Only in America? The Popeye’s Fried Chicken chain got more than it bargained for when it reintroduced its virally-popular Chicken Sandwich earlier this week. One man is dead and another is being sought, after the victim tried to cut into line for a Chicken Sandwich at Popeye’s…
A simple Chicken Sandwich triggered a deadly altercation Monday night…
You’ll recall that there were round-the-block lineups of frustrated and ultimately disappointed fans last month outside Popeye’s locations across the land when Popeye’s Chicken Sandwich débuted to sell-out crowds. The Sandwich came back yesterday, and some Chicken Lovers were even more adamant than before to get one.
Police say 28 year old Tyrell Davis was accosted by another man when he tried to cut into the lineup of customers waiting for a Chicken Sandwich at an Oxon Hill, Maryland, Popeye’s Monday night. Surveillance camera video shows Tyrell and another man leaving the restaurant about 15 seconds after the altercation began and, moments later, Davis was found lying in the parking lot with stab wounds. The assailant and a woman who was with him apparently escaped in a vehicle.
Did their best to distance
Popeye’s did its best to distance itself from the incident saying, in a statement: “We do not yet know whether this was the result of a dispute over one of our products or something unrelated, but there is no reason for someone to lose their life on a Monday night in a parking lot.”
However, George’s County Police spokesperson Jennifer Donelan told CNN earlier that the Popeye’s Chicken Sandwich was definitely at the centre of the tragedy. “For you to get that angry over anything […] and to develop into this type of violence, again, is a very sad and tragic day.” How true.
Hard for outsiders to fathom
It’s truly hard for Canadians (and, I suspect, other non-Americans) to understand how such an incident could happen. I’ve witnessed altercations over someone trying to cut into a lineup of some kind more than once here in Canada over the years, and I’ve never seen anyone so much as lift a fist, let alone pull a weapon. I am left to conclude that that resorting to a knife – or often a gun – is simply the way many Americans see as the means to settle a dispute. The U.S. may be the only country in the world where such a weapon-centric culture exists. That’s a shame.
The real issue?
The real issue here may revolve around Popeye’s marketing department. Some folks have suggested that the company knew its new Chicken Sandwich would trigger a massive response from fans and deliberately created a shortage of the menu item the first time out to generate massive free media coverage. Bringing back the Sandwich a few weeks later (after apparently restocking all locations with Breasts and Buns) may have been intended to generate a sequel to the original event.
Whether the initial shortage of Chicken Sandwiches was intentional or not, I’m betting the Popeye’s people never dreamed fans would resort to deadly force in a dispute over a place in line to get one. One hard-bitten old soul I’ve talked to about this situation suggests that the Popeye’s marketing people are wringing their hands with glee over the Oxon Hill, MD, stabbing. “They’ve never heard or seen their name in the media so frequently and universally as this before. It’s not their ‘bad’, and it’s all absolutely free. A marketing guy’s wet dream!”
Sure. Maybe. However, as greedy, conniving and manipulative as marketing people are often portrayed, I’m sure nobody at Popeye’s ever thought someone would be killed over a Chicken Sandwich. But, as my mother might have said, “It’s all fun and games until somebody loses a life!”
Nevertheless…
I’m watching the Popeye’s stabbing story with great interest. It’s been suggested by one online commentor that Popeye’s should have taken the hint, after witnessing the crowds generated by the initial release of the Sandwich, and posted security staff for the ‘second coming’ in case tempers flared and things got out of hand. Your stereotypical ambulance-chasing lawyer would say, Popeye’s ‘failed’ to take all necessary precautions’ in the situation and, therefore, someone should get a big fat court settlement from the company. Or how about a class action suit naming all staff and customers at the Popeye’s location at that time of the stabbing as members? Weren’t they all, potentially, in equal danger, in the event some nut case went berserk with a knife? I digress. But that’s the way many non-Americans see the U.S., and the way Americans resolve their disputes – with an overtone of gallows humour.
Won’t change my mind
The stabbing in the U.S. won’t change my mind about standing in lineups here in Canada. I still feel safe here. Likewise, I won’t think less of my American cousins, the vast majority of whom, I’m confident, are as horrified as I am about the Popeye’s incident. But I have hardened my resolve to stay out of the U.S. at all costs. What with Trump, and growing stress over divisions in U.S. society, I’m afraid I might get beaten up or worse if I gave the ‘wrong’ answer to someone who asked me, “Are you with us or against us?” I’m not sure I could get away with: “No, I’m Canadian.”
And to think: All this fooferhaw started over a Chicken Sandwich!
~ Maggie J.