to walk across the street with a 2 year old, waddling while trying to keep a towel between my legs. That was my rude awakening that sometimes businesses are just jerks.
@TheUncleBob: or by anybody that could spell correctly
@edrebber: no, but then my home isn’t a business where strangers walk in all the time
@camille_javal: definitely agree. when I lived in HUD housing almost 25 years ago, there was a knock at my door at almost midnight. It was a lady that I barely knew, with 2 of her kids, she asked me to watch them because her current boyfriend was holding a knife to her babys throat while the police were negotiating with him. I willingly took her children in for over 2 hours, even though mine were asleep, and I wanted to be asleep, because it was a fellow human being that needed help.And I would absolutely do it again (but very happy I’m no longer in HUD housing, so chances are less it will happen again)
@ColdNorth: Minnesota Nice is still alive and kicking. Just look at that warm smile from the King. I’m sure the BK assistant mgr had it on as he turned people away.
I have a feeling the people that were involved were pretty unfavorable.
To everyone saying that this would have been a great PR opportunity… This is a BK in a low income neighborhood. Most people don’t visit chain fast food places because they heard about some great thing they did for the community. On top of that, people in low income neighborhoods are even less likely to change their spending habits because of that.
Now, I don’t think they were right to kick everyone out. When the manager heard what was going on, he could have come down to the store himself and sent all but one or two employees home. When Red Cross arrived to pick everyone up or whatever, then he could have finished closing the place up. Yes, it might have been an extra $15-30 in wages, but that’s not that big of a loss.
@edrebber: “If a group of strangers knocked on your door and wanted come in for an indefinite period of time because their apartment was on fire, would you let them in?”
If a building across the street were on fire, and there were fire engines and whatnot on the street, and the strangers said, “Hey, we’re from the apartment building that’s on fire and they evacuated us and we need to get out of this freezing weather”…
Why, yes, I *would* let them in. I’d invite them to sit down, let them use the bathroom, offer them food and drink, put on coffee, and let them use my telephone. If they were sooty from the fire I’d let them wash up or take a shower, and if their clothes were dirty or wet I’d let them use my washer and dryer.
But then, I’ve been the recipient of similar kindnesses in the past, and I’m not easily frightened.
@M3wThr33: So you have a feeling “the people were pretty unfavorable.” And you know this how? And what other criteria do you have to judge, other than they were “low-income?”
“Burger King opts not to lend a hand, requests that Red Cross process people elsewhere.”
It sucks that the manager’s a prick, but charity has never been mandatory.
What do you mean charity not mandatory?
Allowing people to be present in your restaurant is not charity.
Kicking out 20+ customers or potential customers (neighbors) so you can close early, when you _know_ it will be a serious problem, is still disgraceful and totally unprofessional.
What do you think those 25 people are going to tell their friends about Burger King?
How many readers of this site are going to avoid Burger King and express a negative opinion about Burger King, once they learn about what happened in Minnesota?
I think lots.
If BK has any intelligence left, they will treat this as a PR disaster, make a very public apology, and tell us that the Manager of that particular restaurant has been fired.
Honestly, to me it sounds like the manager was worried because his lobby was full of police officers and victims. While he sounds rather jaded and rude in the article, it would probably be safe to assume he was looking out for the business as a whole, as they could not take in any money from new customers, since, as the article said, all the foot traffic in the store had been stopped.
Unless I’m reading something wrong here, it sounds like they were just worried about losing money. You have to realize how close to profit/ no profit a lot of these fast food places run.
Maybe they were causing a scene or a problem with other customers. Two sides to every story.
@KogeLiz: Yah, Minneapolis is pretty much a tundra this time of year, isn’t it? (Or so I glean from the Mary Tyler Moore Show.)
@nardo218: Learn to read, instead of making assumptions that suit your own purposes:
“Assistant Manager received a call from the Manager of Burger King, telling staff to close the restaurant due to the traffic slowed to virtually nothing. Street traffic had been blocked off for a 1-block radius.”
@mysidia: It is charity. It costs money to pay the employees that stay. Energy costs money. Since there were few if any paying customers, it would have cost BK money to stay open. BK had the option to temporarily lend its establishment, and apparently chose not to.
And at no point were the people without assistance despite what Carey’s summary and the headline says. The Red Cross was already there: “The Red Cross worker ended up talking to the manager, and a rescue bus was called to the scene.”
This sort of reminds me of the Texas Roadhouse manager who tried to bill the cops for lost business after two police officers were shot and killed in the line of duty in the vicinity of his store.
I will never eat there again as long as I live because of that.
The full story: [www.snopes.com]
@edrebber: err… YES!
The only way to contact burger king corporate is to mail something to their offices. It says on their website, “Email contributions will not be accepted.” WTF is that about? Who in this day and age doesn’t accept emails???
On one hand what BK did was heartless, but I understand what they did.
I suggest that during the winter all stores open themselves to the cold masses. Put some cots out for the homeless, give them free food and coffee. Sure, they aren’t buying anything and quite possibly detracting from profits, but hey at least you aren’t heartless.
Kicking people out in the cold is not an uncommon theme in Minneapolis/Saint Paul. Many stores on the bus line have big signs on the front door stating “No Bus Waiting” and require you to make a purchase in order to enjoy the few minutes of heat in their store.
Burger King (or any fast food joint in this town for that matter) have such horrible staff and quality that I wouldn’t set foot in one if I was paid to anyway. It sucks that these people were forced to as they had no other choice due to having their homes burned. I bet many of them were not happy about being in that place also.
This is so ridiculous. I was there at the bk that day before they got kicked out and I saw what was going on. There was an arson across the street that burned down a building across the street supposedly because the “urban clothing store” there was getting busted as a drug front but that is a little bit hearsay. The entire block was closed and blocked with firetrucks, cop cars and ambulances. No on would have gone into the BK across the street from the fire that day, there were f’ing police lines marking the crime scene. I got some food and from what I saw the employees at the BK were being very accommodating (giving free food, letting them stay and meet with emergency services) to the displaced families who had no where else public to go nearby on the tragic -10 degree winter day. I do have to admit that it was a little awkward being in the middle of the crisis center, but I ate my food and felt really good that the BK would help the community that no doubt ate there all the time because they lived across the street.
Why are managers always the dumbest shits on the planet? The BK could have appeared the hero of the situation, but instead they look like assholes. I Agree, the manager should be fired. Their ignorant decision put the icing on the cake for the families whose lives had just been shaken.
sadly charity is mandatory, my tax dollars go to third world countries all the time@Michael Belisle:
@othium:
LOL, a little off-topic, but Chicago’s infamous Mayor Daley figured out how to deal with these types in Chicago’s loop. He threatened to put up an advertisement-funded bus shelter in front of the store, and have the city buy a big ad on the shelter that said “Store XXX behind you wants you to stand in the cold. Mayor Daley invites you to stay warm here.”
After he spelled out in detail what he was going to do, the big stores like Macy’s and Carson’s backed down.
What. The. Hell.
Burger King ought be ashamed, and i certainly hope said Assistant Manager is without job by now. There’s dumb, and then there’s the action equivalent of taking a dump on the dispossessed. This is magically both.
It a business for paying customers, not a waiting room for refugees from the projects.
@ColdNorth: Indeed!
its best not to agrue with the king because he will kick your ass!!
I seriously doubt that the police woutl do a damn thing if the red cross were processing these people. Damn that manager is going to get some bad karma knocking at his door. The new should do a story on how heartless he is. then his BK biz will be clobbered.
@WV.Hillbilly: Hey Hillbilly, when a natural disaster hits your area dont go to the schools because a school is there for kids to learn not a refugee camp
/sarcasm off
p.s. You are a Hearless Jerk.
@shadow735:
My taxes pay for schools. They’re not a private business.
Only an asshole calls someone a jerk.
@ColdNorth:
Applebees manager in Plymouth recently found out about an apartment fire in the neighborhood of his restaurant. He called corporate and got permission to help out. A couple hours later he rolled up to the fire scene with about 100 meals and drinks for the displaced residents. The Plymouth police just gave him a community service award for that, in fact. Minnesota Nice does still exist – you just have to look a little harder than you used to.
@WV.Hillbilly: Hey Hillbilly sorry if I made you all defensive, but if you can be so cold hearted to people that just lost their homes and all they own then you have just proven who the asshole truly is.
I guess that comprehension of the word compassion is completely beyond your understanding. I hope that when you go to bed you feel all warm and toasty about yourself and your wonderful attitude toward those in need.
Not cold hearted, just business.
For paying customers.
@Ravenwaift:
I’d tell the employees to shut off the grill to save gas. Then you’d have some real flame broiled whoppers.