With so much crime in the world, some states and businesses have adopted “zero-tolerance” policies. But sometimes they go a little too far.
WHOPPER, JR.
Kaylin Frederich went into a Burger King in Sunset Hills, Missouri, with two relatives in August 2009. After the family had ordered their food and started eating, an employee told them that they had to leave—because Kaylin wasn’t wearing shoes, a violation of the restaurant’s “no shoes, no shirt, no service” policy. What was unusual about that? Kaylin was six months old at the time and was being carried by her mother because she wasn’t old enough to walk. Her mother, Jennifer Frederich, alerted the media, prompting a quick apology from Burger King.
Many states restrict or ban the sale of cold medicines that contain the ingredient pseudoephedrine because it can be used to make crystal methamphetamine. In Indiana, you can buy only a certain amount of pseudoephedrine-based medicines in a seven-day period (and you have to fill out a form). But 70-year-old Sally Harpold didn’t know that. One day in 2009, she bought a box of Zyrtec for her husband (who had allergies), and a few days later she bought her adult daughter some Mucinex-D for a cold. That was over the drug limit, so Harpold was arrested for intent to manufacture crystal meth. The charges were later dropped.
Steve Valdez of Tampa, Florida, went to a Bank of America in September 2009 to cash a check from his wife, but the bank refused. Why? Because B of A required a thumbprint as a form of identification, and Valdez could not provide one; he has two prosthetic arms. Even after presenting two forms of identification, he was denied and told by the manager to either come back with his wife or open an account. Bank of America later apologized to Valdez.
No pitstops! In 1999 Hank Harp drove the length of Britain (874 miles) on a motorized toilet.