Apparently diarrhea isn’t the only thing you can catch from your neighborhood Arby’s!
Down in Broken Bow, police have issued an arrest warrant for an Arby’s restaurant manager accused of spitting in a customer’s food and, in the process, spreading the herpes simplex virus type 1, better known as fever blisters, cold sores, or – as Clark Matthews calls them – little love bumps.
Via KJRH Channel 2:
A former Arby’s manager is charged with felony poisoning – accused of spitting in a woman’s food and, as a result, giving her herpes.
“I love Arby’s – not anymore,” said Jennica Church.
After a long night of bartending, Church stopped at an Arby’s in Broken Bow, Oklahoma.
“It was taking a little bit of time,” Church recalled. “I thought they were mad at me because it was about to close.”
You think they were mad at you? How about they were mad at you!
Seriously, outside of not tipping or clogging up the bathroom, the worst thing you can do to a fast-food or restaurant employee is stop by right before closing. I don’t care how hungry you are – these people making $8 an hour don’t want to dirty up their pre-closed kitchen just to make you a Beef ’n Cheddar. If you do that, you’re basically playing roulette with whatever bodily fluids are coming your way.
Here’s more:
Church said she had a little history with Amanda Hendricks, the manager at the time, but nothing major. She went home, ate, and shared sandwiches with her father-in-law and grandmother-in-law.
Church lives in a home with her husband, kids, and paternal grandparents. After that night, Church’s mouth flared up, and that had never happened.
A doctor later diagnosed her with herpes.
Well, it’s official. Unfaithful spouses everywhere now have a new excuse for how they catch and spread STDs!
“Jackson, how’d you catch a fever blister?”
“I had late-night Arby’s with Miss Oklahoma. I swear!”
In all seriousness, I don’t blame Jennica for being a little suspicious here. I have a strict 30-minutes-before-close rule for any restaurant, and I generally try to avoid food places managed by people I have a “history” with for this exact reason.
That being said, it has to be a coincidence, right?
I mean, a giant chunk of the human population carries the fever-blister type of herpes, so it’s likely just a weird suspicion.
Plus, how can they prove it? It’s not like the person she’s accusing – Amanda Hendricks – allegedly bragged about spitting in the food and was caught on camera, right?
Like, nobody could be that stupid:
Because Broken Bow is a small town, word travels fast. Church says Hendricks had been bragging about spitting in Church’s sandwiches, and Church’s daughter heard about it.
According to the affidavit, Broken Bow police officers say they pulled cameras from Arby’s and saw Hendricks spit in the food. Hendricks is charged with felony poisoning with intent to injure.
A warrant has been issued for her arrest.
Well, I guess people can be that stupid.
Seriously, she allegedly bragged about spitting in someone else’s food? Was she trying to build street cred with a local drive-thru crew?
“Yeah, I’m hard. I once put extra Arby’s sauce on a sandwich, and it wasn’t Arby’s sauce.”
Naturally, Jennica and her family were upset about their fever blisters. After being offered $5 cash and free sandwiches for the literal food poisoning, they sued:
Church and her family filed a lawsuit against Hendricks, Arby’s and their affiliated restaurant groups claiming the incident has caused extreme anxiety, emotional distress and fear of infection. Church fears it will impact her work in the service industry.
“If I go out to eat and see someone with a big thing on their face, I don’t want them serving me food,” she said.
As one of the unlucky 4 billion or so people who occasionally gets fever blisters, I can confirm they’re unsightly, painful and annoying. That being said, catching a cold sore isn’t the end of the world.
Anyway, we’ll continue to follow this case and provide updates as they become available. I guess there are several lessons to be learned here.
The first is to never go to a fast-food restaurant if A) they’re about to close and B) you have history with the manager.
The second is that if you spit in somebody’s food, keep it to yourself. Loose lips sink ships… and apparently spread herpes.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
