UPDATE: Ruby Tuesday Says Man Ordered Fatal Crab Dish [Ruby Tuesday]

Yesterday we reported that Rodney Hawkins, who was allergic to shellfish, died after eating an entree containing crab meat which was mistakenly brought to him at a Ruby Tuesday restaurant in Lovejoy, GA.. According to AJC , Ruby Tuesday denies any wrongdoing and says that the man actually ordered the chicken and crab meat dish called the "Chicken Oscar" which triggered the fatal allergic reaction. Rodney's widow, Linda Hawkins, disagrees. Details, inside...

The article says,

[Linda Hawkins] hopes that Ruby Tuesday accepts responsibility and does whatever is necessary to see that this doesn't happen again," said Chicago attorney Joseph Leonardi, speaking on behalf of the Hawkins family.

Hawkins, 35, collapsed and went into anaphylactic shock Thursday night soon after consuming the shellfish at the Ruby Tuesday on Tara Boulevard, according to an autopsy conducted by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The welder and aspiring rapper was rushed to Southern Regional Medical Center and pronounced dead a half hour later.

Investigators have suggested a mix-up in the dinner order, but won't file any criminal charges.

"He had ordered the Chicken Fresco and the Chicken Oscar was brought out by mistake," said GBI (Georgia Bureau of Investigation) spokesman John Bankhead.

Ruby Tuesday said its own review revealed no such error.

"Our investigation of this incident, which includes interviews with the server and manager on duty and the collection of their written notes of what occurred, clearly indicates that the guest ordered Chicken Oscar, a dish that contains crab meat," Rick Johnson, a spokesman for the company, said in a statement sent to the AJC on Tuesday.

"The server's order pad and the ticket to the kitchen also verify the accuracy of the order."

The two dishes, restaurant officials point out, differ significantly in appearance. Chicken Fresco is topped with a tomato slice and chopped green herbs, while Chicken Oscar has crab meat and asparagus spears.

"She [the server] is very clear that he repeated more than one time that Chicken Oscar was his choice," said Johnson, whose company has more than 25 metro Atlanta locations. "We don't believe there was any confusion on her part. Had he been confused . . . when the dish was brought to the table it would be been clearly visible to him that it had crab meat on it."

Virginia Hawkins said in a phone interview from her Momence, Ill., home that her brother was allergic to shellfish since childhood. She said he moved from Illinois to metro Atlanta to pursue a rap music career.

Are we to believe that this man with an acute shellfish allergy since childhood failed to read the description of the entree or simply ordered the wrong entree by mistake? And that this also slipped by his wife who was with him? Why would Rodney have repeated his order "more than once?" That implies that the order was spoken at least 3 times which seems a bit unusual. Of course, maybe the RT representative meant to say the order was said more than once, not repeated. We're not saying that Ruby Tuesday's version is impossible, just improbable. But we don't like to speculate, we leave that to the commenters.

Can Prayer Lower Gas Prices? These People Think So [Gas Prices]

Some people think we don't have a prayer of gas prices dipping below $3.00 for a good long haul. These parishioners holding hands around a Shell station beg to differ. They're part of a group called "Pray At The Pump," organizing prayer-circles at various DC area gas stations, hoping to goad divine intervention into lowering gas prices. I wonder if they carpooled to the rendezvous point.

You Won A 65-inch TV From Charter Cable! Here Is Your 19-inch TV! []

The News Courier reports Charter Cable ran an online contest asking kids to submit stories about why their dad was the "World's Greatest Dad," and the winner was supposed to get a 65-inch TV...instead, a 19-inch one showed up on his doorstep. Is this any way to treat The World's Greatest Dad?

The winner was the straight talking submission penned by Mike Lewis' daughter, who said her dad was the greatest because he got up every morning, worked hard, and worked in the yard. When it came time to deliver the goods, there were miscommunications back and forth as Charter Cable marketing employee Jeff Hatcher tried to process Lewis' W-9 (part of the contest rules were that the winner had to pay sales tax on the prize). Then Hatcher realized the promised TV was too expensive for his marketing budget and sent a 19-inch one instead.

"It’s an insult," Chris Lewis, the mother, told Enews. “We already have a 40-inch TV, so we really don’t need a 19-inch...they shouldn't be allowed to promise whatever they like and not follow through."

Congratulations, Jeff Hatcher of Charter’s marketing offices in Alabama and Georgia, who ran the promotion, you are officially a jerk. Delivering the real TV was too expensive, but man, that free publicity, it sure was free. We don't know whether you have kids, but we have a feeling you won't be up for World's Greatest Dad anytime soon. Maybe Your CEO, neil.smit@chartercom.com, would be interested in hearing about what a great job you're doing marketing the company.

Subscribe with an RSS reader Older News Archive Add news to your web site