Fast Food Nation

More fallout from the Fort Myers, Fla., "McSting" operation. "We don't allow anybody even behind the counter," says Samir Homsi, owner of the McDonald's franchise that allowed an undercover cop to work the drive-thru window, Doggy-style. "Sometimes our assistants, they do crazy things and they think because police are involved everything is kosher." Not to go too easy on Fort Myers' finest, but it looks like the confusioin came from the franchise, not the cops, who apparently thought they had permission to operate on private property. Side note: The franchise owner's surname "Homsi" means a person from the town of Homs in Syria. In the popular Lebanese genre of dumb Syrian jokes, the butt of the joke is usually a person from Homs. Maybe it was inevitable that he'd get hoodwinked by his employees.

Comments

[Anonymous]

One more reason not to eat at Mickey D's...

[Mark]

Homsis are the butt of jokes in Lebanon & Syria, huh? Well, I guess every Texas has its Aggies.

[P.W.Herrmann]

Oh, but this Big Mac/Big Brother sting is nothing, compared to what happened to ME! I was sitting in a sleazy theatre, when a few seats over I saw (what I later learned was) an undercover agent playing with himself in the dark.

Naturally, I was hauled off to jail and my name got splashed all over the news.

This was a few years ago, but it still irks me how the vice nazis use private establishments to make people live up to the rules made by world-nannies who wish to create the world in their own image.

[Russ]

When are people going to realize that college campuses have always been seedbeds of establishment thinking except for the 60's when many of the students were there strictly to avoid the draft? Free-thinking and pedagoguery never go hand in hand.

[Warren]

The Homs/Syria angle of this story is just silly.

As for the cop in the drive thru. After reading the fourth amendment to the constitution one might think this sort of thing is explicitly forbidden in this country.

[Jack]

In re: Lebanese jokes about Homsis

A Homsi went to Beirut on a business trip. When he arrived at the inn, the innkeeper said, "I see you're from Homs. I've heard that Homsis aren't too bright, so tell you what... If you can answer my riddle, your stay is free."

The Homsi replied, "Sure."

"Alright, pay attention," said the innkeeper. "I'm not my sister and I'm not my brother, but I'm the child of my father and mother, who am I?"

"Hmmm, that's a very hard riddle. Can I wait to give you the answer until I am ready to check out?" asked the Homsi.

"Fine," responded the innkeeper.

A couple days later, the Homsi went to check out and he asked the innkeeper to repeat the riddle for him. After listening to it for the second time, the Homsi said, "I'm sorry, but I just don't know the answer."

"You stupid Homsi! It's me! *I'm* not my sister and *I'm* not my brother, but *I'm* the child of my father and mother, who am *I*? Now pay up and get out!"

So, with that the Homsi returned home, and when he got there he told all his friends and family about his trip to Beirut. "The innkeeper where I stayed told me this most difficult riddle," and he repeated it for them. His friends and family all agreed that was a very difficult riddle and begged him for the answer. "Oh, don't you see?!" he cried, "I'm the innkeeper in Beirut!"