Prank calls to restaurants are nothing new. Sometimes they are the harmless Simpsons variety pranks and other times they are pretty scary, like the type portrayed in the film Compliance. This particular prank ranks somewhere in between, mostly because some folks actually believed it and got themselves hurt. Employees at a Coon Rapids, Minnesota Burger King received a prank call on Friday night that they couldn’t help but take seriously according to KSTP:
According to police, employees received a phone call from someone claiming to be from the Coon Rapids Fire Department. The caller said the restaurant was pressurized and could explode, so the employees needed to break the windows to relieve the pressure.
The employees believed the caller and broke multiple windows, police say.
You can see the employees in the act above and the results below. Worse yet, Fox 13 in Salt Lake City is reporting that multiple restaurants across several states received similar calls to break their windows.
WATCH: Prank caller gets Burger King workers to smash restaurant windows #NBC4 https://t.co/ZeuYiifZbv pic.twitter.com/qw7arlL1rD
— NBC4 Columbus (@nbc4i) April 10, 2016
Burger King employees smash windows following prank call: https://t.co/lMqtFcS0qi pic.twitter.com/PL9ewjrLUg
— KARE 11 (@kare11) April 9, 2016
Another Burger King in Shawnee, Oklahoma fell for the prank on Thursday night according to KFOR, causing the restaurant to close their seating areas:
They are dealing with about $10,000 in damage and a loss of business all because of a prank call Thursday night.
“The employee stated that a person called them and told them there were high levels of carbon monoxide in their building, and they needed to break out all their windows,” said Thomas Larman with the Shawnee Fire Department.
This type of prank is not new. Apart from the cases this past week, a Burger King in Morro Bay, California felt the wrath of a prankster and led to a similar incident according to Mashable. As in most of the situations, the real fire officials make it clear that nobody should believe such a prank call:
The City of Morro Bay wants to make clear the fire department would generally not call a business directly to warn of such an issue. Recorded calls through a “Reverse 911” system may be sent areawide to notify residents and businesses of major emergencies.
So if you work at any restaurant or fast food establishment, don’t believe people calling you to tell you to bust out your windows. It’s only going to lead to a bad time and likely ruin your plans for a grand exit when you eventually get fired for someone younger and gullible.