In the current atmosphere of hostility directed toward the nation’s law enforcement professionals, it is all too frequently that stories of how police are mistreated by workers at eating establishments make the news.
From being cussed out by surly employees to being kicked out of restaurants because they are carrying their guns, the cops often get a raw deal from unskilled, low-wage, aspiring anarchists who have little respect for the law and those who are tasked with enforcing it.
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The latest such incident comes from Florida where a 23-year-veteran of the Palm Bay Police Department was rudely refused service by an employee who was running the drive-thru window at a local McDonald’s. The disgusting treatment of Lt. Tim Lancaster drew attention once he had posted it on his Facebook page.
Denied? Palm Bay officer says McDonald's clerk refused him service https://t.co/rAKyVYtXzU
— Florida Today (@Florida_Today) February 11, 2018
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According to a report from Florida Today “Denied? Palm Bay officer says McDonald’s clerk refused him service”:
A 23-year veteran Palm Bay police officer is “shocked” after saying he was denied service by a clerk at a McDonald’s drive-thru because of his profession.
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The general manager of the McDonald’s restaurant, located at the corner of Palm Bay Road and Babcock Street, would not comment on the incident but referred questions to the corporate office. The corporate office called the employee’s behavior, which Lt. Tim Lancaster described in a Facebook post, “unacceptable.”
Lancaster reported the incident happened Friday when he went in uniform to the 4705 Babcock Street location to grab a quick lunch.
“I ordered my lunch, paid at the first window and moved up to the second window to pick up lunch. When I got to the window, the clerk looked at me with my drink in hand and stopped,” Lancaster wrote on his Facebook page.
“She handed my drink to another clerk and walked away in disgust,” Lancaster said, who then asked the other worker at the window if something was wrong.
The clerk told Lancaster ‘that the other clerk refuses to serve cops.”
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“I was embarrassed and upset,” he wrote.
“I think they’ll handle it appropriately,” Lancaster told FLORIDA TODAY on Sunday. “I was shocked, that’s a good word. I never thought I’d be at a point in my career when I’d see something like this,” he said.
Lancaster took to social media, alerting friends and followers about the experience. That post has been shared over 5,000 times since Friday. McDonald’s corporation – which owns the restaurant – responded swiftly with a statement to FLORIDA TODAY.
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“We have respect for all first responders and are investigating,” said Carolina Rodriguez, a spokesperson for McDonald’s, in a statement Sunday. “The behavior described in this Facebook post is unacceptable and not tolerated in our restaurants.”
It is also not the first report of law enforcement officers being denied service by some individual workers at a small number of various restaurants nationwide.
Considering that the story is now making its rounds online and in social media, it is probably pretty much a given that the punk who treated Officer Lancaster in such a rude manner will soon be a former employee of Mickey D’s.
The chain is particularly sensitive to negative public relations and treating a cop who is just looking to grab a bite to eat in the process of doing his job is not exactly the image that the corporation would want to be associated with.
And these are the type of people that the Democrats are trying to push through a $15 an hour minimum wage for?