A Valley couple has been charged with assault and disorderly conduct after arguing with McDonald’s employees and throwing food at them.
The husband and wife claim their breakfast order was missing hash browns so they called 911. They said they had no other choice because managers were not helping them
Michael and Nova Smith say they ordered a Number 2 and a Number 4 from the McDonald’s at Country Club Drive and Baseline Road in Mesa.
They say the meals should have come with hash browns, and when they realized they didn’t get the items, Nova went inside to confront managers.
“It’s a meal,” said Nova. “Just like you should get fries with your hamburger, we should have got our hash browns with our breakfast sandwiches.”
She says they refused to give her hash browns or her money back, and that’s when she threw her food in their direction.
“And that was out of frustration which I probably shouldn’t have done, but I did. Fighting over $2 of hash browns is ridiculous. It is ridiculous to have to fight that hard just to get customer service,” said Nova.
Michael says when managers wouldn’t hand back the food or give them a refund, he called 911, then walked behind the counter to confront the manager.
“I just was barely able to hold myself back,” said Michael. “And if not for the 911 call operator calling me back, I probably would have went berserk on him.”
ABC15 spoke with McDonald’s managers who say this is a brand new store which just opened up about a month ago.
They admit their employees made a mistake, but say they were trying to fix the situation when a bag of food was thrown in their direction.
They say an employee was hit in the arm which is why the couple is being charged with assault.