The question of whether drivers for Uber and other app-based ride-hailing services is an international one, since the service relies on the same independent contractors model around the world. In the United Kingdom, an employment tribunal ruled that drivers for Uber, specifically, should have “employee” status, which includes minimum wage and paid time off. [More]
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Amazon Testing “PrimeAir” Drone Delivery In UK
By 7.26.16
While Amazon hasn’t received the okay to begin using drones to make deliveries in the U.S., that isn’t stopping the e-commerce giant from trying the method in the UK. [More]
Christina Hendricks Nice ‘n Easy Ad Banned In UK For Being Misleading
By 10.7.15
As her run on Mad Men came to an end, famously redheaded actress Christina Hendricks started showing up in an ad for Procter & Gamble’s Nice ‘n Easy hair dye, where she transforms into a blonde. Now the commercial has been red-flagged in the UK after an ad watchdog declared it misleading. [More]
Workers Say UK Restaurant Chain Keeps Their Tips, Makes Them Lie To Customers About It
By 8.21.15
When you’re eating at a restaurant and they impose a “service charge,” where do you assume that money goes? While laws regarding the pay of tipped workers are different in the United Kingdom than here, they do have the custom of tipping. Except at the chain restaurant Côte, which reportedly imposes an optional service charge which isn’t distributed directly to waitstaff. [More]
IKEA Will Test Less-Enormous Store Formats In The United Kingdom
By 6.25.15
Last month, we shared the news that IKEA was testing some less-mega store formats in Canada, starting with one in the college city of London, Ontario that’s 20,000 feet: maybe the size of a large H&M instead of the size of a small town. The chain announced this week that they’ll be testing the format in the UK, too. [More]
Carlsberg Outdoes Coca-Cola With Free Beer-Dispensing Billboard
By 4.15.15
You might remember that earlier this month, Coca-Cola experimented with a billboard that dispensed free samples of Coke Zero to thirsty visitors near the site of the final games of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Why can’t the same technology work for more adult beverages? [More]
KFC Bringing Edible Coffee Cups To UK
By 2.25.15
Have you ever looked at your empty cup of coffee and just wished you could devour it? You’d probably survive eating your standard paper cup, but it wouldn’t be the most tasty of experiences. Thank god there’s KFC, which is introducing an edible coffee cup in the UK. [More]
Krispy Kreme Rethinks ‘KKK’ Promotion In The UK
By 2.17.15
The corporate office for Krispy Kreme in the UK drew up a calendar of fun activities for the chain to offer to kids during their midterm break from school. Activities include coloring, face painting, board games, and KKK Wednesday. Wait, what? That stands for “Krispy Kreme Klub,” not “Ku Klux Klan,” but the promotion has been pulled anyway. [More]
Customers Rush To Use Grocery Store ATM Paying Out Double Cash
By 2.13.15
Customers at a Morrisons grocery store in the United Kingdom received an exciting surprise if they went to take some money out of the store’s cash machine: it was paying out double. No, this is not a thing that was actually supposed to happen, but customers rushed to the store to take out some extra money…even though it would be fairly easy for the ATM owner and their banks to determine who had taken out more cash than they were entitled to. [More]
Was McDonald’s Right To Refuse Service To Diabetic Walk-Up Customer At Drive-Thru?
By 12.29.14
While we understand why a fast food place would only serve late-night customers through the drive-thru window, we’ve never quite understood why these eateries refuse to serve customers who pop by on foot or on bikes. Someone else who doesn’t get this policy is the diabetic man who claims that McDonald’s workers shrugged off his concerns of an impending hypoglycemic attack and refused to serve him because he wasn’t driving. [More]
You Can Now Get Hot Doughnuts From Domino’s (In The U.K.)
By 12.1.14
Have you spent the morning moping in your cubicle, wishing that someone would bring you a box of donuts and a vat of coffee? A new item from Domino’s in the United Kingdom would get you halfway there: the chain pizzeria is now rather inexplicably selling donuts. Hot donuts. [More]
7-Year-Old Girl Questions ‘Fun Gifts For Boys’ Sign At Tesco
By 11.24.14
Tesco is a supermarket/superstore based in the United Kingdom. They sell just about everything, including toys. However, one member of the toy-buying public was not thrilled with their holiday marketing. A 7-year-old girl noticed a “Fun gifts for boys” sign on a photo of an alarm clock featuring Marvel superheroes. Wait a minute: she likes superheroes. Why is that only a gift for boys? [More]
Hotel To Refund $157 Fine To Couple Who Posted Negative Review
By 11.20.14
A couple visiting the English seaside town of Blackpool only paid about $57 for their one-night hotel stay, but when they slammed the place with a TripAdvisor review that called it a “rotten, stinking hovel,” the hotel hit back with a $157 fine. [More]
KFC Serves Up Kentucky Fried Hand Towel To Customers
By 6.27.14
People always joke about fast food meat — especially deep-fried fast food meat — maybe not being from the animal it claims to be. And while we’re pretty sure that KFC generally does indeed serve up actual chicken, one family in England ended up buying a Colonel’s Original Recipe hand towel. [More]
Supermarket Display Shows How You Can Get That Chic Slave Look From “12 Years A Slave”
By 5.19.14
It’s pretty common to be watching a TV show or movie and say to yourself, “I really like that outfit. Wonder where I could purchase it.” But that’s probably not what most people were thinking when watching the harrowing Best Picture-winning 12 Years a Slave; a fact that seemed to have been overlooked by the operators of one U.K. supermarket. [More]
Is Greek Yogurt Still Greek If It’s Made In America?
By 1.29.14
We label all sorts of products with country names — Italian ice, French dressing, Swedish meatballs — regardless of where they were made, or even if they have any actual ties to the country being name-checked. But a court in the UK has ruled that Chobani can’t label its product as “Greek Yogurt” because it is made in the U.S. [More]
Guy Sasses Discount Airline EasyJet On Twitter, Gets Grounded
By 9.25.13
EasyJet is probably best known to Americans as “the European discount airline that isn’t RyanAir,” if they’ve heard of it at all. Now they’re also the airline that grounds adults for sassing them on the Internet. That’s what happened to a law professor and columnist who was annoyed that he might miss his connection when an EasyJet flight was delayed, and more annoyed that a soldier might miss his. [More]
McDonald’s Customers Almost Kicked Out For Trying To Use Their Own Cutlery
By 9.16.13
A silly stunt at a McDonald’s in England has become much more popular than it ever should have after a staffer at the fast food eatery threatened to throw out customers who brought their own plates, tablecloth, candles, and cutlery to the restaurant. [More]
