Sunday Rerun: Burgers and Sighs

 I'm seriously contemplating changing the name of this blog to "Oh, For Crying Out Loud."

Here we go with today's asinine behavior: some members of a volunteer fire company went to the new Sonic drive-in in their town and demanded the same discount that is given to cops and military personnel.

And they didn't get the discount.

They aren't cops or military personnel.

Oh, but they do have Facebook accounts, and so now eight members of the fire company are in hot water (!) because they wrote things on Facebook about how "unfair 'your' being" (for the five millionth time, it's "you're"! "YOU'RE!" "YOU'RE"!) and how maybe they just might not respond to a fire at the Sonic.  And then one of the brainiacs wrote that maybe they ought to set fire to the dumpster at the Sonic.

And the fire company president had to apologize for these guys and the image of the volunteer fire service takes another punch in the eye.

Place #1, any smart fast food operator offers discounts to police.  Nothing deters an armed robbery like pulling up to the place you plan to take down and seeing a prowl car in the parking lot.  Second best is the thought that if the cops aren't here now, they might be sliding by for a burger any minute now.

Volunteer firefighters, people do appreciate your service and sacrifice.  But if you are willing to withdraw your service and sacrifice over a 50% discount on a bacon double cheeseburger (pictured) and a shake, perhaps you might want to think about why you got into the Fire Department in the first place.

And place #2 - on the comments page of one of the news sites discussing this burger imbroglio, a woman who claims to be a lawyer (although she uses the term "bi-laws" in place of "by-laws") says that the firefighters do not give up their right of free speech by donning turnout gear.  And she could not be more correct.  We all have the right to say what we think.  And we all have to face the consequences of saying something wrong.

For a firefighter to threaten to commit arson or threaten not to respond to an emergency call is the ultimate dereliction.

And all this over a damned cheeseburger.

Oh, for crying out loud.