Sure, we can all just suspend out sense of better judgement and pretend that everything we’re getting meets passable quality standards. And for the most part, it probably does. The vast majority of fast food workers are just trying to do their jobs, and the thought to lick, pee on, or otherwise contaminate the food they serve never crosses their minds.

But then you have these people. People that not only like messing with the food they serve, but apparently like posting it all over the internet. Seriously. What do you think is going to happen when a photo like this goes viral?

The photo of the Wendy’s employee helping himself to the Frosty machine went viral on reddit on Thursday. After commenters chastised the original poster for being complicit in the gross action (who took the picture, right?), he deleted his account.

Wendy’s gave a non-specific statement that the employee was no longer working for the company.

Obviously, the employee broke the rules He is no longer at the restaurant. The franchisee is meeting with the restaurant team to reinforce proper procedures. We have a daily regiment in each restaurant that stresses proper food-handling procedures. The manager follows a disciplined process. When mistakes happen, we try to respond immediately and take corrective action.

Our Frosty-licker joins a group of recent fast food snafus that played out on social media. Including, but not limited to…

The Taco-Bill Taco Shell-Licker:

The KFC Mashed Potato Licker:

And the Burger King Lettuce Stomper:

I would tell people to Just. Stop. Doing. This. But I know it’s an epidemic. Expect plenty more of this crap in the future. Ugh.

You think texting while driving is dangerous? Meet texting while hood-surfing. In this clip, allegedly from a highway in Saudi Arabia, a man casually texts while riding on the hood of a car. The driver of the car filming the texting man is traveling at about 90 kph – or 56 mph.

Our high-risk texter begins sitting straight up, but eventually changes positions to lay on the windshield, and then the roof of the speeding car.

I just don’t know what I’m looking at here.

[TopBackOn via Mashable]

Anna Ayala, better known as the “chili-finger lady,” is about to spend another two years in prison after lying to police to protect her son from a parole violation.

Mercury News reports that Ayala hid the fact that her 26-tear-old son Guadalupe “Junior” Reyes accidentally shot himself in the ankle, as having a gun would have been a serious parole violation. Ayala and her son blamed the shooting on two men, which led to the interrogation of one suspect. Of course, he wasn’t involved and now Ayala and her son are both facing jail time.

Ayala pled no contest to three different crimes this time around – being an accessory to a felony, filing a false police report and being a felon in possession of a firearm. She has been sentenced to serve two years for the crimes.

Ayala gained notoriety back in 2005, when she filed a lawsuit against fast food chain Wendy’s after she allegedly found a severed human finger in her chili. Investigators soon determined that the finger didn’t come from any Wendy’s employee and that the consistency of the finger was not representative of something that had been cooked at 170 degrees.

Ayala was eventually charged with grand larceny, as Wendy’s claimed that her lawsuit caused a loss of $2.5 million in revenue.

The finger was later identified to belong to one Brian Paul Rossiter, a co-worker of Ayala’s huband who had lost a fingertip in an industrial accident.

She was sentenced to 9 years in prison in 2006, but only ended up serving 4 years.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: This post is NSFW

Facebook – you’re sending some seriously mixed messages here.

After yanking such highly-offensive content as artwork of Bea Arthur’s breasts, a New Yorker cartoon featuring the most rudimentary depiction of breasts that could ever exist, elbows that appear to resemble breasts, and various photos of women engaged in breastfeeding, Facebook has decided that a page for one of India’s most notorious red-light districts is a-ok.

The page, Sonagachi (very NSFW), features graphic photos of breasts, vaginas, penises, oral sex, and even a series of photos apparently depicting a girl losing her virginity.

It makes no point to hide what it is, listing this in the “about” section:

Sonagachi is the largest red-light district in Kolkata, India and one of the largest in Asia. It is an area with several hundred multi-story brothels and estimated 11,000 sex workers

The page hasn’t posted in months, but it is still filled with postings from others – some soliciting prostitutes. Plus, all of those photos…

Blogger Liz Boltz Ranfield first spotted the page and called on Facebook to do something about it. She, along with a writer from Jezebel (and others), all reported the content to Facebook for removal.

To their shock, Facebook replied with a “thanks but we can’t find any reason to remove it” email:

Hi,

Thanks for your recent report of a potential violation on Facebook. After reviewing your report, we were not able to confirm that the specific page you reported violates Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.

Learn more about what we do and don’t allow by reviewing the Facebook Community Standards: https://www.facebook.com/communitystandards.

Thanks,
Viki

Interesting. Considering that the page features graphic nudity, sexual acts, and possibly sexual depictions of minors, this seems like an odd choice.

Facebook’s terms of service clearly state that…

“You will not post content that: is hate speech, threatening, or pornographic; incites violence; or contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence,” and that “You will not use Facebook to do anything unlawful, misleading, malicious, or discriminatory.”

Seems like there’s plenty here to prompt the shuttering of the page.

Just so we can understand this – this is ok:

As is this:

But this deserved to be yanked:

(It was later reinstated with Facebook’s apology – but still, the content moderators felt they had reason to pull this at some point)

In the past, many of these content-removal controversies could be attributed to two simple facts about Facebook: First, their content moderation is mostly outsourced, and second, there are billions of photos going up on Facebook every week. That means that it’s almost impossible to police all the content without some screw-ups.

But this is different. This is Facebook’s content moderation being notified (multiple times) about content that is the epitome of what Facebook should be banning (per their terms of service), and the company is choosing to leave it up. It’s especially odd considering Facebook’s recent move to get tougher on harmful content after being pressured by various women’s groups

I fully expect Facebook to eventually see the error in this judgement and yank the page. It’s inevitable with this much backlash. But, once again, we have an example of Facebook’s bad content moderation system at work. Something’s gotta change.

Peters is one of the six men charged in the gang rape of a 15-year-old Richmond high-schooler in 2009. The San Francisco Bay-area rape case garnered quite a bit of attention after the brutal nature of the crime was disclosed.

On the night of the crime, the victim was leaving a homecoming dance at the school and was asked to join a large group of males in the campus courtyard. After the victim and the perpetrators drank copious amounts of alcohol, tre victim was propositioned for sex – an offer she refused. The men proceeded to beat and rape the girl for hours.

One bystander described the attack as such:

“They were kicking her in her head and they were beating her up, robbing her and ripping her clothes off; it’s something you can’t get out your mind. I saw people, like, dehumanizing her; I saw some pretty crazy stuff. She was pretty quiet; I thought she was like dead for a minute but then I saw her moving around.”

Now, years later, Peter has a creative defense that he hopes will call into question his role in the attack. According to Fox News, his claim is that wind from a police helicopter must have carried his DNA from a beer can to a broken used condom found at the scene.

Peter’s trial has just begun. Last year Manuel Ortega, the oldest defendant in the case, admitted guilt and was sentenced to 32 years in prison. Another defendant, Ari Morales, was sentenced to 27 years in prison this January. The other defendants are still awaiting trial.

[Photo via KTVU]

As Taco Bell is one of the more actove companies with regards to social media, the company’a hours-long delay in responding became worrisome. Now, the restaurant has acknowledged the photo and implied that its “zero tolerance” policy with regards to food handling procedures could mean a swift firing for the youth in the picture. The company also stated that it believes the image to be a “prank” and that it also believes the taco shells in question were never served to customers. Taco Bell’s reply, in full:

“Hi Jj – We have strict food handling procedures and zero tolerance for any violations. We believe this is a prank and the food was not served to customers. We are conducting an investigation and will be taking swift action against those involved.”

Jj O'Brien Nolan22 hours ago

This sure says a lot about your employees, food treatment, and what they post on the internet. Ridgecrest, California

Powered by socialditto  298 likes ·  647 comments

It appears that the Manhattan Psychiatric Center is looking to get rid of a giant refrigerator. It’s 6 feet wide x 8 feet deep x 6 feet tall – so there’s plenty of room for your meat and beer. They say that the refrigerator is used but in good condition and it currently runs just fine.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention – it’s a morgue refrigerator

Now I’m not saying that this is so creepy that whoever chooses to purchase this has to be planning something rather sinister, but this thing is so so creepy that whoever chooses to purchase this has to be planning something rather sinister.

But if you do have a use for such an item, please note that they won’t deliver it to you – you have to arrange your own pickup. And all sales are final.

The current bid is $1.825 with 67 bids. if you’re looking for a new fridge that will likely be the cause of your death – be it entrapment, possession, or killer spirit – you have until June 6th at 6:00 am PDT to place a bid.

[via Geekosystem]

The odd thing about the photo, other than the guy licking the tacos, is that it was posted on Taco Bell’s official Facebook page by another Facebook user.

“This sure says a lot about your employees, food treatment, and what they post on the internet,” says the poster.

As you would expect, the photo is receiving a lot of attention.

“It really doesnt matter if the food was to be thrown out or not. He is a representative of taco bell while working and in uniform, and by doing this AND posting it online for the world to see he is ruining the reputation of the company,” says one Facebook commenter.

“First of all, he’s wearing a taco bell uniform.. He is in taco bell, and he is licking bulk taco shells.. What are we supposed to think? I think not only him but the little girl who took the picture should get fired, mainly for stupidity,” says another.

Not everyone seems to think it’s a big deal.

“This was obviously done out of humor. I know most of you don’t see it as this, but this is friggin hilarious, sit back and just laugh at it,” says one Facebooker.

Taco Bell is one of the best companies out there in terms of social media use. Not only do they take the time to respond to tons of users on both Twitter and Facebook, but they are usually quite funny and engaging. Earlier this year, they even unveiled their new Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Tacos via a Vine video. Pretty savvy.

But there’s been no response from Taco Bell concerning this photo, and it’s been on their Facebook page for 16 hours. Either someone on Taco Bell’s social media team is really slacking, or the company simply thinks it’s not a big deal. Either way, it’s generating a lot of buzz.

If this scenario sounds familiar, that’s because Taco Bell isn’t the only fast food restaurant to have to deal with unsanitary food photos hitting Facebook. Back in February, a KFC employee was fired after a photo of her licking a tray of mashed potatoes went viral.

[h/t Gawker]

According to school district officials Ashley Barker, a first-grade teacher at Laurel Elementary School, concocted a convincing story of illness in which she claimed she and her father were both dying.

As WFTV reports, the deception went on for an entire year. During that time, school officials simply took Barker at her word. They let her come and go as she pleased and made special accommodations for time off. The school district was unwilling to give an actual number on how much time Barker took off as a result of the fake illness.

After investigators caught wind of allegations that Barker’s story might not be true, she apparently told them that she had just been at home the whole time.

“Wow. That’s kind of scary. Because if she lies about that, she can lie about anything,” said one parent.

Scary is one word for it. Parents leave their most important things in the world, their children, with educators. This sort of betrayal of confidence is sure to leave its mark. Barker has been terminated but is apparently fighting it.

What an odd story.

That’s just what 52-year-old Brooklyn resident Jacqueline Simpson alleges. She has filed a lawsuit claiming that her voice was ruined after she bit into a penny-sized shard of glass while eating a chicken sandwich. She says that the incident occurred in 2010 in a McDonald’s near the World Trade Center.

“Now when I sing, I have a hoarse, rattly voice,” Simpson told the NY Post. “I still sing alto, but I can’t sing soprano like I used to.”

Her case is currently with the Brooklyn Supreme Court.

“I have to make a lot of calls for work, and I have to tell people that I’m not a man. Before, that never happened.”

According to the FindLaw blog, food-related injuries are usually treated as a product liability claim. More specifically – strict liability.

Under the strict liability theory, this is because Mickey D’s a business that sells chicken sandwiches regularly; they should be held responsible if any product (or sandwich) leaving their facilities is defective. A piece of glass — the size of a penny, according to Simpson’s claim — would certainly be construed as defective

But there are a lot of questions about this lawsuit. Did Simpson swallow the glass? Is that how she claims it affected her singing voice? And the incident reportedly happened nearly three years ago – why wait so long? Is there physical (or medical) evidence?

McDonald’s and liability lawsuits – they seem to go together like, well, hash browns and a McMuffin.