Terrified Employees Smashed A Burger King’s Windows After A Prank Phone Call Gone Wrong

Burger King Sign
Getty Image

Customers who showed up to get their breakfast at a San Luis Obispo, California Burger King yesterday were shocked when they discovered that the store had been brutally vandalized. A dozen windows had been shattered the night before and the morning breeze was lazily blowing through the napkins and salt packets. But while many would expect the broken windows to have come from youth “joking around” or employees from a rival chain (Wendy’s, perhaps?) trying to put a competitor out of business, you’ll be surprised to learn that the restaurant’s employees proudly trashed the windows themselves in a response. They thought they were doing the right thing, you see — responding to a prank call they took very seriously.

According to Consumerist, the employees (none of whom had seen Compliance, apparently) received a phone call informing them that the store had suffered a gas leak, that it was an emergency, and that they needed to break every window they could to provide enough ventilation for the gas to get outside. That doesn’t sound right, right? Even to those of us who failed high school chemistry? First of all, why would the fire department call you, and second of all, why wouldn’t they just get the hell out of there instead of smashing through the windows first? Anyone else think there might have just been some glee mixed in with all that terror? How many of us would have gotten that phone call, looked around the place that employed us, and thought, “You know what? This is probably fake, but when else am I going to have such an amazing excuse to destroy company property?

Police are investigating the prank call, and the employees have all probably gotten a stern talking-to at this point. It seems like “don’t break the windows unless you’re sure it’s an emergency” should have been covered on the first day of training, but one can’t prepare for every eventuality. A good rule of thumb, Consumerist points out, is to check back with 911 before you start just smashing things, but in the heat of the moment, even that might be too much.

Our only question now–besides “did it feel great?”–is what exactly the employees used to smash the windows in the first place. Did they use tables as battering rams? Did someone grab a spatula? Or did they just hurl frozen patties at the windows? The sad truth is that the world will likely never know.

(Via Consumerist)

×