The default setting for teenagers is “obnoxious,” and anyone who’s ever worked in fast food knows just how insufferable some adolescents can be when released into the wild without adult supervision. But are pre-adults so unmanageable that they have to be banned from entering a McDonald’s? [More]
pennsylvania
Walmart Would Really Rather Not Pay That $151M That Court Says It Owes Employees
By 3.26.15
For more than a decade, Walmart has been fighting to avoid paying $151 million in damages to more than 187,000 current and former employees in Pennsylvania for regularly compelling them to work without proper compensation. And even though the state’s highest court recently affirmed that penalty, the retailer isn’t ready to hand over that money just yet. [More]
Waitress Caught Editing Customers’ Tips To Add $10 Or $20 For Herself
By 2.13.15
One good reason to pay your restaurant bill in cash: Tipped employees get that money right away without having to worry about being docked fees for card-processing. Another good reason: A scammy server can’t artificially inflate your credit card tip with some crafty work of the pen. [More]
Court Affirms $151M Ruling Against Walmart For Making Employees Work Off The Clock
By 12.16.14
When employees claim that their employer systematically forces them to work through breaks or other times during which they aren’t getting paid, how far do they have to go to prove that this is not a fluke particular to just a few stores? This is the question at the core of Walmart’s most recent appeal of a 12-year-old lawsuit that could cost the company nearly $200 million. [More]
Pennsylvania Sues Think Finance, Alleging Illegal Payday Loan Scheme
By 11.14.14
Pennsylvania is one of several states with laws prohibiting payday lending, but the often predatory products still find their way to consumers via online marketplaces and companies’ claiming affiliation with American Indian tribes. In an effort to crack down on such nefarious lenders, the state’s attorney general filed a consumer protection lawsuit against a Texas-based company for allegedly engineering a payday loan scheme over the internet. [More]
Teen Counterfeiter Blames Crime On “Too Much Freedom” From Mom
By 9.5.14
Reason #6,721 I have no interest in ever being a parent: My child would someday try to pin the blame for his or her misdeeds on my parenting, just like the teenage counterfeiter in Pennsylvania who says the reason he created bogus $100 bills was because his mom was too easy on him. [More]
Scammers Call Restaurants At Peak Hours, Demanding They Pay Power Bill Now Or Lose Service
By 8.12.14
A good con artist knows that distraction and an added sense of urgency can help to separate a mark from his money. If you want to hustle a cashier into believing that he gave you the wrong change, it helps to have a line of impatient customers behind you. And if you want a restaurant to pay an electric bill they don’t actually owe, there’s no better time to threaten them with losing service than the lunch rush. [More]
PA Court Says I Don’t Need To Tell Buyers That My House Was A Satanic Murder Pit
By 7.25.14
Should a home seller be obliged to reveal that the lovely 4-bedroom with a 2-car garage on half acre just also happened to be the place where previous tenants were brutally murdered? Not if that house is here in Pennsylvania. [More]
900 Stolen Cellphones = $270K Profit + 27 Months Behind Bars For Verizon Employee
By 6.26.14
I’ll admit that when I worked at Dairy Queen in high school, I might have helped myself to the occasional Blizzard or Hot Fudge Brownie Delight, but I wasn’t stockpiling these soft-serve desserts and selling them for a profit. Alas, I lacked the entrepreneurial spirit of the Verizon Wireless employee who saw the potential for big bucks in pilfered hardware. [More]
OSHA Issues Citations Following Worker Death At Amazon Warehouse
By 6.13.14
Following the December 2013 death of a temporary worker at an Amazon fulfillment center in New Jersey, the federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration has issued citations to five companies involved in staffing the warehouse, while also revealing that it is investigating another death at an Amazon facility in Pennsylvania. [More]
Get Through Your Friday With The Help Of This Laughably Bad Anti-Liquor-Privatization Ad
By 5.2.14
Here in Pennsylvania, there’s a heated debate going on about whether or not to ease the state’s byzantine laws on the sale of alcohol. Both sides of the issue have merit, but a new ad arguing against changing the law isn’t doing itself any favors. [More]
Supreme Court Won’t Hear “I Heart Boobies” Bracelet Case
By 3.10.14
Back in 2011, we told you about a U.S. District Court ruling that determined the wearing of “I Heart Boobies” breast cancer awareness bracelets by middle school students was protected under the First Amendment. An appeals panel later sided with the lower court, but the school district recently attempted to take its case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Today, the Supremes shot down that petition. [More]
If You’re Wanted By The Police, Don’t Call 911 To Complain About Burger King Order
By 2.24.14
You know all those crime shows where nogoodniks refuse to go to the hospital when hurt or contact the police when robbed because they are dodging arrest warrants? Those people are brilliant compared to the woman in Pennsylvania who called 911 about her bad Burger King experience without thinking about how she is wanted in another state. [More]
Credit Union Sues Target Over Credit Card Hack
By 2.3.14
A credit union in Pennsylvania has filed a lawsuit, one that could potentially include 100 other credit unions as plaintiffs, against Target in an attempt to recoup is losses in the wake of the retailer’s recent massive data breach. [More]
Yes, Burger King Is Now Testing A Chicken & Waffles Sandwich
By 1.30.14
We’ve officially reached waffle sandwich overload. First Taco Bell starts testing the Waffle Taco, then it decides to start adding other meats and fruits between the waffles, then Jack In the Box slaps a couple of waffles on a breakfast sandwich. Perhaps not content to miss out on the next pretzel bun-type fad, Burger King is testing a chicken and waffle sandwich of its own. [More]
Comcast Wants To Bundle In Electrical Service With Cable & Internet
By 1.23.14
Consumers may be thinking about ditching cable TV service in favor of online entertainment offerings, and many have already replaced home phone service with a wireless device, but one cord most of us can’t realistically cut is the power line. That’s why Comcast is looking into taking over customers’ electric bills. [More]
Pennsylvania Voters Can Skip The DMV, Voter ID Law Struck Down
By 1.17.14
Just thinking about going to the Department of Motor Vehicles induces anxiety and a stomach churn so bad I can’t move. Pennsylvania residents with the same hatred of the never-ending lines and long wait will be happy to know a judge struck down a portion of the state’s voter ID law that requires voters to have a photo identification card in order to cast a ballot. [More]
Phone Scammers Tell Woman They Have Her Dad Hostage (Spoiler: They’re Lying)
By 12.5.13
Phone-based scammers have traditionally employed techniques that either prey upon a victim’s greed — “You’ve won a new car! Just pay the taxes to us now and it’ll be yours” — or protective instincts — “Your grandson is in a hospital in Belarus and needs money ASAP to get treatment” — but these criminals are increasingly using fear to wring cash out of unsuspecting folks. [More]
