25/04//05 - Franchise Road Stories
By Nancy Ghanem
April 25, 2005 - San
Diego
On Sunday to visit my Mother I
drove a hundred miles from the Southern California beach community where I live to the Inland Empire. I returned early evening, and ten miles from my home stopped to pick up dinner to take home at Boston Market in Escondido.
I had stopped at this Boston
Market a few times before on my return on similar trips. On each of those occasions the franchise was not doing much business. This time, however things were different, and after having to wait to place my order for a “family dinner of chicken for four;” I was told the chicken would take ten more minutes due to a backup in orders. Indeed, while
the restaurant portion was as usual not busy, there was a line-up of cars at the drive thru.
The employees were wonderfully
obliging and repeatedly apologized for the wait, and reported repeatedly on the progress of the chicken, offered me a free beverage, and even forgot to charge me for the dinner. Well….... I paid anyways.
Adjacent to Boston Market there was a Wendy’s. That location had no business. Was it because of the alleged finger in the chili? A few nights before, I drove past another Wendy’s which had only two cars parked outside. Were these cars belonging to customers or employees? I wondered.
The claimant, Anna Ayala is from Las Vegas. She had already sued a Las Vegas El Pollo Loco for medical expenses for her daughter who claimed she got sick after eating there. Another scam artist was my conclusion!
On Thursday, Anna Ayala was
taken into custody by Las
Vegas police and charged with grand
larceny. The police chief said the grand
larceny allegation stemmed from a 2002 incident in which Ayala allegedly tried to sell a mobile home in San Jose that she did not own. The
victim lost $11,000.
A Wendy’s customer interviewed for a Seattle Times article on the subject stated, "There's too much
in this country today with people trying to get things by conning them out of
it. Wendy's has been good for years," said longtime customer Ralph Woodman, 81.
"How the hell would you get a finger into the pot without seeing it in there
when you're stirring it? It had to be some sort of screwball
ruse."
One of the best statements, which I read on
the claim was written by Chuck Jolley, whose article appears on CattleNetwork.com. “ Why she had to travel almost 600
miles to (allegedly) try for a jackpot while visiting family in the area is
beyond me. Maybe authorities were
already onto her schemes in.” “Maybe she should have
listened to the tag line for the cities’ civic-minded ads - “What Happens in
Vegas, Stays in Vegas.”
Wendy’s has reported that sales
have dropped at franchises in Northern
California, forcing layoffs and reduced
hours, the company said. Wendy's also has hired private investigators, set up a hot line for tips and offered a $100,000 reward for anyone who provides information leading to the finger's original owner.
Hopefully Wendy’s business will
be brisk again soon.
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