Man Sues McDonald’s Over ‘Snotty’ Phlegm Booger, er…Burger

By Anastacia Mott Austin

If you’re eating right now, stop. The story of what happened to Iowa police officer Josh Douglas will make you lose your lunch.

The incident occurred two years ago, when Douglas was in his police officer’s uniform working the night shift. He and his partner stopped at the local McDonald’s drive-through in Charles City, Iowa, and he ordered a chicken sandwich.

Douglas, who doesn’t like lettuce, opened the sandwich up to remove it and found…phlegm. "It was a loogey. Runny, stringy, snotty loogey and it was stuck between the lettuce and tomato and you pick it up and it all kind of stays together," said Douglas to reporters.

"Fortunately, I don’t like lettuce. Because if I did I would have at least taken a bite before I realized what was the matter," he added.

He and his partner entered the McDonald’s and found two teenaged male employees working there. When questioned, both boys admitted to copying a stunt from the 2001 movie "Super Trooper," wherein a trooper gets a burger at a fast food place and a fry cook there spits on it.

The manager was notified and the two employees were immediately fired. But that wasn’t enough for Douglas. After a yearlong negotiation with McDonald’s, Douglas filed a lawsuit against the fast-food chain on May 8.

His attorney, Joseph Yunek, told reporters, "We’re not looking for the world. We don’t regard this as a huge thing. But certainly in my mind he is deserving of an apology," said Yunek. "Certainly, in my mind he is deserving of some kind of compensation. He will never go into a fast food joint again for fear there will be [phlegm] in his sandwich. We’re looking for McDonald’s to step up to the plate and take responsibility."

Sam Soifer, the Charles City McDonald’s franchise owner, issued a written statement to the press in which he claimed, "We take great pride in the food we serve our customers and set rigorous standards for food safety," adding that in his opinion justice was served when the two employees were fired.

And although the two teenagers have apologized to Douglas for the incident, he feels that McDonald’s still has the bulk of the responsibility to ensure their employees are more conscientious when working around food, adding, "If they’re employed by McDonald’s Corporation and they’re working on the job when this happens, it’s the responsibility of the employer."

Whatever happens in court, you can be sure that Douglas will never again just take a bite of a fast food burger without first looking inside it. "Absolutely," he says. "Everything gets checked."