McDonald's Denies Prof's Claim Staff Attacked Him For Wearing Digital Glasses

Sparrowvsrevolution writes "In an update to a story posted on Slashdot earlier this week, McDonald's has responded to the claims of Steve Mann, a University of Toronto professor and augmented reality pioneer who says McDonald's staff in Paris assaulted him tried to pull off a computer eyepiece he's worn for decades, then threw him out of the restaurant. McDonald's confirms that Mann was ejected from the premises, but denies that there was a 'physical altercation' with staff or that they destroyed any of his property. That last claim is especially dubious, since Mann has posted photos taken from his eyepiece that show McDonald's staff ripping up a doctor's note that he showed them to explain his need to wear the device. The company still hasn't explained why Mann was removed from the restaurant, but Mann has speculated that it has a policy against recording."

Comments

hey ronald...

[tommeke100]

release the security cams!

And looks like someone failed hamburger college!

Re:hey ronald...

[gsgriffin]

Story failed to mention that he was dressed as the Hamburgler...obvious response, eh?

Re:hey ronald...

[ArsenneLupin]

Well, part of the problem is that people wear gloves -- and handle the same things they did before.

That reminds me of an old joke:
The Waiter and the Spoon

I took some friends out to dinner last week, and I noticed a spoon in the shirt pocket of our waiter as he handed us the menus. It seemed a little odd, but I dismissed it as a random thing. Until our busboy came with water & tableware; he, too, sported a spoon in his breast-pocket. I looked around the room and all the waiters, waitresses, busboys, etc. had spoons in their pockets.

When our waiter returned to take our order, I just had to ask, "Why the spoons?"

"Well," he explained, "our parent company recently hired some Andersen Consulting efficiency experts to review all our procedures and after months of statistical analyses, they concluded that our patrons drop spoons on the floor 73% more often than any other utensil at a frequency of 3 spoons per hour per workstation. By preparing all our workers for this contingency in advance, we can cut our trips to the kitchen down and save time...nearly 1.5 extra man hours per shift."

Just as he concluded, a "ch-ching" came from the table behind him, and he quickly replaced a fallen spoon with the one from his pocket. "I'll grab another spoon the next time I'm in the kitchen instead of making a special trip," he proudly explained.

I was impressed. "Thanks. I had to ask." "No problem," he answered, then he continued to take our orders. As the members of my dinner party took their turns, my eyes darted back & forth from each person ordering and my menu. That's when, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a thin, black thread protruding from our waiter's fly. Again, I dismissed it; yet I had to scan the room and, sure enough, there were other waiters & busboys with strings hanging out of their trousers.

My curiosity overrode discretion at this point, so before he could leave I had to ask. "Excuse me, but...uh...why, or what...about that string?" "Oh, yeah," he began in a quieter tone. "Not many people are that observant. That same efficiency group found we could save time in the Men's room, too." "How's that?" .. "You see, by tying a string to the end of our, eh, selves, we can pull it out at the urinals literally hands-free and thereby eliminate the need to wash our hands, cutting time spent in the restroom by over 93%!"

"Oh, that makes sense," I said, but then thinking thru the process, I asked, "Hey, wait-a-minute. If the string helps you pull it out, how do you get it back in?"

"Well," he whispered, "I don't know about the other guys; but I use my spoon.

Re:hey ronald...

[tehcyder]

Have you actually gone to a McDonald's restaurant where they actually make a consistent product?

I know I haven't at least.

I avoid McDonald's except when drunk or otherwise desperate, but I wouldn't criticise their consistency: they've been identically crap ever since I can remember.

Re:hey ronald...

[Inda]

It's always norovirus.

95 times out of 100, anyway.

Maybe they thought he was the

[slackware 3.6]

Terminator or some other evil cyborg from the future.

Steps in a McDonalds experience

[Anonymous Coward]

I always thought of the McDonalds experience as follow:
1. You know their food is shit before you start.
2. It tastes like shit while you eat.
3. You feel like shit afterwards.
4. (They) Profit

Now they've apparently added steps:
1.5 They treat you like shit while in store

Nice to see they're still working to grow the general shity-ness of the experience.

Re:I record everything I see and hear

[circletimessquare]

how old school

what a luddite

Re:I stand behind McDonalds

[Anonymous Coward]

I stand behind the freedom for someone to claim they've been assaulted, and to concoct an unbelievable story in which they carefully avoid any description of what happened just before the alleged assault.

I stand behind their freedom to show pictures of people ripping up a piece of paper and to claim anything they want about what that paper said or who owned it.

I even stand behind their freedom to claim that, despite a description of a brazen attack and insistence upon the availability of evidence, police and other officials simply ignored their report.

But assault? No, of course I don't stand behind that. But I don't see what assault has to do with this story.

Re:McD in Paris?

[outsider007]

I would eat there. But only so I could order a 'royale with cheese'

Re:there are signs

[EdIII]

A McDonald's T-shirt doesn't imbue you with special authority to just tear up other people's medical documentation.

But.. But.. what about Mayor McCheese and Officer Big Mac?

Re:Yeah...

[EdIII]

Wait, Rodney King was armed during his beating?

Yes.. he had two of them.

Br

[Anonymous Coward]

av

--
o

Re:there are signs

[catd77]

But America is the greatest country on Earth! If we keep up this arrogance and ethnocentrism maybe it will come true!

Re:there are signs

[Genda]

There's an old conversation about the word "Yankee". If you're in Mexico, anybody north of the border is a Yankee. If you're over the border, its someone from above the Mason-Dixon line. If you're above the Mason-Dixon line a Yankee is someone from New England. If you live in New England, you know a Yankee is some one from Maine. You go to Maine looking for a Yankee and they'll tell you its an old hard tack farmer out in the country. Finally, if you go up to Maine, find yourself an old hard-tack farmer, and ask him where you can find a Yankee? He'll tell you "Well, yuh take thet ruhd theh, noth 'bout 12 miles, till yuh come tuh the fok, n'beh right, go 'nother 8 miles till yuh get t'the end. When the ol gent with the shotgun comes out t'meetchuh, why thet's a Yankee. Eyuh."

Re:No Kidding!

[Anonymous Coward]

'Did you physically or verbally accost Mr. Mann?'
'... man .. hm. man? Don't recall a man. Beat the shit out of punk-ass robot though'

Re:Mickey D is definitely *NOT* alone

[Anonymous Coward]

Ironically I've been to that KFC before.

Alanis, is that you?!?

Re:there are signs

[Culture20]

how often do you really use, say, "Eurasian"?

Maine biggerts use it a lot when they see the mail ohdah brides they wah shipped.